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Dm7

Rich325

Rich325

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Newbie seeing bass chords. Mostly no probs. But what to play for Dm7? Do I play Dm or D7? There are other awkward bass chords which I guess would be ok on piano. Thanks :)
 
In Oom-pah style it usually also works to "arpeggiate" the harmony by using D as bass and F major as chord. Alternate bass may be A as bass or even C bass and Dm. Play with basses and harmonies related to Dm7.
 
Another option is to just play a Dm, especially if the extra note the would turn it into a minor seven chord (a C in this case) appears in the melody or other part of the right hand arrangement.

A chord written on the very top of the staff is (usually) indicating the overall harmony of the song at that point. That harmony can be realized in all sorts of ways: All in the left hand, all in the right hand, or as a combination of both hands. Just because the left hand of an accordion can play chords, that doesn't meant that all chords should only be played using the left hand.
 
Really, sometimes it sounds better to just play F, or Am, or add a 2 5 1. Seems like the rare tune I transcribe or perform conforms to any sheet music I find. Especially the second time through. Isn’t that why they call it “playing?”
 
Yes Rich , you are correct, you can play almost anything because the composer /arranger canot make his mind up.
 
I think that the website ‘Accordion Chords’ is an amazing resource created by one of our fellow members Lucio76 (I hope I’ve remembered his nick correctly). Just dial in a key, e.g. D, then the chord you require from an impressive list, e.g. Dm then voila, you get images of the chord on keyboard and on bass buttons. There’s also an excellent explanatory accompanying text. Goodness knows how long it took to produce such a resource, but I am in awe of his accomplishment.
 
Rodney,thanks, it looks to me as though Dm7 is not easily available on the stradella system, so I would look for a substitute, which is going to be Dm or D7.
Is D-7 another way of writing this, I have a lot of music with this notation ?
 
Dm7 is easily realized as Mr. Debra has outlined above. It can also be played, if it is more convenient, with the D in the counter bass and the F major chord. Many other chords are possible with Stradella: 6th (an inverted minor 7th) major 7, 9, minor 9, minor 6, half diminished, 7 flat 9, sus chords, and many others. The only really common chord that can't be realized with the left hand alone is augmented, in which case you can play the 7th chord, assuming yours is one of the majority of accordions in which the 7th chord lacks the 5th, and play the augmented 5th with your right hand. Many accordionists do not take full advantage of the possibilities of Stradella.
 
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JeffJetton said:
Another option is to just play a Dm, especially if the extra note the would turn it into a minor seven chord (a C in this case) appears in the melody or other part of the right hand arrangement.

A chord written on the very top of the staff is (usually) indicating the overall harmony of the song at that point. That harmony can be realized in all sorts of ways: All in the left hand, all in the right hand, or as a combination of both hands. Just because the left hand of an accordion can play chords, that doesn't meant that all chords should only be played using the left hand.
Click to expand...
And you had another option is to simply play the F major triad over the D bass. It’s often cleaner to not double the bass.
 
JeffJetton said:
Another option is to just play a Dm, especially if the extra note the would turn it into a minor seven chord (a C in this case) appears in the melody or other part of the right hand arrangement.

A chord written on the very top of the staff is (usually) indicating the overall harmony of the song at that point. That harmony can be realized in all sorts of ways: All in the left hand, all in the right hand, or as a combination of both hands. Just because the left hand of an accordion can play chords, that doesn't meant that all chords should only be played using the left hand.
Click to expand...
Thankyou, keep it simple.
 
Many of the old-timers, when confronted with something like a Dmin7 would play the chord in their right hand in whatever voicing put the melody on top, and either play the Dm or an open Dmin7 in the left if they had time to squeeze the open chord in.
 
lestermann said:
I learned from David Lange to play Dm7 as D bass + Dm + Am. Of course that also adds the 9 (not just the 7). If you are okay with rich chords and if it suits the style (e.g., jazz, bossa nova, etc) then that's a great option.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your observation Lester, I had leaned about the Xm7 chords but 9ths was on my ‘to do’ list and thanks to you it’s now ticked off. Nice one!
 
lestermann said:
I learned from David Lange to play Dm7 as D bass + Dm + Am. Of course that also adds the 9 (not just the 7). If you are okay with rich chords and if it suits the style (e.g., jazz, bossa nova, etc) then that's a great option.
Click to expand...
This is, of course, a minor 9 chord - very common and useful. Try it at the end of a song.
 
Rich325 said:
Newbie seeing bass chords. Mostly no probs. But what to play for Dm7? Do I play Dm or D7? There are other awkward bass chords which I guess would be ok on piano. Thanks :)
Click to expand...

A first look at the 120 bass buttons on an accordion can be quite daunting until some kind soul takes the trouble to explain the 4+2 rows providing 2 rows of bass notes and 4 rows of chords, i.e. Major, minor, 7th and diminished and the rest is about navigation, luckily I’m an Ocean Yachtmaster and retired RYA Instructor so I know a little about that! So far so good, but on playing from sheet music there’s a whole world of other chords to be considered, and it turns out that a great many of them can be played using the Stradella buttons.

Enter Giovanni Lucifero who launched on this forum his website called accordionchords.com, a veritable treasure trove to bring meaning to the hieroglyphics used to describe chords, not only what they mean but the necessary fingerings to play them. I’ve thanked Giovanni on this forum and do so again.

As I worked through recording what buttons to press for each chord, I noticed the cover page link to a pdf book titled Stradella Xtensions an Harmonic Technique for the accordion by Evan Perry-Giblin. I was curious to see why Giovanni included this in his website on accordion chords, so I clicked the link to find out. It took me to a download page which encouraged a donation if the book was appreciated, I clicked the button in anticipation only to be told that the download didn’t work.

Over the next couple of weeks I tried again frequently until at last it worked and I received the 91 page pdf book. During the next 24 hours I explored and discovered exactly how valuable Stradella Xtensions was going to be to me and why Giovanni facilitated making aware of it, with a way to get a copy. In my view Giovanni’s Accordion Chords website represents an excellent library with multiple routes to chord information on both the piano keyboard side and on the Stradella buttons. Evan’s Stradella Xtensions is more focussed on the ‘how to’ using lots of graphics in the process. I’m a very happy bunny to possess a copy and today got well into playing the chords required, in any key, to play a ii7-V7-I6 progression and returned to Giovanni’s site to make my donation to Evan.

I offer my well earned thanks to them both!
 
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