velocitygirl

I'm a complete beginner on the 30 button Anglo, and am working my way through Gary Coover's 123 book. The reason I'm learning is a bit unusual - I'm a drummer in a folk-punk band and would love to be able to add some new textures to our sound! So I've got lots of songs and the guitar chords for them, but I'm really struggling to put them on the concertina. At the back of Gary's book there are helpful chord charts, but there are some that aren't there, such as F# major. So far I've just been playing long slow 2-3 button chords on the left hand. Is there a more interesting way to approach this? These are fast folky tunes, but I struggle to move the bellows quick enough! Many thanks for any ideas, help, or inspiration, and excuse my ignorance of music theory and this instrument!

The Flying Ducks do look wonderful, but there is a lead time of 15 months and I'm very keen to get started. Perhaps one will be my second concertina! Thank you for all the information and the very useful videos. I decided to take a punt on the Gear4Music one, and it is arriving tomorrow. My expectations are suitably tempered, but I'm hoping I can use it to learn the basics of the instrument and get a few tunes under my fingers

I've found a secondhand Scarlatti Anglo concertina with 30 keys for £199 - do you think this would be better than the Gear4Music one, or are they likely to be pretty much the same at this price? The G4M comes with a case which is a nice bonus i suppose!

Hello all You've heard it a million times I'm sure, but I'm looking to by my first concertina, and my budget is £200. I'm looking to play Irish trad so I understand I'd need an Anglo in C/G ideally. I've been looking on eBay at some beautiful antiques, but very reluctant to take a punt on something I know so little about! What is the general consensus for beginners on this kind of budget? I'm based in the UK, so there must be plenty of choice 😄