Im just looking for any cajun tabs to play with. I currently have about 15 songs with tabs in a 3 ring binder. Just want to up my collection and try learning some easy cajun songs.

I've started an accordion blog project (see link above) and I've set myself the task of supplying one set of tabs each week. I'm starting off pretty basic, but sooner or later, I'm bound to hit on a few you don't have.

JtO

...but I'll say it again:

In learning to play the Cajun accordion, tabs are of limited utility for all sorts of reasons. Here are a few:

1) Very few tabs even exist.

2) When they do exist, they usually show only the most skeletal form of the melody, with little or none of the embellishments and ornamentations. But the embellishments and ornamentations define the style. Without them, you have Cajun MUZAK not Cajun Music. A good example are those retched MIDI versions of Cajun songs by that shlock-meister who calls himself Accordion Man or something like that. I don't know if his website still exists or not, but if you can find it, listen and BEWARE! That is what you will sound like if you try to play from sheet music or tabs.

3) If you only have tabs, it is difficult or impossible to discern the rhythm.

In the end, you need to learn how to play by ear. There really is no way around that, so you might as well bite the bullet and get on with it.

-David

Alot of people start off learning by tabs and if that's the way that is easiest for them, Who are you to say they should learn another way?

I started with tabs too. For maybe one or two songs. Tabs are a crutch, but some people never learn to walk on their own. It is a caveat, and to beware of. Hey, I have a web group devoted to it. But they should only be used for momentary training wheels.

One needs to start developing a melody/muscle memory to really make progress.

Not all teachers are going to give you tabs. You can always try to demand them from the teacher, in which case you draw the whole class to a standstill, or the teacher can say no, or you can try to move past them.

I agree that you hve to learn and play this music by ear. Wilson Savoy handles this topic very well in his accordion DVD because he has taught clases where students ask for tabs. I took a lesson from Sean Vidrine once where he pointed out that you can play virtually any cajun song just using three buttons (567?) It is everything else, octaves, bouncing, trills, triplets, etc. that make the music what it is and that stuff is never tabbed out. JMHO

I'll defend David on this one. Tabs may be a great place for some beginners to learn the keyboard -- they probably are -- but the only way to truly make it sound like the real deal is to put the accordion back in the case and spend lots of time listening to recorded music or videos -- saturating your ears with the combinations of notes and rhythms that would otherwise use more ink tabbed-out than a Mozart's last symphony. No matter how many tabs one may wish to use, eventually the ear must be trained with the real thing. That's what David is suggesting.

Very sound advice, indeed...

R!CK

we keep forgetting about muscle memory, or is that only me. When I first started out, and still sometimes, I need that muscle memory to help guide me to the right notes.

Dwight, you are not alone in that. Building muscle memory is what it's all about - that's why we practice over and over. It's good to be reminded about that.

-David

There's some over on my yahoo group. Address is above. Not a lot though. You can always ask for help there too.

No argument here over tabs. In fact, I've stated explicitly on the blog that the tabs are only the skeleton. Tabs offer zero information about rhythm, stress, syncopation or the emotional feel of a piece.

But if having a set of tabs makes it easier for someone to pick up that skeleton of a song and then continue working on the ornamentation, then I'm fine with tabs. I'd much rather see people succeed and play Cajun music rather than dumping their boxes in a closet and giving up in frustration.

Simply put, we're not the same generation as those who learned by ear. There aren't any more house dances where kids could listen to Cajun music in a safe environment. With some exceptions (like festivals), the music is played in bars and saloons where kids aren't exactly welcome. They aren't going to be exposed to it as much as older folks and won't be able to pick it up as fast.

And I've said this before, but one of the most frustrating things for me about learning the accordion is the fact that my playing ability is outpacing my ability to learn songs by ear.

So, for me, it's a question of 1) using tabs to get a jump-start on playing new songs or 2) getting bored and practicing less and less.

It's an easy choice, and I don't feel guilty at all that I'm learning this music differently from how my grandfathers would have learned it. Besides, how many of us would have learned a single thing about Cajun music if we relied only on live performances and shunned recordings and instructional dvds and all the stuff that previous generations didn't have?

if you don;t learn to learn by ear
your repertoire will be about 10 songs
played very boringly

wle.

True story , well put....

Now then...All the dandy instructors will tell ya: Listen, Practice, Listen and practice some more. Not one (that I recall) had ever mentioned tabs to practice from. Can't tell ya just how many sounds entered the picture that made me go "Wow", only to find myself hitting some of those sounds by accident when practicing (much later on) and just getting loose with things. Not an overnight thing.

