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How to start on 20 button?


Concerteeny

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I always wanted to play concertina, so when a friend, said, "I have a concertina. Sure, you can borrow it," I embraced the chance. Since I got it I've gone online to try to identify it and get some help. I see wonderful videos for learning to play some English and Anglo concertinas, but those instruments all have a lot more keys. I'm sure this is an inexpensive model, only 20 keys, but it's the only one I have access to right now. Can someone tell me what kind it is and steer me to some videos, websites, books, or ??? to help me get started?

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I always wanted to play concertina, so when a friend, said, "I have a concertina. Sure, you can borrow it," I embraced the chance. Since I got it I've gone online to try to identify it and get some help. I see wonderful videos for learning to play some English and Anglo concertinas, but those instruments all have a lot more keys. I'm sure this is an inexpensive model, only 20 keys, but it's the only one I have access to right now. Can someone tell me what kind it is and steer me to some videos, websites, books, or ??? to help me get started?

 

Check out the concertina faq at www.concertina.info

It has a page for tutors and other books.

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I always wanted to play concertina, so when a friend, said, "I have a concertina. Sure, you can borrow it," I embraced the chance. Since I got it I've gone online to try to identify it and get some help. I see wonderful videos for learning to play some English and Anglo concertinas, but those instruments all have a lot more keys. I'm sure this is an inexpensive model, only 20 keys, but it's the only one I have access to right now. Can someone tell me what kind it is and steer me to some videos, websites, books, or ??? to help me get started?

 

Get yourself harmonica and try to make sense of it.

Than apply same principle to your concertina, keeping in mind that it's scale is harmonica split in half.

Basically you have two "split" harmonicas: in C (lower) - a row further from you and in G (higher sounding) - a row closer to you. If you can't figure out a tune on harmonica, you probably can't on concertina. To help yourself, you can get "how to" booklet together with your entry level harmonica. After some days you'll be able to transfer your skills to the Concertina and be on your way. Those multi buttoned instruments are just like yours, only with added rows of accidentals (black keys of the piano) and reversals (same notes as on your two rows, but sounding in opposite bellows direction).

After you learn to play a few simple tunes, and after you decide that you like the experience, get yourself Tutor books and stick with them, go to sessions, play for kids in school - whatever.

Why not Roger Watson book right away?

Why not "Anglo Concertina Demistified"?

By some reason Harmonica feels more natural, you'll get used to the breathing and apply same feeling to bellows.

Oh, by the way, you may feel that wrist strap is too lose and will want to tighten it. Don't. Just don't hold instrument up in the air. It's unstable there. Put in on your lap, press slightly down with your hands and fan bellows open instead of pulling them apart. It'll teach you control. Later you'll do whatever you want, but in the beginning it's important to keep things as simple and stable as possible.

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I always wanted to play concertina, so when a friend, said, "I have a concertina. Sure, you can borrow it," I embraced the chance. Since I got it I've gone online to try to identify it and get some help. I see wonderful videos for learning to play some English and Anglo concertinas, but those instruments all have a lot more keys. I'm sure this is an inexpensive model, only 20 keys, but it's the only one I have access to right now. Can someone tell me what kind it is and steer me to some videos, websites, books, or ??? to help me get started?

 

Get yourself harmonica and try to make sense of it.

Than apply same principle to your concertina, keeping in mind that it's scale is harmonica split in half.

Basically you have two "split" harmonicas: in C (lower) - a row further from you and in G (higher sounding) - a row closer to you. If you can't figure out a tune on harmonica, you probably can't on concertina. To help yourself, you can get "how to" booklet together with your entry level harmonica. After some days you'll be able to transfer your skills to the Concertina and be on your way. Those multi buttoned instruments are just like yours, only with added rows of accidentals (black keys of the piano) and reversals (same notes as on your two rows, but sounding in opposite bellows direction).

After you learn to play a few simple tunes, and after you decide that you like the experience, get yourself Tutor books and stick with them, go to sessions, play for kids in school - whatever.

Why not Roger Watson book right away?

Why not "Anglo Concertina Demistified"?

By some reason Harmonica feels more natural, you'll get used to the breathing and apply same feeling to bellows.

