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Author Topic: Learning to play both sides.  (Read 7335 times)

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Grape Ape

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #20 on: September 10, 2013, 01:02:54 AM »

Art,

Forgive me if any of this is repetitive as I did not read all of the above posts.  I, like GCF Steve, started on a GCF and it was, in fact, a panther.  I found that I naturally played it as two two rows as said above, playing songs on the GC rows and the Cf rows, but never on all three.  I loved the Panther as a first box, and kind of wish I hadn't traded it in on my Lilly ( do not misunderstand I love my Lilly) but wish I had kept the Panther as an outdoor/ campfire accordion.  In my opinion the Panther is tuned wet enough that precise tuning shouldn't be too much of an issue.
As for the basses, for me it came naturally, but I was a drummer in my past (pre melodeon) life, so I may have had an advantage.  Still, I would recommend starting with the left hand and playing some oom pah pahs and just plain oom pahs, not to be mistaken for the little men working in the chocolate factory, and then slowly introducing random notes on the right hand.  Start with long notes that you hold first for several oom pahs, then keep breaking it down until you are changing the treble note for every oompah pah and finally, play one note per each oom and each pah pah. Try counting in your head as you do so, either 1,2,3 or 1,2,3,4. Hope I didn't become too confusing, but that is a simple version of how I taught myself more complex rhythms.
Finally, the music of Yann Tierson can be played just fine on a Panther, but that does not make his songs easy to play.  I learned Valse d'Amelie on my Panther from YouTube videos.
Hope this helps
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deltasalmon

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #21 on: September 10, 2013, 02:18:03 AM »

In my brief time with morris tunes and other more bass heavy tunes I've found the oom-pah comes after a bit of practice but the oom-pah-pah... That's taking a bit more effort
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Grape Ape

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #22 on: September 10, 2013, 02:38:00 AM »

Weirdly, I had the exact opposite problem.
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Chris Ryall

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #23 on: September 10, 2013, 10:21:46 AM »

Lester has enjoined me not to comment on "om pah pah", though I can offer the advice of Stéphane Milleret, who is widely respected as a top "rhythmique" master in France … never "jamais" !

"Om pah" for 2/4 or 4/4 music in contrast has lots of uses, and indeed can be used as the main rhythmic engine driving a reel or hornpipe. I'd have said Morris likes to be played particularly "bass light". The dancers are constantly speeding up and slowing and you need to go along with that?
« Last Edit: September 10, 2013, 05:42:41 PM by Chris Ryall »
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waltzman

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #24 on: September 10, 2013, 04:09:05 PM »

Lester has enjoined me not to comment on "om pah pah", though I can offer the advice of Stéphane Milleret, who is widely respected as a top "rhythmique" master in France … "never"!

But.....you have to learn to do it before you can move beyond it.
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AirTime

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #25 on: September 10, 2013, 04:21:24 PM »

Quote
But.....you have to learn to do it before you can move beyond it.

Yes, I agree &, in any case,  I'm not sure that there's anything you do at the beginning that you can't "move beyond" as you progress, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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george garside

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #26 on: September 10, 2013, 05:31:26 PM »

so do I!
george
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Frank Lee

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #27 on: September 10, 2013, 10:33:50 PM »

When I first started on the box i began learning tunes on the right hand, and used the left hand very sparingly as I couldn't abide the sound of the 'wrong' bass and chords which always seemed unavoidable.  Then the penny dropped, I began not allowing myself to learn any tunes unless I had experimented exhaustively with the left hand for every single note of the melody.  So as you might imagine, progress was slow, but better, I thought, to make slow progress up the right road than quick progress up the wrong one. The process of exploring the 'bass end' was very edifying, and now I find the 'experimenting' process much quicker and more fun. 'Experimenting' includes deciding whether to use the left hand at all of course.
My mantra to all new players now is 'take care of the left hand and the right will take care of itself'.  Yes this means crossing rows, but I never look at my fingers so I'm mostly unaware of which row I'm playing on, and in any case I find the buttons on the outside row just as easy to press as those on the inside row! 
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Grape Ape

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #28 on: September 11, 2013, 01:36:09 AM »

Art,
If it is music like that of Yann Tierson you like, try starting with a simple waltz like Valse Triste.  There are countless videos of this song being played on YouTube, and you can look to see which notes are being played on each hand.  Like I said, try some exercises using the left hand to keep rythem, and then try adding in the right. Slow it way down if need be. It will come to you.
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Steve C.

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #29 on: September 11, 2013, 05:18:45 PM »

If you have the option, turn off your thirds on the chords, makes it a little easier to hit a "correct" one that sounds good.
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btracy

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #30 on: January 16, 2015, 02:17:29 AM »

Watch Les's youtube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dym5vn4STUo&index=3&list=PLicBJYAQHyhSqdeO_K-OmunlJmUE2zRg4

I've learned a lot from watching his amazing videos!
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titch22

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #31 on: January 16, 2015, 06:04:37 PM »

My experience.
I used both hands from the beginning. Because I loved the melodic sound that the Dino Baffetti produced with basses and treble.  It helped me to fall in love with my melodeon.
Learning three tunes kept my moral going. I just wanted to play some tunes.

Then I  wanted  to improve my technique.
So.. . I'm learning to keep the bass notes 'short', but being only 4 months into playing Its not so bad undoing things.
I dare say the learning process will be up and down. But, hey, I still love my melodeon and play it every day. So it works for me.
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Steve C.

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Re: Learning to play both sides.
« Reply #32 on: January 18, 2015, 01:59:40 PM »

As I think back, way back, "oom pah pah" was the best thing since sliced bread about the melodeon, after having an english concertina.
The "one man band" thing was great fun.
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