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Going Dutch

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Squeaky Pete:
I've been trying lots of tunes that I know I can't play anyway, but I've been often frustrated by a couple of reversals I don't have.
Whatever I change to make it available I'm still going to be one note short of my ideal. So just to try it I've flipped the d/e plate and even after pottering only for an hour or so, I can see the possibility.
I've been thinking about redoing the bass which is the same as Saltarelle's to match up with Emmanuel's suggested setup ( basically Casta plus the extra notes to give you fully chromatic bass notes)  and the reversal makes the g/a chord position unnecessary.
Has anyone changed to the Dutch reversal after playing for a while? Is it possible? Is it sensible?
I've never really understood why the Club system didn't go that bit further and do it.

folkloristmark:
You have asked for personal experience so I would say in my journey I also explore Club and dutch reversals and agree it helps in many ways, however remember it changes the flow of the music alot. So you may gain smoothness with less bellows reversals but that can be a loss as well as a gain depending on your approach.The aim would be to be a jack of all trades.Just a cautionary note a three row instrument might seem an improvement but dont forget what a run row can do. Same with the button changes.

JohnAndy:
Yes, I changed to Dutch reversal around December last year, after about 8 years of rather slow progress on the standard system.

I like the new system and I've made enough progress to know that I'm going to stick with it and not revert to the standard system.

But having said that, I've still haven't got back to the level that I was at before I changed. There are many tunes that I used to be able to play, more or less, which I can't do now. I need to relearn them to get my fingers used to the new patterns I have to use.

The change has quite a big impact on the fingering patterns used for tunes that use notes around the area of the changed button, especially when playing in the key of G. Often I find I need an extra finger compared with what I used to need, which can mean that the whole hand position needs to shift up.

It's certainly not a change to be undertaken lightly!

Squeaky Pete:
I'm persevering with this and now I can't really play anything without a mistake. Things can only get better!
I'm learning new little runs and although the push/pull changes occur at different places, I realise I'm not going to have to go to an exclusively cross rowing technique.
One useful thing is that it seems easier to play in C.
Fluency is going to take some time though.
But basically almost every note of the D and G scales is available in two directions. This gives a lot of ways of playing. Up and down the row for D or G, cross rowing G on the push or pull, crossrowing D on the pull or (almost) on the push.
There's always a direction to get a note or phrase that fits over the required bass. Push/pull is almost always there to keep the melodeon feel too.
It must be painful to listen to at the moment, but the more I explore the more I see the possibility.

Steve_freereeder:
I have an E/D Dutch reversal on my DG Mory, but it is the middle button on the half-row. The main G-row is the standard layout. It's the best of both worlds; the E/D is very useful in some tunes and runs. But I wouldn't like it if it were to be the only option. I stick with the conventional layout for my 2-row boxes.

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