Oh, by the way, you may feel that wrist strap is too lose and will want to tighten it. Don't. Just don't hold instrument up in the air. It's unstable there. Put in on your lap, press slightly down with your hands and fan bellows open instead of pulling them apart. It'll teach you control. Later you'll do whatever you want, but in the beginning it's important to keep things as simple and stable as possible.

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Thanks. That's a whole lot of information. I'll get on it.

I always wanted to play concertina, so when a friend, said, "I have a concertina. Sure, you can borrow it," I embraced the chance. Since I got it I've gone online to try to identify it and get some help. I see wonderful videos for learning to play some English and Anglo concertinas, but those instruments all have a lot more keys. I'm sure this is an inexpensive model, only 20 keys, but it's the only one I have access to right now. Can someone tell me what kind it is and steer me to some videos, websites, books, or ??? to help me get started?

 

Get yourself harmonica and try to make sense of it.

Than apply same principle to your concertina, keeping in mind that it's scale is harmonica split in half.

Basically you have two "split" harmonicas: in C (lower) - a row further from you and in G (higher sounding) - a row closer to you. If you can't figure out a tune on harmonica, you probably can't on concertina. To help yourself, you can get "how to" booklet together with your entry level harmonica. After some days you'll be able to transfer your skills to the Concertina and be on your way. Those multi buttoned instruments are just like yours, only with added rows of accidentals (black keys of the piano) and reversals (same notes as on your two rows, but sounding in opposite bellows direction).

After you learn to play a few simple tunes, and after you decide that you like the experience, get yourself Tutor books and stick with them, go to sessions, play for kids in school - whatever.

Why not Roger Watson book right away?

Why not "Anglo Concertina Demistified"?

By some reason Harmonica feels more natural, you'll get used to the breathing and apply same feeling to bellows.

Oh, by the way, you may feel that wrist strap is too lose and will want to tighten it. Don't. Just don't hold instrument up in the air. It's unstable there. Put in on your lap, press slightly down with your hands and fan bellows open instead of pulling them apart. It'll teach you control. Later you'll do whatever you want, but in the beginning it's important to keep things as simple and stable as possible.

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Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

I always wanted to play concertina, so when a friend, said, "I have a concertina. Sure, you can borrow it," I embraced the chance. Since I got it I've gone online to try to identify it and get some help. I see wonderful videos for learning to play some English and Anglo concertinas, but those instruments all have a lot more keys. I'm sure this is an inexpensive model, only 20 keys, but it's the only one I have access to right now. Can someone tell me what kind it is and steer me to some videos, websites, books, or ??? to help me get started?

 

Check out the concertina faq at www.concertina.info

It has a page for tutors and other books.

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This is me (Concerteeny) again. I looked at the Peter Trimming teach yourself site, but when I press various buttons while pushing and pulling there is little if any change in note. Might this happen to a beginner or is something probably wrong with the instrument?

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This is me (Concerteeny) again. I looked at the Peter Trimming teach yourself site, but when I press various buttons while pushing and pulling there is little if any change in note. Might this happen to a beginner or is something probably wrong with the instrument?

 

 

The anglo concertina should play a different note on the pull and the push. If you are getting the same note then (i) it is possibly not an anglo but a small size English system concertina or (ii) highly unlikely at only 20 buttons, a duet system concertina. These latter types play the same note per button on both push and pull.

 

Can you describe the layout of the buttons on your instrument? Are they arranged in two rows of 5 buttons on each side, or are they arranged in a small cluster of columns?

 

If you look at any of these pictures, are there any which resemble your instrument? If so, tell us which, and we might be more able to help.

http://www.buttonbox.com/other-concertinas.html

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It looks like the picture of the Anglo Stagi C-1 or C-2

This is me (Concerteeny) again. I looked at the Peter Trimming teach yourself site, but when I press various buttons while pushing and pulling there is little if any change in note. Might this happen to a beginner or is something probably wrong with the instrument?

 

 

The anglo concertina should play a different note on the pull and the push. If you are getting the same note then (i) it is possibly not an anglo but a small size English system concertina or (ii) highly unlikely at only 20 buttons, a duet system concertina. These latter types play the same note per button on both push and pull.

