G/d Or C/g?

[Dynn]

Hello I am trying to decide between a G/D or a C/G tuned concertina. I play Irish music including in sessions where the tuning is D or G or A. I am wondering the differences between these two tunings of concertinas and the prefferabilities of them in Irish sessions. I have heard that G/D tuning is best for Morris dance tunes (?) I do not play Morris dance tunes and do not plan to, just trad. Irish do I play.

Edited June 19, 2005 by Dynn

[Henk van Aalten]

Hello I am trying to decide between a G/D or a C/G tuned concertina. I play Irish music including in sessions where the tuning is D or G or A. I am wondering the differences between these two tunings of concertinas and the prefferabilities of them in Irish sessions. I have heard that G/D tuning is best for Morris dance tunes (?) I do not play Morris dance tunes and do not plan to, just trad. Irish do I play.

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Hello Dynn

 

Welcome to this forum. You can play Irish and Morris on a G/D as well as a C/G. It is however a fact that C/G is more popular with Irish players, while the G/D seems to be the favourite instrument for Morris players.

Playing Irish on a C/G means that you have to use cross-row fingering (Irish style playing) more than with a G/D.

[Chris Timson]

Best thing to do, as ever with concertinas, is to try and lay hands on examples of each (go to a concertina event or a good store like The Button Box or The Music Room) and try some tunes out. See which you prefer. When it comes to playing in G and D, the two concertinas might just as well be different systems.

 

C/G is the most common for Irish music, and is what will be used at workshops, if that weighs with you. I personally think you can (within reason) do what you like on either, and so you should play the one you are happiest with.

 

There have been a number of discussions on this theme in the past, go and have a shufty through the old threads and it won't take you long to find one.

 

Chris

[Samantha]

Best thing to do ... [snip] ... go and have a shufty through the old threads and it won't take you long to find one.

 

Chris

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This page will help non-British english speaking c.netters to understand Chris a little better .

Samantha

[Chris Timson]

This page will help non-British english speaking c.netters to understand Chris a little better 

A search on the word "shufty" turns up no less than 10 posts containing it in these forums alone, so it is clearly not all that obscure. Admittedly 5 of them were mine, but that's beside the point!

 

Hmmph.

[Samantha]

This page will help non-British english speaking c.netters to understand Chris a little better 

A search on the word "shufty" turns up no less than 10 posts containing it in these forums alone, so it is clearly not all that obscure. Admittedly 5 of them were mine, but that's beside the point!

 

Hmmph.

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Sorry, Chris!

Samantha

[spindizzy]

Sorry, Chris!

Samantha

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ah-ha!

So now we have discovered the test gif "to be used elsewhere"

(and hands up everyone who presued the entire page of "S" slang words - they seem to have a decide bias to somewhere N of Luton.)

 

Chris J. (an ex-pat Londoner)

[geoffwright]

Fingering issues apart, it isn't the key (C/G or G/D) that matters, it's the pitch, one being lower than the other. If you only want to play in sessions (without too many chords), you may want something more treble (bordering on the shrill?) so go for a C/G.

G/Ds are a totally different instrument to listen to, when playing the same tune on each.

[Chris Timson]

If you only want to play in sessions (without too many chords), you may want something more treble (bordering on the shrill?) so go for a C/G.

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For me, that is one reason I don't play C/G in sessions. I don't like the sound. I much prefer the grunt of a good G/D. Much nicer sound, and normally just as audible even in noisy sessions.

 

Chris

[JimLucas]

If you only want to play in sessions (without too many chords), you may want something more treble (bordering on the shrill?) so go for a C/G.

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OW!! Not yet another shrill treble instrument!

 

Geoff, tell me where your session is, so I can avoid it!

[JimLucas]

Fingering issues apart, it isn't the key (C/G or G/D) that matters, it's the pitch, one being lower than the other.

G/Ds are a totally different instrument to listen to, when playing the same tune on each.

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Eh? Maybe in English sessions, playing chords against a right-hand melody, but just playing melodies in an Irish session I think it would be very unusual to go an octave lower. Instead, the difference would be that you (or at least I) would be playing more of the notes in the right hand. (And some right-handed players might consider that an improvement.)

[bill_mchale]

If you only want to play in sessions (without too many chords), you may want something more treble (bordering on the shrill?) so go for a C/G.

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For me, that is one reason I don't play C/G in sessions. I don't like the sound. I much prefer the grunt of a good G/D. Much nicer sound, and normally just as audible even in noisy sessions.

 

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On the flip side the C/G will put you in the same octave as the rest of the musicians (except for the whistle players.. talk about shrill ). I personally like blending in as much as possible; it makes my mistakes less noticable .

 

--

Bill

[JimLucas]

I personally like blending in as much as possible; it makes my mistakes less noticable .

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Then shouldn't you be playing fiddle or whistle (or bodhran?), rather than concertina?

[Clive Thorne]

If you only want to play in sessions (without too many chords), you may want something more treble (bordering on the shrill?) so go for a C/G.

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For me, that is one reason I don't play C/G in sessions. I don't like the sound. I much prefer the grunt of a good G/D. Much nicer sound, and normally just as audible even in noisy sessions.

 

Chris

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Chris,

 

I have an even better reason for only playing a C/G in sessions, namely that I havn't got a G/D!! However if you know anyone with a cheap (I knew there was a catch somewhere) G/D that's surplus to requirements let me know and I'll certainly give it a try.

 

Clive.

[Dynn]

Could someone possibly send me links of the best player for each tuning? I'm wondering what the difference in the sound is...

[geoffwright]

Geoff, tell me where your session is, so I can avoid it!

If you don't like shrill, come along to either the Royal Hotel, Dungworth or Blue Bell, Gringley-on-the-Hill monthly sessions where you can regularly hear between four and six Jeffries giving more voice than a pack of hounds.

 

Ear plugs are an optional extra.

[Jeff H]

I,too, have considered a G/D as my ears prefer the lower pitch.

However I have been told.. (but cannot confirm having never played one) that the G/D consumes more air than the C/G; Particularly if played using full chording...again comparing this to a C/G

 

Can anyone confirm or dispell this..

 

I am particularly referring to the newer accordion reeded instruments.

 

I have been told by one maker that they had considered one more fold in the bellows for G/D and lower systems

 

Is it true that the G rows are pitched the same in G/D and C/G but that the D row is lower?

 

Jeff

[Henk van Aalten]

Is it true that the G rows are pitched the same in G/D and C/G but that the D row is lower?

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Normally the G row of the G/D is one octave lower than the G row of the C/G.