Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
Howdy. I'm an accordion fan, but not a player yet.
I've been doing some reading about A/D/G's being a great choice for playing along with fiddlers (since you've got most of your favorite fiddle keys right there).
Now I'm a long way from LA, but there are plenty of old-time fiddle players around here, and while I'm sure a novice button accordion player could prove massively unpopular at old-time jams, I'm still considering it. There are Irish jams around here, too, and while I know an ADG would be a weird choice for an Irish box, it looks doable.
Re: Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
Other than the close tuned boxes such as B/C, the two row D/G is very often seen in Irish jams. In fact, I feel a D/G box to be quite a nice choice. An A/D/G box would work very nicely. A friend of mine has a fine D/G box built by Stormy Hyde in Australia. I love the sound of it. Very tempting... a D/G may be my next accordion purchase.
Re: Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
Both of these boxes are good if you manage it in a way it gives you what you want. I read from other places about it and it helps. Also, right here you can have a peek at this website to find more ideas so why not try this out and see what you can get after making the boxes.
Re: Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
I think that an ADG box would work for a lot of different kinds of music, everything from Cajun to Irish to Tex-Mex to country stuff like "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain". It wouldn't be the best box for any of those styles, but it would be a good jack-of-all-trades for all of them and then some.
Re: Re: Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
A-D-G will handle most of what you will encounter in the Irish and Contra Dance world. Also in Quebecois music. I think it's a good choice if you learn by ear.
If you want to learn a Cajun song that is played in "C" on a recording on your "D" row, you can get some software that will shift the pitch of the playback and can also slow it down, like "Amazing Slowdowner". Instructional DVD's for Cajun are pretty much for C boxes.
If you use sheet music to learn fiddle tunes (not the right way to learn Cajun music), then a C#/D or B/C might make more sense since you would always use the inside row as the home row, and therefore associate the note on the page with the same place on the box.
Re: Re: Re: Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
Yeah, I learn by ear (when I learn at all).
I'm in east central Illinois. Pretty good bluegrass scene (just down the road from Alison Krauss's hometown), an old-time scene I've just stumbled upon, and I've heard there's a new zydeco band somewhere around these parts...
Re: Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
Hello,
Here is my thoughts about a A/D/G as I have thought about it some myself. I have been playing the Cajun accordion only about two years. Most of the tunes in my head are Irish(pipes & whistle) and old time(clawhammer banjo) and now have some Cajun. I play a Cajun D accordion. Old time is no problem playing in the keys of D and A. Irish tunes mostly D and some minors keys in D.
Country music, Old time/Irish had no problem being accepted. For bluegrass, sorry Earl did not play the accordion plus they play a lot in the keys of B,B-flat and C.
If you have never played the accordion before, you may want to consider a one row D accordion to learn about playing the accordion and play with the old time group. The one rows are pretty to look at, by closing some of the stops you can change the tone and be a little quieter.
Plus learning the D box,can lead you to a C#/D or better a D/C# where with either, you can play in any key.
Another choice, after learning th D accordion, is the Quebec box in D made by Andre Bouchard(link #1)It has some extra buttons to allow playing in A and G.
I don't know your background in music, but playing the accordion is one of the most fun instruments you can have.
Re: Re: Triple-row A/D/G . . . please help the ignorant newbie.
Of course, before Earl joined, there was a piano accordion in the Bluegrass Boys . . . not bad, although not quite bluegrass yet.
There might be something to this notion that I'm looking for a "jack of all trades" button box . . . one accordion will be enough trouble, but my wife sure won't let me get a half-dozen so I have every style covered...