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Author Topic: Two Fingers or Four?  (Read 6233 times)

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hibbs3

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Two Fingers or Four?
« on: May 05, 2010, 09:35:43 PM »

If anything, it should be easier, as your 'main' buttons for playing C/G chords and bass are now played by fingers 1 and 2 which are far stronger than fingers 3 and 4 which you would normally be using on an 8 bass box.

Excuse the minor thread drift, but do you think most people use alternating sets of fingers for pairs of bass buttons more (i.e. index and middle for one pair, ring and pinky for another), or the same two fingers for playing bass buttons? I found it much easier (and accurate ??? ) just sticking with my two more powerful left hand fingers for bass...
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Owen Woods

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Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2010, 12:22:21 AM »

If anything, it should be easier, as your 'main' buttons for playing C/G chords and bass are now played by fingers 1 and 2 which are far stronger than fingers 3 and 4 which you would normally be using on an 8 bass box.

Excuse the minor thread drift, but do you think most people use alternating sets of fingers for pairs of bass buttons more (i.e. index and middle for one pair, ring and pinky for another), or the same two fingers for playing bass buttons? I found it much easier (and accurate ??? ) just sticking with my two more powerful left hand fingers for bass...

Ooh, can of worms :P I'd start a new thread if I were you. I subscribe to the four fingered approach, each pair of fingers controlling a 2*2 block of buttons.
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LJC

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Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2010, 08:57:02 AM »

If you've got 4 fingers (and I assume most people do) then you might as well make use of them! But I agree, a new thread is in order if this needs to be taken further.
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Theo

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2010, 09:30:11 AM »

... I agree, a new thread is in order ...

There you go:
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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2010, 10:34:57 AM »

do you think most people use alternating sets of fingers for pairs of bass buttons more (i.e. index and middle for one pair, ring and pinky for another), or the same two fingers for playing bass buttons? .

Don't forget there is also the 3 finger method, which is an effective compromise for people like me who just can't get their tiny pinkies to reach the inside basses.
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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2010, 10:49:13 AM »

rather than having separate camps for 2 or 4 fingerists ( & perhaps another camp for 3 fingerists)  why not take the simple approoach and  use whichever finger fits the job best for you,bearing   in ;mind that this may vary from tune to tune  and whether  the box has 8, 12 or even more bass buttons.

george
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juker

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2010, 10:49:53 AM »

Four fingers for me. I find it natural and easy to have them sitting over the buttons. I guess it depends on how you learn and I had never seen anyone play with only two fingers when I started. Also, having played the piano when I was much younger, using all the fingers you can seems the obvious thing to do.
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michik

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2010, 11:01:13 AM »

I have started using all 4 fingers from the beginning ... This was obvious for me because I'm using also all 4 fingers on the same hand playing the melody on my hurdy gurdy.
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TonyRussellDavis

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2010, 11:15:10 AM »

Never really thought about this, but tried it and it turns out I use two fingers!
Is that unusual on a four stop? BLT ::)
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LJC

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2010, 01:30:55 PM »

I think use of 4 fingers becomes even more important if you start using the basses for melodic ideas or moving bass lines. Jumping around with one or two fingers is never going to give you the flexibility to play quickly and fluently.
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Howard Jones

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2010, 01:40:01 PM »

I've always used 3 fingers - not sure why, because as a guitarist before I started melodeon I already had fairly good control over the little finger.  I think it's because it seems a bit of a stretch to reach the furthest button with the little finger, but I don't think I really thought about it, I just did what felt natural.

I agree with LJC that using only 2 fingers could restrict you if you move on to more complex bass arrangements.  I find I can get around all the bass buttons fine with three fingers.

