halimium Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 So I borrowed a book from my library of kids harmonica tunes, basically because the melodies are so well known and the book is all in the key of C, oranges and lemons, silent night, camptown races that sort of thing. I thought it would be good for practise for me. But the book also shows accompaniment chords for chording instruments, so I thought I would try them too. The thing is I can't quite play them on my anglo as they overpower the melody or just take all the air too soon. Would it be better to try and stick to just the left hand chord root notes, when trying to accompany myself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 You don't have to play the full chord just because you have the fingers and buttons to do it, sometimes just one note or a couple can work just fine. Try for a very light touch on the chords, you can always make them more staccato to make the melody stand out more. You can also try "oom-pah" accompaniments (bass note followed by chord or partial chord), or can even do a "leading bass" or an occasional run of bass notes. For simple tunes you can play octaves, or harmony intervals too. Good folks to listen to would be Andy Turner, John Kirkpatrick, John Watcham, Brian Peters, etc. Send me a PM with your email and I'll be happy to send you a few sneak preview pages of a tutor for playing Anglo in the harmonic style that will hopefully be out by Christmas. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 (edited) What Gary said, and he knows. Also work out some chords in both directions , make a blank chart and shade in using two different colours. 1.5 chords can sound nice. eg CG rathe than CEG. Also try inversions where some notes are not in ascending order from the root (tonic) note. I find it useful in lettering to use eg. C, C c c' to distinguish between the available C notes below and above middle C (C4) Edited September 15, 2012 by michael sam wild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David S Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Have a look on John Kirkpatrick's website - he has lots of info on Anglo chords. Also look for Roger Digby's articles "Faking it" on www.concertina.com. Both very helpful and informative. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halimium Posted September 13, 2012 Author Share Posted September 13, 2012 The advice for octaves is good I tried that a little tonight, I will look at inversions and things when I get a bit more time to puzzle things out and make a chart if I can. thanks for the answers On some of the tunes though it shows a low A in the sheet music.. I have no below the ledger lines A note... a limitation of 20 key anglo..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 (edited) I changed the additional D pull on the G row of the C/G to a low A, reed for that reason The D pull on the C row is all you need. Edited September 15, 2012 by michael sam wild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halimium Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 I changed the additional D pull on the G row of the C/G to a low A, reed for that reason The D pull on the C row is all you need. That makes sense to me to do that, how much did it cost.? I've been practising chords/melody (as this seems to be my way of wanting to play this instrument ) on a tune from an old 1999 video game. I hit some bum notes and the end is just wrong anyway How does it sound? anyone wanna say anything? storms.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I changed the additional D pull on the G row of the C/G to a low A, reed for that reason The D pull on the C row is all you need. That makes sense to me to do that, how much did it cost.? I've been practising chords/melody (as this seems to be my way of wanting to play this instrument ) on a tune from an old 1999 video game. I hit some bum notes and the end is just wrong anyway How does it sound? anyone wanna say anything? That sounded OK and your timing and choice of simple chords was fine. A far as the reed was concerned a friend did it as he had a spare Jeffries reed in its brass block to replace it about £5 as I remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halimium Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 I changed the additional D pull on the G row of the C/G to a low A, reed for that reason The D pull on the C row is all you need. That sounded OK and your timing and choice of simple chords was fine. A far as the reed was concerned a friend did it as he had a spare Jeffries reed in its brass block to replace it about £5 as I remember. Oh thank you, that's quite cheap a reed fitted for a fiver! How much would a shop charge though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Crabb Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 (edited) I changed the additional D pull on the G row of the C/G to a low A, reed for that reason The D pull on the C row is all you need. That sounded OK and your timing and choice of simple chords was fine. A far as the reed was concerned a friend did it as he had a spare Jeffries reed in its brass block to replace it about £5 as I remember. Oh thank you, that's quite cheap a reed fitted for a fiver! How much would a shop charge though? Hi halimium, I apologise if I have missed it but what make is your concertina? This could determine if it is indeed possible to change the D to A due to the construction of the instrument. Geoffrey Edited September 27, 2012 by Geoffrey Crabb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halimium Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 I changed the additional D pull on the G row of the C/G to a low A, reed for that reason The D pull on the C row is all you need. That sounded OK and your timing and choice of simple chords was fine. A far as the reed was concerned a friend did it as he had a spare Jeffries reed in its brass block to replace it about £5 as I remember. Oh thank you, that's quite cheap a reed fitted for a fiver! How much would a shop charge though? Hi halimium, I apologise if I have missed it but what make is your concertina? This could determine if it is indeed possible to change the D to A due to the construction of the instrument. Geoffrey Hi, its only a little 20 button stagi. By the way I see you're in Bishops Stortford, that's not so far from me! (Potters Bar) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Crabb Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Hi, its only a little 20 button stagi. By the way I see you're in Bishops Stortford, that's not so far from me! (Potters Bar) Thanks for the information Halimium. Whilst it an easier excercise to change the value of a reed in a traditionally built concertina, it is more difficult in an instrument such as you have because of the construction of the reeds used. Although possible, I personally think that you will have difficulty in finding someone readily willing to undertake the task. Perhaps a Hybrid maker may be able to help. It does seem that we are almost neighbours so perhaps we will meet at some time. Geoffrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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