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If you want something more flexible and chromatic than a tin whistle but still pretty cheap for a decent one and fun to play, get a recorder! This is surprisingly playable for a plastic recorder, and is what I started with. The alto version of that I think sounds better (less squeaky more rich range) but it is bigger so it is harder to play.
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Jun 4, 2011 11:23
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 23:56 |
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Ive always wanted some sort of concertina or accordion type instrument, but wonder if the cheap ones are any good at all. How much am I looking to spend on a servicable one?
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Jun 9, 2011 13:57
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Stand by, this is going to be a long one. I'll try to give you the wave-tops and not get into undue detail until you give some indication of what direction you want. Thanks for all the useful info. To be honest, I really fell in love with squeezeboxes from two sources: french accordion music (old school waltzes and also things like Yann Tiersen, the Amelie composer), and new school tango bandoneon (like Piazolla). I've played a piano accordion, but the drat thing was just too drat big. I'm only 5'6" and I want something more manageable size wise. Would I be able to manage with a concertina finding some sort of sound more full than just melody without having to resort to a big assed accordion?
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Jun 30, 2011 03:45
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Hmmmm, French free-reeds. My main suggestion would be to paste pretty much what you just told us, as a new thread at concertina.net/forums, and ask advice of those gents there. Though mainly concertina, many of them know other free-reeds well, and can give you sound advice. To be quite honest, I really don't have the time to be picking up something as expensive as all that right now. My summer is being filled with moving into a new house and new pets right now, and I don't want to think about that sort of thing. I may wind up getting one of those cheapo 20 dollar ones to play around with for now. Probably at the end of the day I will wind up getting some sort of button accordion because that seems to best fit the full on style I want. Concertinas seem really cool, but if I am stuck with one squeezebox I want the kind that will let me do my own accompaniment as well. I think even bandoneons probably aren't quite as good in this regard. So my two last questions would be: 1. Are some of the button accordions much more manageable size wise than the piano ones? 2. Where would be the best place to shop for something like that used?
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Jun 30, 2011 12:25
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:EDIT: If anyone needs an inexpensive autoharp, this one looks pretty clean for $57 shipped: http://cgi.ebay.com/NICE-VTG-Oscar-Schmidt-Autoharp-Case-15EBH-R-/150626500704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23120a0060 . EDIT2: or this one closing in 14 hours: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-OSCAR-SCHIMDT-15-CHORDS-AUTOHARP-/220803066995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368e36c73 This thread will be the death of me but you have made autoharps very interesting sounding too. I'm a singer firstly and foremost so having some sort of strummed instrument to back me up would be nice. I have arthritis though so any time I've tried to learn guitar my hands have hated me. Do the buttons on the auto harp mean that gripping isn't as much of an action with it? How often can you really find them this cheap?
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Jul 1, 2011 14:11
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Any opinions on the hand strength required though, TTFA? I can do pressing motions like the piano just fine, and even recorder i can last for a while, but the gripping required for guitar just killed my hands whenever I tried.
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Jul 2, 2011 00:06
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Okay, I bought one of those 20 plastic squeeze boxes blind online (and it turns out one of the plastic ones at that, oh well), and it has a lot of problems. The two reeds on the 1 button are almost a half step out of tune with each other, one of the buttons makes no noise at all, and the chord buttons are either half functioning or non functioning. Yeah I can send it to Irish Dancemaster to get it done for real, but I want to just mess around with repairing it, because I'd rather spend the real money towards an actual button accordion in a month or so. So TTFA, any good tutorials for beginner repair?
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Jul 6, 2011 21:19
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
Thanks for the info may try it tomorrow. I'm going to get some sort of button accordion. If it is diatonic or chromatic I'm not sure yet. The chromatic ones seems good but so big.
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Jul 7, 2011 03:32
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:For diatonics, I'd take a hard look at the Hohner Erica, or if one row will do you the HA-112. The dude at Irish Dancemaster and I have talked shop on and off, and he's just not a fan of the HA-112 for various technical reasons, but as a casual player I simply loved it. Very lightweight and trim instruments, and they look awesome. Yeah I definitely think a diatonic or concertina is what I will end up with. I have small hand and short arms and playing the few big accordions I've tried feels far too awkward for me. I really love the size of the little toy accordion. I'd rather have a comfortable playing experience and not be able to play absolutely every piece possible, than get something chromatic but bulky. Besides I feel like something decidedly different from piano, and a diatonic button accordion or a concertina seems to fit the bill.
