Well BILL, if it's bull****, then call Larry Miller maker of the BON CAJUN accordion and tell him it's bull****. Before we had all these fancy strobe tuners and such, THE NUMBER 1 KEY ON THE CAJUN ACCORDION WAS USED FOR TUNING PURPOSES. IT'S PURPOSE WAS TO HELP YOU RE-TUNE YOUR ACCORDION. That is directly from Mr. Larry and it is in Mr. Larry Millers cajun accordion instruction booklet too. I have two 10 button, boxes and two 9 button boxes. Get what makes you happy, they are both great for cajun music.

the reason no one uses it is because
it;s redundant and out of the pattern.

get an accordion made for you and
get that low pull made an A instead
a G.

you've already
got that same note in 2 other places,
why have 3?

also, it doesn;t save a lot of money
or weight.

i had mr larry miller make both mine that way
and i love having an octave for the
number 5 pull, as well as the really low
push note.

wle.

Now that'a a good idea, have your accordion made the way you want it. I could go for that. But, like others I hate to see that same erronous information constantly repeated. Really guys there are books on the history of the accordion which contain some very good information on their development.

Well green eyes. Study the history of the accordion and you will see for yourself and remember this accordion was not developed for cajun music. Cajun music began developing around it. Now, I did not say that it could not be used for tuning. Just that It is not it's only purpose. Many musicians, be it cajun, quebec, Irish or German use it now and have been in playing. Get a life dude! Do a little studying. There's a whole world out there.

Cajungreeneyes you sound very naive. Perhaps you should look for more accurate informaion somewhere else. That same misinformation you are talking about has unfortunatly been mouthed for years and guess what, it's still wrong. If you can't reach or don't want to play that top button. Oh well!!!!

I have had both. While I do admire people who do use the top button, it makes no difference to me because I can't reach it. I don't use a shoulder strap and my thumb is anchored. It makes it difficult to reach it. I occasionally use it to finish a song with a big fat G chord.

Most of what I've seen on the use of the top button while playing has been by Steve Riley, Aldus Roger and Mark Savoy. All of which have long fingers and use it mostly on the pull when playing Johnny Can't Dance and songs of the same melody when pulling the G.

i always use the top button so yea, get a ten button. But you do what you want.

Braves,

This thread looks like so much fun that I just have
to dive in

Obviously, purchase what makes sense to you .. but ..
I play at least one tune that can't be pulled
off (pardon the potential pun) without the
"top-button". So, I vote for 10

--Big

devil's advocate here

that same note is the #2 push

as well as the left hand
bass pull note button

so you COULD learn it
either without the #1 button
or with the #1 button pull being
something sensible.. :)

wle.

Larry,

See the cool thing about the tune of which I speak
is that the same note *is* played on the #2
push as #1 pull .. but, this allows other notes
to be played on the pull or push against the
*same note* by using the #1/#2 buttons.

So, this is a very unique instance on the
Button Box and cannot be done any other way
on the planet Earth!

--Biggeroo

Big knows his stuff!!

so what IS this top-secret Mystery Tune?

[i just learned 'the harlem shuffle' in
G minor on my Bflat box, i play it all on the
1-4 buttons, very low and cool sounding..]

wle.

wle,

It's not really top-secret .. It's my
"Amiral Rouge" (c) 2004 song.

(Of course, Amiral Rouge = "Red Admiral" which
is a buttery fly of the family Vanessa Atalanta.)



At 1:45 into the tune, I play a variation on the
main theme using the lowest pitched buttons
on a high-"F" box.

Although the riff can be played elsewhere on the
box, it's the only place that one can drone that
button #1/#2 pitch on push & pull along with the
melody.

http://www.bignick.net/audio/2005_Jam_Tunes/AmiralRouge.mp3

PS: We godda get back to Atlanta & see you guys
sometime!

Merci,

--Big

nice tune
nice playing
but you know what i am going to say -
if you WROTE the song, you could also
have written it without needing that note!!

wle.

wle,

The "riff" using the #1/#2 buttons was the heart of
the tune, and everything else was played around
the riff to develop and support it.

i.e., the riff came first.

On a 9-button box, the song would have never got invented

Incidently, thanks for the compliments .. that
was done a couple of years back now ..

--Big

You can also get a cord on button 1,2,and 3 on push or pull. so maybe there's use there. Hummmmmmmmm!

I really like the German made 114 Hohners.. plebian and cool.. lots of good music has been made on these
I have had handmade Itailian, Quebec and Cajun made boxes but for all around fun... 114

That said.. if you want a smaller lighter box and still have 10 buttons.. consider Claude's Castagnari..

It's in 12TEt tuning and a scrid off dry.. but it's an outstanding handmade box..


I play Irish and Quebec on 1 rows.. I use the #1 button..

ej