I'm right with the ultra-stlish Ian on the chord thing: once I got a feel for structure and playing chords (or maybe more accurately, "blends"), I learned a lot faster.
My favorite way to learn, more or less: Pick a song. Make a CD of every version of the song I have, using Audacity to change ones in a different key to a key appropriate to the C box. Throughout the day, as I'm riding around in my truck from job to job, I start by listening, listening, listening. Then I start chording with the songs, so I get a feel for the songs and their structure (there's a little "essay" I wrote at the bottom of the homepage about how to do this). Then my learning splits into a couple of different avenues:
1) After chording with them for a while, I find that my fingers want to do things on their own, of their own, ahem, accord, as it were, and I'll start adding in licks, maybe ones I didn't know before, maybe ones that I've used elsewhere, maybe ones I'm hearing in the song.
2) I'll finds different versions or different licks from the different versions I've recorded that I'm drawn to, that I REALLY want to do, so I'll start picking them apart to try to get them JUST like the original. Maybe I'll be able to figure them out on my own, maybe I'll employ Audacity again, this time to really SLOW them down, and add a 60% or an 80% version (which is often an enjoyable speed to play them) to the CD to play along with to get it. Every once in a while, I'll have to go to 40% or even lower to pick out a tricky part. I call this "taking it back to the lab and dissecting it".
*HINT* Sometimes I'll get a lick, but think "Dam, that's an awkward way to play that lick. How does he do that?" Well, in many cases, he's NOT doing that. Oh, he's playing the same lick, alright, but he's doing it a different way, using different fingering. There's more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak, on these licks, meaning there's maybe 3 different fingerings or more to get the same notes. If the way you chose is especially awkward, chances are that's not the way they're doing it. Experimenting and watching a video, if one is available, can help.
When in doubt, I pray to God and Chris Miller. Unlike God, Chris Miller often answers . . . Yeah, Chris may be #2 behind God, but I believe he's gaining on Him . . .
I don't know if you're at a place on your journey that the above helps, but I hope so. If I can help in any way, let me know. Feel free to call for questions and/or therapy.
Essential to the whole process, as I believe Jim Pettijohn pointed out: TIME! you gotta put in the time, LOTS of it. Having played piano accordion (and very well, I might add) gives you a HUGE advantage. Play the hell out of a song, inside, outside, upside down. Then move on to another, and do the same. You'll find that one informs the other. Stick to it. You gonna be a good'un
Incidentally, I took a bunch of time I didn't have, to reply to your initial post on this thread a long time ago, with another long post - but then the computer rejected my post, calling it "SPAM", and I lost the whole dam thing! Aaaargh! I was so disheartened (and busy - still am; landscaper in Spring, y'know) that it's taken me 'til now to get back around to it.
He's busy as a house on fire, but Chris Miller is probably the best person in the history of the universe (and no, I'm not exaggerating) to answer this question. I can't say enough good things about his abilities and his ability to teach, a rare combination. I agree with Jim Pettitjohn about teachers from outside the culture - Dirk Powell, Jonno Frishberg, and our own Big Nick are outstanding - but Chris is the gold standard. No one plays better, and no one teaches better, period, in my humble experience. And he's a really good guy, to boot. We are VERY lucky to have him weighing in on this board now and again. I'd be interested to know how he'd answer this question, if he has the time . . .
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
