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[katesfolly]

I knew that tune needed something--a silent "gh" apparently.   

[pikey]

I find a lot of one-row players are generally stable. With the occasional exception.....

[ButtonBox21]

I had the same stability problem when playing a one row box. I found it very uncomfortable resting the lower corner on my left thigh and it still wobbled. I found a two strap setup to be the ideal solution. It stabilized the accordion and eliminated the need for a thumb strap, which I never, ever use. I found that playing with two straps with my arms at a ninety degree angle was very comfortable to play, both sitting and standing. By not using the thumb strap, I don't have to bend the wrist at weird angles when playing, instead I am free to move my hand up and down the key board, the way I would on any diatonic accordion. This eliminated the pain in my wrist and improved my playing accuracy.  I don't care how whimpy or silly it may look, I am more interested in what works in helping to improve my playing technique. Please consider using a two strap setup with the box slightly left of center on your chest with both arms at about a 90 degree bend and you may find this a very comfortable position to play. I would recommend this for any button accordion. It sure helped me. 

[TomBom]

I am also playing - more likely learning to play - a one row using two shoulder straps. Thought I am the only one. Now we are at least two ...

[Ebor_fiddler]

3!

[TomBom]

Actually 4! - I overlooked the 3rd post of this topic.

[Chris Ryall]

How many use the thumb strap? i found it totally impossible, especially if you venture to 2nd octav, always took them off. made my thumb ache.

Post #4 noted, and put on account as our ante.

[Lester]

How many use the thumb strap? i found it totally impossible, especially if you venture to 2nd octav, always took them off. made my thumb ache.

Post #4 noted, and put on account as our ante.

Me - Video or even better still as it uses all the dusty end buttons - Video

Prefer it to straps on a 1 Row myself but wont force the view on anyone else 

[rees]

How many use the thumb strap? i found it totally impossible, especially if you venture to 2nd octav, always took them off. made my thumb ache.

Post #4 noted, and put on account as our ante.

Me - Video or even better still as it uses all the dusty end buttons - Video

Prefer it to straps on a 1 Row myself but wont force the view on anyone else 

Single strap man here.

[Chris Ryall]

I refuse to count Lester twice, despite his present Odessy, so that's 2 using hitchhiker methodology …

[ed] reading again, looks that Rees is a one strap chap like me. Think he was that at Dungworth last week, but was listening, not looking.

Back to 1 and counting …

[deltasalmon]

I play melodeons with the number of shoulder straps equalling the number of rows on the melodeon minus one.

1 row, no shoulder strap
2 row, one shoulder strap
3 row, two shoulder straps (rarely played but when I do 2 straps)

[gmatkin]

I guess I should chip in here, since I've been mentioned. I play two-rows using only the thumb strap and although nothing is over rigid in my playing I think the videos I've put on Youtube show that the right hand of my melodeon is not unstable.

I do it because I like both the look of it (definitely old fashioned!), because I feel it has a particular quality of sound that I like (there's something expressive about it, but I can't tell you what or why), and because I tend to know where I am on the keyboard from the thumb position.

As for how I do it, the trick with a loose strap seems to be to set the thumbstrap so that the thumb doesn't slip straight out on the pull. With a leather strap that can be achieved pretty easily by adding a few stitches a little way in from the end until it seems right.

Using the thumbstrap doesn't seem to affect my ability to play two and a half row boxes with a single shoulder strap, though I do appreciate the knurled button of my declubbed Modell 1. Hope that helps...

[Lester]

<snip>
I feel it has a particular quality of sound that I like - there's something expressive about, but I can't tell you why.

That's why I play my 1 row on the thumb strap, and I can't explain it either 

[Bob Ellis]

I use the thumb strap and a single shoulder strap when playing a one-row, but use two shoulder straps and no thumb strap when playing a two- or three-row. I have a good level of stability with the two-strap method, but I am still looking to improve the stability when playing my one-row boxes.

A few days ago, I had the enormous pleasure of attending a Cajun dance (or fais-do-do) in Farndale on the North Yorkshire Moors at which the brilliant Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys played. I watched Steve's style closely. He plays using the thumb strap and a single shoulder strap but I noticed that for much of the time only the tip of his thumb was braced against the end of his accordion. I can see how that would make it easier to access the low-note buttons at the chin end of the instrument, but I am not sure that it will improve the stability, unless his thumb is a lot stronger than mine! Having only just returned home from Farndale this evening, I will try to emulate Steve's technique tomorrow and see whether it helps.

[KLR]

I have tried lengthening and shortening the shoulder strap, playing with and without the thumb strap and using Lester's strap around the upper arm. Some of these things made the problem worse, but none of them improved it to any appreciable extent. Can anyone suggest anything else that might help?

The other day I tried putting the legs through the straps.  I can't have weight on my shoulders or I get nasty pinched nerves etc.  Today I punched a bunch of holes in a couple of short sections of thick leather, to act as a connection between the bottom parts of a pair of shoulder straps which are what's attached to the case (the part of the straps that's not the long/wide part that goes over the shoulders).  Really seems to work.

For a while I used the kind of of straps you find on laptop computer carrying bags etc.  These are length adjustable and attach with metal snaps. These would go around the chest.  One problem with these is they'll scratch up your case unless you block the metal snaps with leather etc.  I'd still get a bit of a cramp in my right arm too.  Doesn't help that I really go nuts when I play...also perhaps there's some nerves that are connected throughout there, from the chest to the hands.  It does happen, the human body's pretty complex to say the least.

Putting the legs through the shoulder straps seems to work even better for me, near as I can tell at this stage anyway.  The hands are wholly divorced from holding the accordion this way - I don't need to use the thumb to brace things at all, freeing it up to whack accidentals or...non-accidentals, I guess you'd call them.   

Having the box up against the body doesn't seem to be what causes these cramps, either.  Look at pics of PA/CBA players, they don't have the case a mile away like some melodeonists do and often have their arms at all kinds of sickening angles, but aren't killing themselves by any means if they have a good setup going.  I think the reason we brace with the thumb/hold the box at length/etc is mostly up to tradition, and that the case of the instrument is smaller/lighter than the big accordions.  Proof of this to me is the fact that with the box strapped tight up against the body you can move the bellows all day long with just the left arm, thumb need not apply.  Now if someone would just make an oversized extra heavy button accordion...

So, there's a couple of very unconventional approaches you might give a shot at.  Don't know how they rank on the macho-girly spectrum.     One thing I'll tell you is now I can squeeze the box loud enough to peel paint.     Can play it quiet as a whisper if need be, too.  Control's better all around. 

[syale]

Thumb strap for me and no shoulder straps. Pick it up and play, no fuss!

[Chris Ryall]

Nice pic from yesterdays FB, Bryony Griffiths, Will Hampson, and Oakwood at Oxford. it is also a nice study of melodeon holding (thumb onto egde) and happens to be the way I hold my kit if stood up.

More commonly I like to sit (ex-broken leg issues) and have lower edge on a knee, stopping wobble. I have a slight issue with the van der Aa which tends to turn about a vertical axis when played "at speed".  Am trying to control this using knee and thumb, but if that fails I'll move the strap slightly, nearer the centre of mass, needs a bit of thought though

One-rows?  The same