Hey, keyboard players, can you play in a real accordion?...

[Johnny1982]

...a lot of keyboard players play real accordions as well, I can't... It feels so strange in my right hand, because of the different hand position, and I really have a a hard time hitting the buttons in the left hand, lol

 

For all of you who have tried or played a real accordion, how is it for you?

[Stephen Fortner]

Ernie Rideout can, I know that. He's actually something of an accordian enthusiast.

[Sven Golly]

I play both piano accordion and button box. The biggest challenge for me was manipulating the bellows to ensure enough air flows to keep the note sounding (in the case of the piano accordion), and both bellows control and remembering what note combinations are what for push/pull (in the case of the button box).

 

I'm not a virtuoso on either one by any means, but I get by in my Celtic/Folk project.

 

Cheers,

SG

[resigned]

My wife can play an accordian - I know this because I've seen her accordian and pix of her playing it. But she's too intimidated to play in front of me so I've never heard her. Silly but I can't get her to play the darn thing.

[Dreamer]

Actually the accordion was my first instrument; I used to play it when I was maybe 8 or 9; then I started playing the piano and, when I was 14 or 15, switched to the guitar, because at the time it was cool being able to play one. I have never touched an accordion after I came of age; funny thing is, I got to play one after maybe thirty years last month of July, while I was on holiday in Brazil... and it was fun.

Life can be strange, sometimes.

[Dave Horne]

I also started on the accordion. I stayed with it for about six months and then switched to organ (and then later to the piano). I believe I attended the Stan Kowalski School of Music (in Philadelphia), ... really.

 

For some, a real accordionist can play the kind with buttons for both hands. I don't miss that instrument at all and now would find it limiting.

 

I've made it clear to my wife, when I die I do not want any bagpipe or accordion music. I forgot to her about the banjo as well. (Make note, tell wife about banjo.)

[Sven Golly]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

For some, a real accordionist can play the kind with buttons for both hands. I don't miss that instrument at all and now would find it limiting.

http://www.hohnerusa.com/Accordionimages/adiatonic_Panther-accordion.gif

 

The button box is what I play sometimes with my Celtic project... I don't consider myself a real accordionist by any stretch, though...

 

Cheers,

SG

[MikeT156]

I started on the accordian when I was about 8 years old. Took lessons for about 3 or 4 years and bagged it. A lot of parents during the fifties in the USA had their kids take accordian lessons. I hated that instrument. To me it was a form of punishment.

 

The position of the keys wasn't difficult to get use to, I never played anything else up until that point, so what did I know.

 

 

Mike T.

[JimmyJimJim]

Urk, one of the worst thing's i've ever heard was a childrens Accordion Orchestra. Wow.

 

They're pretty cool in their own way though. Hey have any of you checked out the Roland V-Accordion? There were probably some threads about it when it came out. Well a chick i work with plays one, and the sound is pretty amazing! It would be fun to hook it up as a midi controller because it has very unique expressive qualities...

[Dave Horne]

I grew up with guys who would play the Cordavox. That was pre midi and was an accordion hooked up to what was essentially the guts of a Lowery organ. Many wedding bands had the Cordavox as their keyboard and bass.

 

I was friends with a Bob Whitington who played one and lost contact with him. He would be almost 60 and I have never been able to locate him even with all the resources we have today.

[Patrick.Randall]

Accordians aren't legal here in Florida. There is a bumper sticker distributed by the Police - "Play an Accordian, Go to Jail - That's the Law"

[Ricochet]

Closest I come to one is a melodica.

[Sven Golly]

Originally posted by Patrick.Randall:

Accordians [sic] aren't legal here in Florida.

Neither is spelling, apparently.

 

Cheers,

SG

[Dave Pierce]

I dinked with one when I was a kid, but I've never really played one seriously. When I was in my multi-instrument learning phase as a teenager, the cool factor was definitely missing.

 

Now that I don't really care if other people think I'm cool or not, I've come to really enjoy the accordion playing in Ranchera music (or Mexican folk music). It's really simple music, with really simple changes, but some of those guys just SMOKE the accordion!

 

--Dave

[bloodyMary]

My dad is a professional bayan (sort of accordion, with black and white buttons instead of the piano-type keyboard) i it's a hell of an instrument - it's got registers, sounds something like a church/pipe organ, it's VERY hard to play.

 

I've got an accordion too (the one with piano keys on the right), I tried playing it, not too hard, some practice would do it. The drawback was - it's not chromatic on the left side, so I can't use it in my heavy metal band (no joke, we've got a song with accordion part) - we play a transposed tuning (guitars in Eb),and it's impossible to play the required part (in Ab) with the left hand, so I must use the sample in my rompler.

 

I find the accordion (and especially it's big bro, the bayan) very unique instrument, here in Israel many pop music producers use it (we're kinda close to Italy, and the whole MiddleSea culture is native here). There are also accordion classes at music schools and accordion orchesras.

[acctjm]

I took 9 years of accordion lessons, then switched to organ/piano to play in rock bands, and didn't play accordion for 30 years. When I picked it up again it was like I never stopped (like riding a bike).

 

I love it for the expressive control the bellows gives me.

 

I'm actually much more comfortable playing accordion. I was never able to get my left hand up to speed compared to my right when playing piano/organ.

 

acctjm

[Pursuitboy]

I also started on the accordion at the age of 9. I remember playing,"I want to hold your hand" (Beatles) and other early 60's Brit Invasion songs. Used to piss off my instructor because I would'nt take my lessons seriously. He said I wouldn't amount to anything.............he was right.

Moved up to a Cordovox which was the cats meow,(builds strong shoulders) In 1983 when the DX7 came out life changed forever. Bought that and a Roland Juno 106 with a midi cord and it has been equipment gas ever since. Thank God my wife is so understanding!