 

Can you describe the layout of the buttons on your instrument? Are they arranged in two rows of 5 buttons on each side, or are they arranged in a small cluster of columns?

 

If you look at any of these pictures, are there any which resemble your instrument? If so, tell us which, and we might be more able to help.

http://www.buttonbox...oncertinas.html

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It looks like the picture of the Anglo Stagi C-1 or C-2

In that case I can only conclude one of three possibilities:

(i) some drastic modification to the tuning has been carried out on the instrument to make the buttons play the same note in either bellows direction.

(ii) something is seriously wrong with the concertina to give it the same effect as (i)

(iii) you are partly tone-deaf and not able to distinguish between musical intervals of a tone (the normal difference between the push and pull notes on an anglo. I'm not trying to be nasty here. It does happen occasionally. But since you already have played guitar and piano, it is probably unlikely.

 

As a check, I recommend that you let someone else hear the concertina and ask them the question: "Does this note change in pitch when I push and then pull the bellows?"

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This is me (Concerteeny) again. I looked at the Peter Trimming teach yourself site, but when I press various buttons while pushing and pulling there is little if any change in note. Might this happen to a beginner or is something probably wrong with the instrument?

 

Go to a nearest Toy store, get a hamonica and play a scale. Then play a scale on your concertina? Similar? Then you just don't hear the pitch. Different? Then your concertina is out of tune and it's cheaper to buy new then to fix yours.

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Thanks. No offense taken. I also sing without making people's jaws drop, so I'm pretty sure I'm not tone-deaf. It's not that it plays the same note in either bellows direction - it sounds like it plays F when pulling and then D when pushing, although both notes have overtones.But pressing many of the buttons doesn't change the note much. One button on the left hand changes the note to E when pushing, and another one changes it to B (push) and C (pull) another button changes it to low C (push). As I'm playing around with it trying to explain it,I 'm finding more changes, but they don't seem to fit at all with the chart on a site recommended by someone on this site, and some of the buttons don't seem to change anything.

It looks like the picture of the Anglo Stagi C-1 or C-2

In that case I can only conclude one of three possibilities:

(i) some drastic modification to the tuning has been carried out on the instrument to make the buttons play the same note in either bellows direction.

(ii) something is seriously wrong with the concertina to give it the same effect as (i)

(iii) you are partly tone-deaf and not able to distinguish between musical intervals of a tone (the normal difference between the push and pull notes on an anglo. I'm not trying to be nasty here. It does happen occasionally. But since you already have played guitar and piano, it is probably unlikely.

 

As a check, I recommend that you let someone else hear the concertina and ask them the question: "Does this note change in pitch when I push and then pull the bellows?"

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Thanks. No offense taken. I also sing without making people's jaws drop, so I'm pretty sure I'm not tone-deaf. It's not that it plays the same note in either bellows direction - it sounds like it plays F when pulling and then D when pushing, although both notes have overtones.But pressing many of the buttons doesn't change the note much. One button on the left hand changes the note to E when pushing, and another one changes it to B (push) and C (pull) another button changes it to low C (push). As I'm playing around with it trying to explain it,I 'm finding more changes, but they don't seem to fit at all with the chart on a site recommended by someone on this site, and some of the buttons don't seem to change anything.

So - they do play different notes on the push/pull. This does sound an odd set-up or maybe it is just badly out of tune. Some of the notes having 'overtones' sounds as if it could be another of those double-reeded Scholer concertinas also discussed on this forum today.

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10819&view=findpost&p=108495

 

Can you do a systematic check of the notes on the push/pull of every button and post the results on here please?

Something along the lines of:

 

Left Hand

Outer Row Buttons (push/pull), working from lowest pitch to highest pitch:

1. C/G 2. G/B 3. C/D 4. E/F 5. G/A

 

Inner Row Buttons

1. B/D 2. D/F# 3. G/A 4. B/C 5. D/E

 

etc.

and then do the same for the RH side.

 

If you can post a couple of photos of the concertina that might help too.

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Just one other thought occurs to me. Are some notes playing all the time, even when you push and pull the bellows without pressing any buttons? If so then the concertina needs repair.

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