James Lin Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Hi everyone, I’m currently learning the concertina and still at a beginner level. I have two 20-button Anglo concertinas: one in D/A one in C/G I’d like to ask for recommendations on suitable tunes or pieces for practice, especially ones that work well on a 20-button instrument. Beginner-friendly folk tunes, traditional melodies, or simple exercises would all be very helpful. I’m mainly focusing on basic fingering and bellows control at the moment. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
jkmelb Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Try the "20 button anglo tutor" here... https://concertina.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/00-00-Anglo-Conc-Tutor.pdf And here are the accompanying recordings... https://concertina.org/alan-days-anglo-concertina-tutor/ 1 1
SIMON GABRIELOW Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Oh, that concertina ( in the image) is identical to my first one; a Kligenthal made 20 button in C and G. I started on basic tunes, some from music really intended for other instruments I also found a good starter, (eg.. recorder music, because the range often seems to suit ).. also some books with short pieces, like Scottish tunes, and so on..It spurred me on to learn to transpose tunes, to fit the instrument, until I got my more chromatic concertina years later. You don't have to aim to be fast .. just practice, and develop at your own pace..🌝
Roger Hare Posted January 19 Posted January 19 (edited) Alan Day's jolly good tutor is aimed at C/G, but of course, you can simply use the same fingering on your D/A and get the tunes a tone higher. However, I did create a short selection of tunes in D/A for a new player about 6 weeks ago - and didn't keep the file - damn! I will ask if he can send a copy back to me, or try and re-create the file and post some tunes in D/A here - watch this space... As you are located in Germany, I'm guessing that the D/A is a Scholer made in what was once the DDR? Edited January 19 by Roger Hare 1
David Barnert Posted January 19 Posted January 19 7 hours ago, jkmelb said: Try the "20 button anglo tutor" here... https://concertina.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/00-00-Anglo-Conc-Tutor.pdf And here are the accompanying recordings... https://concertina.org/alan-days-anglo-concertina-tutor/ This is sort of backwards. The recording came first and IS the tutor. When people begged for notation for the tunes on the recording we provided it. 1
James Lin Posted January 19 Author Posted January 19 9 hours ago, jkmelb said: Try the "20 button anglo tutor" here... https://concertina.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/00-00-Anglo-Conc-Tutor.pdf And here are the accompanying recordings... https://concertina.org/alan-days-anglo-concertina-tutor/ Thanks for the links — very helpful! 7 hours ago, Roger Hare said: Alan Day's jolly good tutor is aimed at C/G, but of course, you can simply use the same fingering on your D/A and get the tunes a tone higher. However, I did create a short selection of tunes in D/A for a new player about 6 weeks ago - and didn't keep the file - damn! I will ask if he can send a copy back to me, or try and re-create the file and post some tunes in D/A here - watch this space... As you are located in Germany, I'm guessing that the D/A is a Scholer made in what was once the DDR? Thank you very much for the D/A tunes! and yes, that’s correct — it’s a DDR-made concertina.
Anglo-Irishman Posted January 19 Posted January 19 Moin, James! You're learning the concertina, living in Hamburg, and looking for easy beginner tunes? For me, that adds up to "Shanties" (or, as the English purists would say, shanties and forebitters.) I found the best tunes for learning the concertina (or any instrument) are ones that you already know, and can sing or hum. For me that meant folk-songs, including sailors' songs, and I found that the 20-button DDR concertina that I had at te time was ideal for those. The first title that comes to mind is, of course, "Hamborger Veermaster," which fits on one row of the concertina. Another really simple one is the shanty "Drunken Sailor." "Rolling Home" is also well known in Germany, and could be your first tune that needs buttons from both rows (I play it in C, but have to play an F# in the G-row at one point). If you need to refresh your memory, I can recommend a German pocket song-book: Maybe you can find it in a Hamburg music shop or on Kleinanzeigen. You'll find the three songs I mentioned, all playable in the version in the book on the C-row of your concertina. And many more, for later ...😉 Cheers, John
jkmelb Posted January 19 Posted January 19 There are a lot of Irish tunes in C and G major (or A and E minor). And quite a few in D major that don't use a C#. Here in Australia the standard Irish tune book is "Begged, borrowed and stolen"... https://melbournecomhaltas.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/003-Begged-Borrowed-Stolen-July-2021-C.pdf
Roger Hare Posted January 19 Posted January 19 (edited) On 1/19/2026 at 12:23 AM, Roger Hare said: I did create a short selection of tunes in D/A for a new player about 6 weeks ago - and didn't keep the file... I will...try and re-create the file and post some tunes in D/A here - watch this space... And I decided to do the job 'properly', so I now have a rather larger number of tunes suitable for a D/A Anglo than I anticipated - 7,000+ in fact! Attached a random(-ish) sample of ~1% of those tunes. Tunes in D followed by tunes in A. Some may not be entirely suitable for a new player, but who knows...🙂 The attachments are: 1) A PDF file 2) A zipped directory containing a simple MIDI sound file for each tune 3) The ABC file for the whole thing - for those who are that way inclined. Any questions, please ask. Any tunes you would particularly like to see/hear, please ask, and you can have 'em if I've got 'em...🙂 ____________________________ Later thoughts: I already have a (rather crude/empirical) program which automatically generates tune books for 20/30 button G/D, Bb/F and C/G Anglos. It does generate some 'false positives'...😕. I think I may try to add D/A to the repertoire, and try to filter out the 'false positives' at the same time... DATunes.pdf DATunes.zip DATunes.abc Edited January 20 by Roger Hare
Caroline Posted January 22 Posted January 22 If you want some video lessons, I highly recommend Caitlin Nic Gabhann's course at www.irishconcertinalessons.com. You can complete almost the entire beginner course with your 20-button concertina; the beginner course only has a few tunes that are in D, and of those, I think only two or three require the use of the C#. I don't believe she teaches any ornamentation in the beginners course.
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