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?/1040
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2010, 02:23:54 PM »

I'm not sure if I'm replying to the right thread, but here goes.  The way my "inverted" 1040 works out for me is that it puts little finger and ring finger on the G/C pair, and index and middle finger on the F/F pair, so the "strongest" fingers are on the "third" chord.  This is the first time I've played a four bass box, so the whole arrangement is new anyway.  I'm not quite sure why it seems odd, as I usually use all four fingers on the bass end of an eight bass box.  Perhaps its just the business of having the F/F chord up at the top of the bass end that's taking some getting used to.  On an eight bass box the third chord is either down, or over.  There are two practical results of the new arrangement at present: 1.  I have to do a little bit of remapping to remember where things are with my left hand.  2.  I've found a couple of places in some familiar tunes where I wouldn't have thought to put a particular chord that actually sound quite nice. 
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LDbosca

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2010, 02:53:54 PM »

Three: I reckon the pinky's a bit weak for doing the kind of rapid light playing needed in ITM, though maybe some people don't find this. Two wouldn't be enough because then I couldn't press three buttons at the same time for A7sus4 and so forth.

Chris Ryall

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2010, 04:13:34 PM »

Four fingers is correct technique and you should practice to achieve it if you can. It is difficult to achieve a 'walking' bass otherwise and your pinkie will strengthen soon enough if you use it. The same appies to right hand incidentally.
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LJC

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2010, 04:53:16 PM »

Many years playing fretted instruments gave me a head star with my left hand, but from experience fingers do strengthen up remarkably quickly assuming that you are playing/practicing regulary and are aiming for good relaxed technique to prevent strain or damage whilst doing repetative movements.
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LDbosca

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #15 on: May 06, 2010, 06:03:30 PM »

Four fingers is correct technique and you should practice to achieve it if you can. It is difficult to achieve a 'walking' bass otherwise and your pinkie will strengthen soon enough if you use it. The same appies to right hand incidentally.

I reckon there's very, very few times when the pinky's needed, I suppose one of them is the very-occasionally required (in the music I play) walking - the scale of C on the basses up to G requires it. I don't see any need to make it part of general technique although if you do it already its a positive not a negative. I generally encourage the use of all fingers etc in playing but a classical accordion teacher I had once reckoned that sometimes it makes more sense to rely on the stronger fingers.

Given the limitations of the basses on diatonic boxes I reckon technique employed will have relatively little consequence to ones playing.

Lester

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #16 on: May 06, 2010, 06:03:39 PM »

Four fingers is correct technique and you should practice to achieve it if you can. It is difficult to achieve a 'walking' bass otherwise and your pinkie will strengthen soon enough if you use it. The same appies to right hand incidentally.

Chris

I am sure you meant four fingers are A correct technique and you may CHOOSE to practice to achieve it!

Lester

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #17 on: May 06, 2010, 06:06:45 PM »

Don't forget there is also the 3 finger method, which is an effective compromise for people like me who just can't get their tiny pinkies to reach the inside basses.

I should state that I am a strict 2 finger guys so please ignore if you wish.

I have tried 4 and could not get on with it as the pinky is too short. So I tried 3 which just did my head it, I have Omm fingers and Pah fingers but with three fingers they change, that leads to madness   (:)

Stiamh

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #18 on: May 06, 2010, 06:14:10 PM »

I wondered about adopting a 4-finger technique when I got a 12-bass box. It seemed logical that that being able to use the little finger would be more important and useful than on an 8-bass box. But it proved physically impossible for me to operate the inside bottom pair with my little finger and still be able to use the air button (I have large palms but shortish fingers), so I gave up trying and went back to 2.

Since I use 3 fingers to get around 21 or 23 buttons on the r/h, 2 fingers for 12 buttons on the bass is almost a luxury.  ;)

waltzman

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Re: Two Fingers or Four?
« Reply #19 on: May 06, 2010, 06:37:33 PM »

I wondered about adopting a 4-finger technique when I got a 12-bass box. It seemed logical that that being able to use the little finger would be more important and useful than on an 8-bass box. But it proved physically impossible for me to operate the inside bottom pair with my little finger and still be able to use the air button (I have large palms but shortish fingers), so I gave up trying and went back to 2.

Since I use 3 fingers to get around 21 or 23 buttons on the r/h, 2 fingers for 12 buttons on the bass is almost a luxury.  ;)



I've played guitar for years so I'm used to using the little finger and I thought it was pretty strong but I just couldn't 'pop' the bass the way I wanted on my Erica. I think Hohners in general have fairly heavy springs on the basses. I could reach it but it was mostly a strength issue, so I've opted for a three finger solution.
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