Hello. I've been lurking since not long after I got bit by the old-timey cajun/creole bug about five years ago. After getting the fever bad I bought a Hohner C114 from Savoy Music Center, but haven't yet learned to play it. Curiously, my first correspondence to the CADG is not a query regarding the accordion, but one concerning an old fiddle number that I really like, called "La Danseuse" by Delma Lachney & Uncle Blind Gaspard. I want to learn to play it on the mandolin, which is commonly tuned like a fiddle in standard tuning. Before I start off down the wrong trail, I'd like to know if Lachney played it in standard tuning, or if he was in an open tuning of some kind?
Also, when one day (soon?) I take that Hohner out of the box again, will I be better served by it if I send it to one of you guys and have the bass spoons replaced by buttons?
I've really enjoyed lurking and learning here. Thanks.
If this link or copy & paste doesn't work, look up La Danseuse on YT (the recording is attached to a goofy vid which can be (and maybe should be) ignored:
Ah, i heard that one before ... i think it's played in F (major scale) on a normal tuned fiddle, as i think i hear an open A string in there, but it could be played on a FCGD tuned fiddle too; then it is as if you're playing in the key of G. - Nout
Thanks again, Fiddler2007. Standard tuning it is. I really don't want to spend a lot of time trying to work out something that isn't going to work out in standard tuning. I think I'll be able to figure out the guitar chord shapes and work it out from there.
Thanks, Mr. Guy for the common sense advice about the bass box. I'm sure to get hungry sooner or later; I'll learn how to use the spoons.
Thanks to Big Nick & everyone for this website. It's a great resource for anyone interested in learning about and/or how to play this wonderful music.
(Hmmmmm? Now I'm wondering if this tune can be played on the accordion? (Oh well, back to the lurker's corner.)