The best way to learn?

[ButtonBilly]

 

 

Hello all, I'm fairly new to concertina. But have played a few other instruments, guitar, bass and Alto saxophone. So picking up one of these beautiful squeezeboxes was super strange the first couple of times.

 

Truth be told I've had mine for around a year now and have learned a few tunes, I had ordered a Wren Anglo from Mcneela musical and it was gorgeous! It also came with a few lessons from Caitlin Nic Gabhann which were super easy to follow. I also picked up a copy of Gary's easy 1-2-3 and it's by far the easiest material to understand I've found. 

 

I guess my question has to do with me seeing alot of you all playing these beautiful old tunes, I go to check out the noteation and it's hard for me to understand, is there a specified conversion process or is it to taste, subbing In you chord preference and notes?                                                                                                                                         Any insight would be appreciated, thank you!

[Breve]

Hi ButtonBilly, congrats on your new-ish instrument and the learning journey. Seeing as you got some freebie Caitlin Nic Gabhann lessons why not subscribe and continue? She does a good job. But that's if you want to play Irish of course. Otherwise it's a matter of memorizing button layout and tab notation. Gary Coover's is the easiest (for me anyway). The trick is to be able to read the notes and know the button layout automatically without worrying about the tab notation and this takes a little time and practice to memorize. Also do a lot of learning by ear, it really helps.  I also recommend practicing scales to get to know all the buttons. Best of luck.

[Mikefule]

The trick to learning is to play every day for a few minutes.  Always start with something you know quite well, then spend some time on something you're learning, then back to something you know well.  5 minutes of active practice every day is better than an hour a week.

 

The Anglo has many routes through the maze.  Almost every note appears twice, and some appear three times, so there are multifarious ways to play any given sequence of 3 or 4 notes.  You don't need to know them all, but you need to keep searching, because what works in one tune may not be the best solution for another tune.

 

Most of all, have fun.  It is an instrument with hidden depths to explore.

[hjcjones]

As for chords, most folk tunes are written out as simple melody lines.  Players add their own chords, which is pretty straightforward on an anglo (in the home keys anyway), rather as a guitarist would.  It is possible to find detailed arrangements for anglo in both notation and tablature, but these cover only a tiny fraction of the repertoire. I would regard them as an aid to learning, to see how other players have approached this so you can develop your own skills to be able to play any tune you come across.

 

Different styles of music also require different approaches.  Irish music uses very little chording, but the anglo is also suited to big chords with both hands!  It pays to listen to a lot of players in your preferred style to find what works.