lolbolpower

Hi guys! I have wanted to buy a concertina for a couple of months now. In this post I want to ask you guys a bit of advice on which kind of concertina I should buy and how I can start learning. I have never played an instrument except for some music classes I had in school. The music I want to play on a concertina are Sea shanties and quick jigs. I like these because they are quick and upbeat. I will mostly be playing alone. I believe the Anglo concertina would be best for this kind of music. How many buttons do I need? I have also seen some posts about different button layouts. Does button layout make a big difference? I am a student so my budget is quite low. I have about 450 to 500 euros I can spend on a concertina. I live in the Netherlands and I have not been able to find any places here that sell concertina’s other than the very cheap low quality chinese ones. So I will have to order my concertina online. Online I have mostly found 20-button concertinas for my price point. I have read that they can be restricting, because there are less notes on it. Does this matter for the music I prefer? Should I look at new made concertina’s like the ones from McneelaMusic or an old restored one from Barleycorn or AC norman? Is there a difference in quality between restored and new concertina’s? Lastly, what would be a good way to start learning? I have seen lots of books for learning the concertina, but there are also a decent amount of online teachers available. What would be the biggest difference between these learning methods? Best Regards, Bas