Pinky and Alternative Fingering

[Lakeland Fiddler]

HI all, I'm a week into playing Anglo and finding fingering some of the higher note combinations difficult. This example is the B part of Rakes of Mallow. The G at the beginning of this section lies under my right pinky on the push, the F# would have me move my pinky to the adjacent button for the pull then back to the previous button for another pull on the E. How would you finger this? Do I just need to persevere until I strengthen my weak pinky or would you recommend alternative fingering?

 

 

[Michael Eskin]

Assuming you are on a C/G instrument, you can play that G on a press the bottom row index finger, first button.

The tablature system is described at:

https://michaeleskin.com/abctools/userguide.html#reading_the_concertina_tablature

[Lakeland Fiddler]

Ah, took me a while to work that out. Basically you would play that part an octave down!

 

......Yes I am playing a C/C instrument! 🙂

[Lakeland Fiddler]

That works very nicely, thank you! I'm now playing the first six bars of the B part an octave down then return to the higher octave for the last two bars!

 

Also thanks for the link, lots of useful stuff on there! 🙂

[Michael Eskin]

I'm confused, the pitches I showed are the pitches of the tune. Were you playing it up an entire octave?

[Lakeland Fiddler]

Maybe it's me that's confused! I've read somewhere (can't find where now) that G on the second line up on the treble clef is the G on the first finger of the right hand on the G row. That way the melody is in the right hand and the chords are in the left.

 

It wouldn't be the first bit of advice that I've picked up that is not correct; I was told in the music shop that if I could play harmonica I would easily adapt to concertina because the notes are all in the same relationship to each other, I've found out since that this is just not true!

 

As I said at the beginning, I'm only at the end of my first week of playing.

 

[Michael Eskin]

Depends if you are playing in the traditional Irish style or in the Harmonic style. 

I play exclusively in the traditional Irish style and my suggestion is based on that.

In the traditional Irish style, the low notes for the melody start on the left side and then some of the higher notes are on the right, but most of the first octave playing with the exception of the B above middle-C is played on the left side of the instrument.

Chords and octaves are added, but in that same range or using lower octave notes on the left side along with the melody notes, often also on the left side.

For the Harmonic style, as I understand it, the melody is played on the right side and the chords on the left.  The two styles are very different. 

Since you gave an example of an common polka in the Irish repertoire, I assumed you were playing in the traditional Irish style, not Harmonic.

 

Edited July 25, 2024 by Michael Eskin

[Lakeland Fiddler]

Thanks for the explanation, I wasn't aware of the different styles. Looks like I have a lot to learn! The tune Rakes of Mallow I got from a book of English morris tunes just to confuse matters, as if I need confusing any more. My head is spinning and it's getting late, the caterpillar is going back in it's box and I'm off to bed! 

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

When starting out I taught myself to use as many finger combinations and difficult reaches as I could..little finger right hand to higher notes, for example, so that when I got more advanced, I did not form habit of picking with only a few finger combinations.

It's best to get those habits now as you are early into your learning, and then as you playing improves, you can choose whatever suits your technique 

Really, there is never only one way of playing.  instruments.  Just general acquired wisdom and advice from others. And your own technique too 

 

[AndrewCollins]

To play that sequence in the high octave without jumping your little finger between buttons, you can "move your whole hand up" so play the G with your ring finger, F# with little finger, E with ring finger, D & C with middle finger etc

[Anglo-Irishman]

On 7/25/2024 at 9:54 PM, Lakeland Fiddler said:

I was told in the music shop that if I could play harmonica I would easily adapt to concertina because the notes are all in the same relationship to each other, I've found out since that this is just not true!

 

As I said at the beginning, I'm only at the end of my first week of playing.

I'm afraid I can't just leave that accusation unanswered, @Lakeland Fiddler!

The person in the music shop was simply passing on a piece of information that is universally accepted in the free-reed world.

I personally learnt the mouth organ as a small boy from my father, and later inherited his harmonica, a Hohner Echo Harp in C/G, which I played frequently, if only for my own amusement. When I later acquired a 20-button Anglo - intending to work diligetly and come to grips wth the apparently abstruse arrangement of notes - I was pleasantly surprised that I could play the scales up and down both rows before I had even read the introduction of the instruction manual!

 

I don't know how long you've been playing the harmonica, but you say you're just a week into Anglo. You may yet get that "Eureka!" moment. The common feature is the Richter scale (blow, suck, blow, suck, blow, suck, suck, blow), which is the most effective way of arranging the diatonioc scale on a bisonoric instrument. You'll find it on Bandoneons and melodions, too.

Cheers,

John