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Jul 7, 2011 20:21
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Also are there any reputable non-ebay sources for used squeezeboxes? I'm kind of sick of the whole ebay bidding game and would pay a bit more to buy from a trusted source.
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Jul 7, 2011 23:13
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:These are definitely a crapshoot buying blind; as mentioned earlier in the thread my preferred method is to find a store with 12 of them, play them all, and choose the best one. Finally got around to doing this. Changing to single reed made the melody buttons sound way cleaner. On the other side, the chord button sounds fine but the bass button is really out of tune. Any quick thing I can do to fix that?
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Jul 8, 2011 02:04
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I really appreciate all your advice TTFA. I've done a lot of digging the past few days, just watching different youtube videos. And I think this is the one that convinced me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PDvPkV_-TM I'm getting a Hayden duet concertina. The style seems fun, the layout makes it easy to do some accompaniment, and the size seems perfect. And from what you and everyone else seems to say, the Concertina Connection's Elise seems to be what I should start with. Probably will be a week or two before ordering one but I'll give a trip report when I do.
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Jul 8, 2011 20:37
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Chin Strap posted:I really appreciate all your advice TTFA. I've done a lot of digging the past few days, just watching different youtube videos. And I think this is the one that convinced me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PDvPkV_-TM Ordered it today. Can't wait for it to come!!!
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Jul 9, 2011 22:19
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Awesome! Hayden duet is a really intuitive layout, so I imagine you'll be figuring it out most quickly. This fingering system was apparently invented in the 1970s of so by a British concertina player, Hayden, who had a sudden brainstorm. He got some maker to start producing "Hayden duet system" boxes, and then years later folks discovered that a Swiss designer named Wicki had invented the exact same thing in the 1880s, but nobody has ever found any boxes actually made with Wicki's system, so its unknown if they were all lost/destroyed/coverted to other systems, or whether he just never sold anyone on the idea. Any suggestions for a collection of simple tunes to learn to play? I would like to expand my folk music repetoire anyway.
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Jul 10, 2011 05:06
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
Thats the one JeffLeff plays isn't it? It definitely sounds great and the extra buttons would be cool but yeah no way in hell i'd consider that until i gave a good year + practicing on the elise.
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Jul 10, 2011 14:24
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Played with a bigass piano accordion someone brought into work. That fucker is heavy. Big ol' shoulder braces and everything. Made me look forward to the concertina I ordered even more because that beast felt really huge.
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Jul 12, 2011 20:08
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My Elise Concertina from Concertina Connection came yesterday. Played with it a little last night and it was very comfortable to pick up. The trainer book that came with it was too rudimentary, but I'm not expecting much written material to be able to help with things. My main issues at first are A) remembering where the C notes end and the accidentals begin on each row and B) remembering to change the bellows between phrases to not run out of air. Love it so far though. The size is good, and the button layout will still afford a decent amount of the melody + backing that you can do with an accordion.
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Jul 15, 2011 13:13
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Trip report on my Hayden Duet Concertina (the Elise from Concertina Connection). I've had it for about 3 weeks now, and it has been a lot of fun. The first big realization for me was figuring out the logic of the key placement. At first when I got it, the placements of the accidentals seemed arbitrary and random (why is the f# on a lower row than the f?). But when I figured out that it is all designed so that the same pattern gives the same type of chord everywhere on the button set, it made sense. The D major scale is just as simple as shifting the C major fingering over one button. The finger shape that gives you a C major chord is the same for D, F, G, A, and B-flat major. It is pretty genius when you realize it. The other main issue I had was it kept feeling hard to hold on to even at the smallest hand strap setting. Last night I cut some holes in the hand straps even farther down, and now it feels a lot more secure and easier to play. When playing, should I be keeping the right side still and moving the left side? Or moving the right side and keeping the left side still? Pulling and pushing both sides together feels wrong. Anyway, A++ really really enjoying it, and since my music theory and piano chops are already decent, it hasn't been too hard a switch so far. Sometimes I think I maybe should have gotten a bisonoric concertina just because it is so different from what I'm used to, but the Duet fingering gives me the ability to do accompaniment and melody together better. It is sort of a decent tradeoff between a concertina and accordion.
