Aogan

PMs are available in the profile of the member you wish to send to, on the LH side underneath the portrait, marked 'send me a message'. All the messages on the old forum are still there. Cheers. - I managed to figure it out

Just getting used to the new forum layout. Has the private messaging facility been turfed? And does that mean that old messages on the old forum version are gone?

How much via paypal please? would vary a bit depending on how long the classes are and how many an individual signs up for, but in my experience 50 minutes to an hour is optimal and that would be about 40 euro.

Hi folks, this is a bit like waiting for a bus - nothing for ages and then three come along at once . I think it's a great idea though and people have been asking me about lessons, so here I am! I'm 20 years playing and teaching concertina, I've a few albums under my belt and I've done my fair share of teaching in Ireland and abroad. You can check out some of my music at www.slide.ie and http://www.myspace.com/slideie. I've also got a tunes tutor book out which I believe has been well received http://www.waltonsmusic.com/images/BUTTONACCORDION-CONCERTINA.gif So, if you have the appropriate technology - webcam, mic, and decent broadband - and you want some expert tuition, drop me a line at aoganlynch@gmail.com

Hi Aogan What's the best way to hear more of your playing all through some tunes on a CD? Chance of a shameless plug! Emmm. I don't have a solo cd out, and no plans to make one, but you'll certainly hear me on the Slide albums. Slide is a band I've been in since 1999, we have four albums out now, three studio albums and a new live album this year -see slide.ie for links and info and stuff. Other than that, I've an album out with a fiddle player by the name of Michelle O Brien and a guitar player Gavin Ralston, which I'm pretty happy with. -I'll keep ye posted with any more

Thanks for the compliments guys. The recording of the cd was pretty rushed, but it does the job I suppose. One thing I did put a lot of work into was the notation. I didn't just open a book of O'Neils tunes and play them as written. What I did was play them FIRST, and THEN I went back and listened to myself and wrote the tunes out exactly as I had played them. So, a fiddle player might pick up the book and wonder what the hell is wrong with the way the tune is written, but for a concertina player it should be a lot more helpful. No harm to turn the tables anyway, as most tunes notations are written out for fiddle playing and don't suit 'tina's at all.

38 key all the way imo. Cost difference is small, a 38 key will do everything a 30 key will but the reverse is not the case. When you're paying all that money and waiting all those years, I can't personally see a logic for not getting the extra keys.

That's very sad to hear. Mario was a lovely fellow. A real gentleman. Beannacht De ar a anam

Good question. I've got a 38 key concertina but of the extra notes, only a couple of them I find are any use, so 34 is probably a good compromise. The only extra buttons that I really couldn't do without are (a) an extra 1st finger button above the E'/D' on the top of the inside row on the left hand side. On the standard jeffries layout it's an F# on the push and a G# on the pull. ( an extra button on the inside of the inside row on the left hand side, sort of half way between the A/G and the C/B. Again, on the standard Jeffries (38 key) layout it's an E on the pull and and a D# I think on the push. I don't use the D# really but the E is very handy for chords. After that you're on your own to be honest with you cos the use I personally get out of the other 6 extra keys is all but negligible.

Ah here. Give the guy a break. It seems he sold an honest instrument at a reasonable price. Ireland (I'm presuming, perhaps erroneously, that he's from there, if only from the "sean") may be a roaring celtic tiger and in the eu and everything but we still don't have a motorway that connects one city to the next and much of our "broad" band is little better or more reliable than 56k modem territory.

Yeah, I broke both my wrists & a thumb in a few places off a motorbike 3 years ago. Concertina-ing was not an option that time . Thanks for the good wishes. I think I'll shelve the motorbiking for a while this time alright, though concertina is one of the handiest instruments to carry on a motorcycle!

No idea. -Just checked your link there. We're on the saturday night concert and the sunday daytime according to the site - I play with Slide btw

I crashed my motorbike last week and broke my left collarbone and fractured my left wrist. Yet I can still play the concertina.... That's not a boast, or a tribute to some massive pain threshold with which I am gifted. (I'm not). I was pretty surprised to realise that playing was not the torture session I presumed it would be. The wrist fracture is slight and it's below my little finger, so moving my little finger is a little bit sore, depending on the combination of notes, but perhaps more surprisingly, the collar bone break is relatively unaffected by the concertina playing action. I'm lucky it's the left side because when I'm playing I keep the left side of the concertina static, and my left arm tight into my body, in a similar position to the recommeded recovery position, and into which the standard sling places the arm anyway. Actually, apart from the shaker, I don't think there are many other instruments that could be played with a broken collarbone!

Cool! -I'm playing at this. Come and say hi. It's my first time in California.