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Author Topic: Advice on holding the instrument!  (Read 4809 times)

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Anahata

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Re: Advice on holding the instrument!
« Reply #20 on: January 27, 2013, 03:42:10 PM »

Quote
I shall be putting up some videos on my bog in the near future to show what I'm doing.
TMI!
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Mike Hirst

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Re: Advice on holding the instrument!
« Reply #21 on: January 27, 2013, 04:21:23 PM »

I've just removed the shoulder strap from my one row has I think I think it sounds better played using the thumb strap. Time will tell.

An interesting piece of advice which came to me from renowned Quebecois musician Pillippe Bruneau was to place only the tip of the thumb into the thumbstrap. this gives greater mobility when playing without a shoulder strap. He also pointed out the that Joseph Kimmel played without a shoulder strap, resting the instrument mid bellows on his knee. This technique, enabled through the single or double bellows stiffeners which were commonly found on instruments of that era, alows for equal motion of both ends of the instrument. It is significant to note that the few photos we have of Alfred Montmarquette show his adopting a similar technique, albeit without the advantage of mid bellows ribbing.
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Lester

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Re: Advice on holding the instrument!
« Reply #22 on: January 27, 2013, 11:30:32 PM »

Quote
I shall be putting up some videos on my bog in the near future to show what I'm doing.
TMI!

Comes of posting using an iPhone that is sure it knows better  >:(

Johnf

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Re: Advice on holding the instrument!
« Reply #23 on: January 29, 2013, 03:58:32 PM »

I play a hand-built cajun one-row and use a single strap across the right shoulder as well as a thumb strap. The shoulder strap keeps the instrument stable against gravity and against push strokes, the thumb strap allows you to pull while the left hand bass strap keeps the instrument steady. The instrument is held at an angle with the treble side up.
My thumb is fully inserted into the thumb strap, not just to the first knuckle but all the way to the base of the thumb with the pad on the edge of the keyboard. My thumb strap is made of soft leather and is longer than the ones Hohner installs which is both more comfortable and allows my hand to turn and reach keys as needed. Hohner's are just too tight and the leather too stiff. You may need to adjust the attachment of the thumb strap to find the best position for playing. Again, I find Hohner's position to be a bit off. This is the way all the professional one-row players I know do it.
Then you have the mexican style players, they use two shoulder straps and no thumb strap while playing mostly 3-row boxes. 
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Graham Spencer

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Re: Advice on holding the instrument!
« Reply #24 on: January 29, 2013, 04:20:02 PM »

Hohner thumbstrap leather too stiff? Most of the ones I've chucked away have been plastic.........
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Among others, Saltarelle Pastourelle II D/G; Hohner 4-stop 1-rows in C & G; assorted Hohners; 3-voice German (?) G/C of uncertain parentage; lovely little Hlavacek 1-row Heligonka; B♭/E♭ Koch. Newly acquired G/C Hohner Viktoria. Also Fender Jazz bass, Telecaster, Stratocaster, Epiphone Sheraton, Charvel-Jackson 00-style acoustic guitar, Danelectro 12-string and other stuff..........

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