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Solo Concertina Vs Member Of The Band


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DAVE - "But I did all this because Jody first asked for an example. Jody, you're not usually one to be shy. Let's hear from you. Be honest. You've no doubt heard your share of "DADGAD Piano" at contradances."

 

Since you asked, I'll be honest. Thanks for sharing this cool approach to harmony. I sometimes do something along those lines at a dance.

 

To be honest, I've not heard that phrase applied to the piano though I've heard the piano playing the sort of thing you are talking about...a rising line of 5ths, power chords that do not follow the normal chords implied by the melody. DADGAD guitar does sometimes do that but I mostly think of the other thing that DADGAD guitar does which is a continuous down/up syncopated strumming that is not boom chuck. What I hear you doing are block chords. What I like to call diamonds. Sometimes at a dance I might call out "diamonds" and the rhythm section (if they agree) will play those block chords along the lines of what I hear you doing.

 

However, when you play them, they last for a whole note, all four beats. When the bass, guitar and piano play them the sound dies away after each chord, leaving the melody alone (stress/release) at the end of the measure, much cooler IMHO.

 

On another note... perhaps if you wanted to take your DADGAD emulation a bit further you could put in the pedal or drone D (or in your case with Jimmie Allen it would be a G, right?) that the wikipedia article you linked above talks about. Other DADGAD out of chord artifacts (2nds, 4ths, 7ths, 9ths etc) might be included too.

 

As it is, your recording leaves me unconvinced musically but tantalized by the possibilities.

Edited by Jody Kruskal
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Inspired by Jody's current thread but from a different angle, could experienced players give advice to a newbie on contributing to a band with a concertina.

 

When practicing contradance tunes, I usually play an um-pa (1st-3rd&5th) chordal left hand to fill out the sound. But in a group that seems messy. A sharp block chord chop, perhaps on the up beat seems better.

Does that seem right? Any other tips on how to make everyone happy that a concertina joined the group?

 

I'm struggling, so I'd like to be practicing the same way I'm going to perform.

 

Back to the OP.

 

This is a really good question and there is much more to be said on the subject aside from David's interesting DADGAD notion.

 

Patrick, you say... "I usually play an um-pa (1st-3rd&5th) chordal left hand to fill out the sound. But in a group that seems messy."

 

Right, it is messy. For solo playing, it may be OK, but in a band, not so good most of the time.

 

If you want to back up your melody playing with additional left hand work, one idea (out of many I can think of) is to simplify your left hand 1, 3, 5 triad idea. Make it 1 and 5 only or better yet 1 and 1 in octaves. UM PA is really a rhythmic device that incorporates harmony. This harmony need not be complicated to get the groove, and the low/high (UM PA) idea can be done with simple octaves only. This keeps the pulse in your left hand but leaves out the mess of 1, 3, 5. I use this all the time. Or.. simplify even more. Just play the 1 (UM) and leave the PA out completely, or just the PA and leave the UM out.

 

Along the same lines... When playing with a band I often play UM PA or other sorts of sorts of figures with both hands and leave the melody to the other melody players. This can be done in a very full way or quite sparsely. Exploring the sparse end of things can lead to a large variety of interesting variations as the chords go by, especially as the Anglo has a large range. So, you could do this very high or very low or in the middle, making a rich field of accompaniment possibilities.

 

As you try this, you should know that the lowest notes tend to disappear in a band setting. They just cant be heard. So anything you do down there will be quite subtle and only useful when your band is playing quietly or sparsely.

Edited by Jody Kruskal
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  • 5 months later...

Oh wow! I am not sure what to make of that.

 

The first 3 full measures of the DADGAB section sound good, but then the next two measures sound, well, weird. Almost like a recording artifact - sort of out of phase. Then I hear two measures that are OK before another measure that is strange, almost muted, before another normal sounding measure, one more strange measure, one more OK and then another strange one.

 

I am going to have to listen a few times to see if the strangeness goes away but the amplitude of the strange measures seems to be less than the normal measures. Is this psycho-acoustical or are you muting those measures?

 

Added the following day after a few more listens and some time has elapsed:

 

It does not seem so weird now and it is an interesting sound. I am still a bit bothered by the apparent changes in volume.

 

 

lol! I agree

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