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Aug 6, 2011 14:52
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
Please dont forget me 
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Aug 8, 2011 23:54
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I had this exact same issue, and was going to punch more holes, but on reading more on it turns out that this is (semi) intentional and that you're supposed to "cup" your hands to take up the slack, and de-cup when you need to reach further and need more slack. That's not the obligatory way to play, and there's no harm in punching extra holes if you want a tighter strap, but it's not just that you have little girly hands, people just tend to take up the slack manually. Yeah I started to realize this myself. The tighter straps make it really hard to get to both the lowest and highest rows at the same time. I moved back to the smallest premade hole and am learning how to take up the slack. My main practice right now is learning how to hit jumps between rows without overshooting.
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Aug 10, 2011 02:49
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I need like a Big Book of Folk Tunes for my concertina, because the only sheet music I have around is piano stuff. Any suggestions?
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Mar 5, 2012 14:08
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I have gotten an autoharp! Any suggestions for a decent collection of folk/traditional melodies with chords? I don't think I'd need something autoharp specific right? Just tablature
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Dec 4, 2013 20:05
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Hay goon, so you're playing autoharp now too. Are you still playing duet concertina as well? Thanks for the suggestions! That's the sort of stuff I'm looking for. No, my concertina just hangs there for now. I really should've just gotten an accordion like I wanted. The music I want to play is too chromatic for my concertina.
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Dec 11, 2013 11:44
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Autoharp arrived with the plastic cover broken and the bar support broken on one side. Also needs a new set of strings. Luckily since it got damaged in transport and was an insured purchase, I got a full refund, which more than covers the cost of a full string set and replacement parts. It will be a hell of a job though considering I've never messed with anything like this before.
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Dec 20, 2013 16:45
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
Could you give me some suggestions of a good synthetic didgeridoo shop to buy from online that will ship to the states?
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May 11, 2014 15:10
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:So I've thought about getting one of these for four and a half years, and sat on a waitlist for a while and fuuuuuuuck it's amazing What actual one is that? The Bali Steel one? How long was your wait?
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Jun 16, 2014 13:59
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And why do they have to be so expensive  That probably won't stop me though. To add an actual question here, I've recently bought a house and it has a cool grove area up on a hill that we are hanging out in a lot, just enjoying the outdoors. I'm looking for instruments (like the Hang) that would be awesome for just spacing out and playing. What would people suggest as cheaper ones?
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Jun 16, 2014 14:28
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This isn't a weird instrument question necessarily, but I figured someone who reads this might have an answer. My new baby loves me to sing her to sleep in her sling. I've got a few sight singing books that have melody snippets in progressive difficulties that I have been using as my daily fodder for things. I would like to get a book of melodies that I could use for the same purpose. Folk melodies, hymns, pop/rock, any of them. I don't really care about having piano accompaniment. Something just like the melody with chord tablature like that. I know I can find a lot of this stuff online but I want a physical book. Any good ideas where to start? The Real Book series has some vocal editions but that is pretty heavily jazz oriented (but I will still probably get them), and I would really like something similar with folk etc. EDIT: Nevermind I'm dumb. There are pop and folk fake books out there too. Chin Strap fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Jul 15, 2015 |
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Jul 15, 2015 15:21
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Can you give some good plastic NAF sellers? Want a good quality one, willing to pay a bit more. Love my tin whistles (especially my Freeman Mellow Dog) but I'd like something more meditative to play along side it. Plastic is appealing for durability and portability.
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Jun 22, 2016 16:17
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Hands-down option for plastic, Northern Spirit flutes up in Canuckistan: http://www.northernspiritflutes.net/ How hard are they to assemble? The unassembled seem quite a bit cheaper. EDIT: Hmm unassembled seems to be undrilled too. Nevermind! Chin Strap fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jun 22, 2016 |
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Jun 22, 2016 17:45
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 23:56 |
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Thanks TTFA, ordered one of the Northern Spirit plastic flutes. Drone flute was tempting but that can be later. I'll check back in with my impressions once I get it.
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Jun 25, 2016 13:29
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