Perhaps this sounds all trumped up... let's face it, many here has had good instructors at various times, and, everyone has a story about the lessons they got from it. For those that have not had that pleasure, dig this.... A week of instruction from the best, may not include the pleasure of one on one assessment with close work on the mechanics that'll give ya instant improvement... More often it is: "I will play the song and break it down, you lay it down on tape take it back with you and practice practice practice." There you are, back to the audible part of listening to the music that the instructor laid out and attempting to assemble it in your thinking and playing. Honestly, I have gotten more from the mere inspiration of great players (and great instructors) than from the actual instruction of great players/instructors, because they instilled a determination to want to play well (I think that is the secret)... it was a choice on my part, learn or not to learn. Sound odd?? If not, I may very well have given up long ago and move to something else... but through the playing of others (many that post on this board and others beyond.. BTW Dave Sousa you are one of my heros more than you know ), I have become inspired through listening again and again only to learn the way it's suppose to be as a result of "playing by ear." Not easy and no instant magicical flick of the fingers ... just simply crawling into the middle and digesting what makes me go "WOW" and realizing it takes years to get what I want from it all. GOT TIME, if no, tabs in all it's short list may be the way?

Nonc D

Couldn't have said it mo' better than Nonc D...

....t

Mo Better..... just a vivid flash back with that statement "Mo Better."
Here is one for ya (and all) about Jason Frey

Had Gabe Lewin (my chief sound eng.) dialing in Jason Frey on stage.... Gabe came (originally) from Johannesburge South Africa (he is a white British speaking South African) with a peculuar commical humor and accent. When Gabe asked how the sound was in the front monitor Jason says Dat's Mo Better...
Gabe responds: Awlright Mate, what is this mo better you say about the sound in that monitor(?), cause I really don't understand.
Jason responds: Well Gabe it's kinda like get'n dare some better dan it was, kinda like mo better .. but not better dan it could be, if ya know what I meen, so keep twisting dat little knob and I'll let ya know when mo better get jus right.

A Brit and a Cajun ... whew nelly I nearly wet myself from laughing at all that communicative dilogue (both had fun feeding off of each others accents that day)... that Jason is a funny funny guy. Mo Better.

That's greatness! Errr, jus' right!
R!CK

Thanks Nonc D! And I hope you know how much I and others here value your observations and input.

It's nice to have to stopping by here to visit again.

-David

Since all can tell me that tabs are just a crutch, why cant anyone tell me where I can find a good accordian teacher in SWLA? I mean you all have good advice and I appreciate that, but I cant listen and learn if I dont know what I am listening for. Is there anyone there that can teach me???

I know there's several accordionist in SWLA willing to give lessons -- a few have been suggested in recent convos here, and I'd also recommend Joel Martin (Jr.'s grandson).

But here's the kicker... even if you find someone to take lessons from, it's all about what you do with the accordion outside of formal instruction. You've got to commit yourself to spending lots of time with it in your hands; a lot of that time will be very frustrating. But practicing as much as you can and as often as you can is the key to getting anywhere on it.

Like Marc Savoy says in his DVD "The Gospel Accordion To Marc", just because you get a typewriter, don't expect to type. Don't expect to go to a lesson to learn a song if you can't hum it in your head...

My experience is, and has been thus far, you've got to have g-u-m-p-t-i-o-n. And if you've got musical/creative talent in your blood -- that won't hurt.

I've learned completely by ear/feel. I have lived in an area (Dallas) where I have been the *only* Cajun accordion player around. I'm not the greatest and probably am no even match for more than half of 'em in the Pelican State, but I'm happy at what I've absorbed and have a great time performing AND practicing it. But it's been through the sacrifice of time spent alone with the box in hand, that I've made the biggest steps, and for me -- that's at least an hour every day. The rest of the time is listening to CDs.

Good luck with it! Just remember to hum the song you wan't to learn. Dat's key, brutha!

R!CK

Amen to the committment thing. It aint easy, but it sure is fun!

"Amen to the committment thing. It aint easy, but it sure is fun!"

The last word in Bryan's statement is one of the most important things. As long as you're having fun with any instrument, you will learn and you will never learn enough, no matter how long you play, but the day that the fun is gone, more than likely, so is the learning.

Dowell Lafleur

Thank you guys so much for the advice. I will take it all in and do whatever it takes to learn. I spend lots of time each day practicing what I know and trying to take that next step with my tabs. Tabs are an easier way for me to learn right now. I listen to cajun music every single minute of the day that I can. Its in my blood. I just want to learn a couple songs from someone just to get me on my feet. Thanks again.

Vince
337-274-9210