JeffA

Hi Don Thanks for the ideas about the hand rests. I hadn't noticed their angle but now I looked at your suggestion and understand.

Hi Little John: Thanks for that. I just looked at some Instagram posts and became a follower. Very helpful. Looks like your straps are fairly loose so I'll try to match that in my setup and see how I do.

Continuing this discussion as I have progressed in a few weeks, I'd like some thoughts on a new issue I've encountered. I'm using my pinky - depending on the tune for the F# or the C# - which is what the majority advice has been. But I'm finding that when I use that pinky, I lose a bit of grip on the concertina itself so that it gets a little wobbly or loose and then I have to recover while moving on to the next notes. I've got the straps adjusted pretty well - I've tried this in "loose strap" and "tight strap" mode. It doesn't seem to make a difference for this problem. I'm now trying to rest the concertina on my right knee and expand/contract bellows more with the left side. This may stabilize my "keyboard" but I haven't seen too many videos or comments on this technique. Most seem to favor resting the box on the left knee. Any thoughts on how to address this problem?

All of you guys have been really helpful since starting this thread. I probably should have said that I'm into my Hayden for less than a week and while making great progress, I knew that the "approach" to the fingering could go many ways. Since I know music theory pretty well and have a lot of experience in other instruments, your comments have made great sense in thinking less about "one finger per note" and more about what pattern the music is calling for given the logic of the button layout. So I'm thinking of this more like a piano now rather than like a tin whistle. Just studying the layout is quite fascinating and supports what you've been saying. You can look at the buttons one way and you see a cycle of 5th's that mirror the bass of a piano accordion. You look at it another way and you see an orderly scale pattern allowing for the normal or flattened 7th as required by many folk tunes. You look at the shape of a major or a minor and see the same kind of moveable pattern you would use on a guitar with capo or barre chords. Or, you just can decide that any support chord can be two note fifths (like a fiddle double stop), a full triad, or just a two note third. And just moving any of these up or sideways gives you what you need. And just like with a piano, depending on where you're headed with the melody, you may use a thumb or a pinky on the same key. The music leads the way! Did I get it? I can move around the buttons pretty well for less than a week's effort - now for just getting both hands to cooperate with each other. But I've been through this before many times on other instruments.

Thanks for the comment. So if I interpret your approach correctly, you would use your index finger for the tonic "C" when playing in C and then use it on the next row over "D" or "G" when playing in those keys? That's what I was calling relative to the key. It has a logic, and yes, it's like playing a stringed instrument in a different position. That was essentially the question that I was asking. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to "commit" to as I learn. I'm finding it pretty useful to use index for the second row "D", "G" and just reach left for the C natural and conversely, on the other end, to use the 3rd finger for the row with B and E and then to reach for the accidentals when needed. So it's kind of 123 all the way around. But that's just me exploring. So I'll work with the relative idea as well to compare approaches. Still, what a cool instrument. Everything I wanted to have in a concertina: unisonoric, with harmonizing capabilities on the left hand to support and counter balance the melodic right hand.

I just got a Hayden duet and love it! But as I train myself, I'd like to know anyone's thoughts about fingering. I know some people use mostly 1,2,3 and others use the pinky (1,2,3,4) and I've read a lot in this forum already about these techniques. But I want to know if the suggested 1,2,3 - 1,2,3,4 is relative to the key/scale or to the button row. I'm finding that if I commit my fingers to the button rows, it's just like when I play the fiddle - there's a finger position for each note - period. But it means that in the key of D, I'll end up using my pinky more often for F# and C# but in G, the pinky will be used less. However, if I shift the fingers for other keys I can avoid so much pinky use but then the notes now have different fingering positions which could get confusing if I'm reading music. I'm tending toward the absolute 1 finger per button row no matter what key, but I'm curious if there are other thoughts about making the finger positions relative rather than absolute. Thanks.

FYI - I just PM'd you as I'm interested in the Elise.