 

Gary

[Rick K.]

I inherited one from my Grandfather. I've messed with it from time to time, but never really got that serious. I did whip it out when I lived in Albuquerque and played it for a gig. Geez...did I suck.

[Dave Horne]

My wife plays the accordion and plays in an accordion orchestra. (Don't pass this information around.) At any rate, the leader of this group just bought the Rolls Royce of accordions, a Victoria which is made in Italy. It takes three months to complete an order and when it's ready you spend a week near the factory playing it while they make the final adjustments. He ordered the accordion keyboard with 47 notes and can play the span of an octave and a fifth.

 

I'll take 88 keys any day with a smaller span. I don't know the cost of his accordion but we guessed it was about 8,000 Euros. That's just a guess.

[yannis D]

My 2 euros

I play some accordion but i'm far from being an accomplished accordion player. My right hand is OK, but playin' the bass buttons is still hard for me (so, i try to play some basic bass and leave the bass player in my band do the rest).

BTW, i would like to suggest a great accordion player to all fellow forumites: his name is Guy Klusevsek, he's American and records for "Winter & Winter Records". Check his style out, he's amazing

Regards

Yannis

[Gulliver]

All accordions should be forbidden.

 

[Dreamer]

Originally posted by Gulliver:

All accordions should be forbidden.

 

Don't you like a French Musette?

[Alexander Nagel]

A thread about accordion and nobody has mentioned Tango up to now? Unbelievable... Admittedly, Tango is usually played on a bandoneon but an accordion comes quite close to that sound.

 

I've been playing piano in a Tango band for some years now, and was very lucky to find a cheap used "Hohner Verdi III" accordion (http://www.bhp-weisshaar.de/haupt_verdi3n.htm) for only 350 euros.

 

I've been practising for about 2 months now and I'm still having some trouble getting that left hand right, but the right hand works quite well. Sure, the different hand position needs time to get used to, but after some houers of playing I feel quite okay with it. The left hand is a harder task. It's really simple to understand the layout of the buttons, but it's incomparably harder to hit the right buttons... I started practising in front of a mirror so I could see what mya left hand was doing :-)

 

But altogether it's worth the effort as it really sounds great for Tango music and similar sentimental music styles.

 

This is a short accordian improvisation over a simple Tango-like piano waltz theme I've recently recorded:

 

http://www.alex-nagel.de/temp/accordion.mp3

 

It's far from perfect but I simply love that sound for soloing. The great thing is you can (and should!) change the sound AFTER having pressed the key using more or less air pressure to get that tremolo effect.

 

Regards, Alex

[Dreamer]

Well,

accordions are used also a lot in Tex-Mex music; Ry Cooder uses them and, if you listen to the latest CD by Michael Bublè, there is an accordion as well, playing in the background in "Home"; I think that it adds to the overall atmosphere of the song.

[Dave Horne]

A man parks his car in a rough part of town with two accordions on the back seat and neglects to lock his car. A few minutes later he realizes his car is unlocked and runs back as fast as he can. When he returns he discovers yet a third accordion piled on top of the others.

[guestuserguestuser.com]

I've only played one once or twice in my life. The last time was on a gig in a restaurant, years ago, the leader of the gig had an accordian, and at one point during the gig, we were supposed to walk around to the tables, and play requests for people right next to their tables. Yuck.

 

I grudgingly went along with this nonsense, and made my best attempt to play the thing - it was the kind with a keyboard, not buttons.

 

What I noticed was that within minutes, my back was sore as hell. Those things are heavy! And then you're moving the bellows in and out with your left hand, your back is in an awkward position. I have a tendency towards back problems, so that was the last time I play an accordian. Accordianists, I admire your back strength.

[RudyS]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

I don't know the cost of his accordion but we guessed it was about 8,000 Euros. That's just a guess.

Dave, I think it is much more.

My father plays accordian, and his is already 4000 euro's, and from what I know, it isn't THAT special. His teacher has a accordian that cost around 12000 euro's or so.. (it doesn't even has a pitchbend!!!)

[Bartolomeo]

I experimented with one for a while and learned several things.

 

1. Nearly all used accordions are junk. If you are going to play well you have to buy a new or near-new one, and that costs real money, just like any other instrument.

 

2. Accordions are style specific. If you want to play tex-mex music you need a different accordion than one you would use to play folk music.

 

3. No accordion has the compass (range from lowest to highest note) or wide variety of sounds that a good organ or synth has.

 

4. There is considerable effort in the transition from keyboards to accordions. Piano accordions don't usually have the standard spacing between keys, the bass is all different, and you have to learn to use the bellows expressively and without running out of air.

 

5. Most of the serious virtuoso playing being done today is being done on chromatic button accordions. The piano accordion is increasingly being seen as a useless compromise by serious players.

 

6. The accordion does not lend itself equally well to all styles. Unless you can find a style you really care about, and get the right sidemen, you're not going to have much fun (let alone get out of the garage).

 

7. The popularity of the accordion in its heyday was due to the fact that it could be carried by one person and in the hands of a competent player provide passable dance music unaccompanied. Therefore it became part of the music of many immigrant groups chiefly due to logistics and financial considerations. These reasons no longer apply now that we have portable keyboards.

 

Bartolomeo

[Ed Coury]

Originally posted by Johnny1982:

Keyboard Corner » Hey, keyboard players, can you play in a real accordion?...

I have not been able to play "in" a real accordion -- they are much to small...

[kad]

Ever heard any of Art Van Damme's stuff? The man is just sickening - he can burn like Oscar Peterson but on accordian!