OMG, I gotta learn the Chords!
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Good point, Jozz. The 72 bass only goes up to F# (no C#).
JeffJetton
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A guy recently analyzed all the Billboard Top 100 songs over the years and discovered that from 1958 to 1990, there were clear differences in how common different keys were in mainstream pop music. Most popular was C major (or A minor... he grouped relative majors/minors together) with about 13% of the songs. Then G (9%), D (8%), E (7%), and so on. Basically the "piano and guitar" keys. Only 2% of songs used B major.
But from 1990 to 2020, the keys were far more uniformly-distributed. D-flat was the most-common key at just under 10%, with C and A-flat just slightly behind. Most of the rest only differed by a few percent. B major was still the least-popular key, but was now up to a respectable 5%.
A big reason for the difference? Fewer songs written and recorded on real instruments, played by real people. When everything is done on a computer, one key is just as easy as any other.
JeffJetton
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Yup I play Gerudo Valley in the key of F# minor on my 72 bass. Which does need C#7, which is way down at the other end of my box’s bass rows. When I don’t feel like leaping around like a yo-yo I use a similar fudge to what @JeffJetton described. It’s often way easier than leaping from top to bottom and back again! Another fudge lets me play B minor tunes including F# elements on my smaller 48 bass box that lacks those chords natively.
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davidplaysaccordion
Active member
Interesting topic. As a piano player I always preferred the ‘easy’ keys (don’t we all), ie those with fewer black notes. It since moving to the accordion and I have found that I understand chord relations ship much better than I ever did and weird keys no longer phase me (as much) as they used to. The other thing I’ve learned on the left hand is that a sharp is just a flat by another name so offer the key or chord you want is right there rather than at the other end of the bass buttons!
As far as recognizing chords goes on written music I guess a lifetime of playing is finally paying off. Just look at the key and the notes in the bar and you can pretty much ‘see’ the chords that match it although sometimes looking at the bass as well also helps (piano music). Dead easy! I am joking of course but it is a skill you can learn with practice.
Now, playing by ear! Still working on that one
As far as recognizing chords goes on written music I guess a lifetime of playing is finally paying off. Just look at the key and the notes in the bar and you can pretty much ‘see’ the chords that match it although sometimes looking at the bass as well also helps (piano music). Dead easy! I am joking of course but it is a skill you can learn with practice.
Now, playing by ear! Still working on that one
Jerry; Dig your neighborhood!
Yes I often walk around there in my socks...
The wonders of the green screen... get it right and it looks much more convincing (that background is a file I downloaded off the internet).
I enjoy using the green screen, even though it adds a ton of time and effort to get the process done right tp get it perfect. I've been kinda battling with it for years... I really finally think I have the recipe, but it took 3 camera upgrades, 2 lighting upgrades, 2 computer upgrades and 3 software upgrades... and about 200 hours of testing and playing to get here.
Just out of curiosity, how many here have just played the video and "chorded along" with it for fun or practice?
Alan Sharkis
Prolific poster
All the time, Jerry. But I go further. I print out a song from a fake book that I have as a pdf, go to a notation program, and recreate it as a full AAA-notated sheet with full chords, or thirds based on those chords, or just melody line in places where they might be appropriate.. In other words, a head arrangement on paper, if I choose to print out the result.It’s time-consuming, but I’m having fun.Yes I often walk around there in my socks...
The wonders of the green screen... get it right and it looks much more convincing (that background is a file I downloaded off the internet).
I enjoy using the green screen, even though it adds a ton of time and effort to get the process done right tp get it perfect. I've been kinda battling with it for years... I really finally think I have the recipe, but it took 3 camera upgrades, 2 lighting upgrades, 2 computer upgrades and 3 software upgrades... and about 200 hours of testing and playing to get here.
Just out of curiosity, how many here have just played the video and "chorded along" with it for fun or practice?
I have!Yes I often walk around there in my socks...
The wonders of the green screen... get it right and it looks much more convincing (that background is a file I downloaded off the internet).
I enjoy using the green screen, even though it adds a ton of time and effort to get the process done right tp get it perfect. I've been kinda battling with it for years... I really finally think I have the recipe, but it took 3 camera upgrades, 2 lighting upgrades, 2 computer upgrades and 3 software upgrades... and about 200 hours of testing and playing to get here.
Just out of curiosity, how many here have just played the video and "chorded along" with it for fun or practice?
This brings up a good point....
I have a friend who loves to paint. He paints big, beautiful canvases of Manet, Seurat, etc. I would never diss him for painting what he loves to paint, but it begs the eternal question. Why are we all (most of us anyway) playing someone else's songs?
What if we all played "what is in our heads", our own melodies, harmonies, lyrics? Why do I, for example, persist in hours spent learning tunes off a page (or by ear)? I myself would never paint or draw someone else's picture. I just never would. So why do I persist in playing other people's tunes? Maybe because it's too hard (presumably) to play my own?
I asked my beloved wife about this and she answered, very reasonably, mind you, that it's comforting to hear music that you know, that I need to play something that my audience recignizes. Makes sense, but....
Anyway, enough of my rant, what do you think?
I have a friend who loves to paint. He paints big, beautiful canvases of Manet, Seurat, etc. I would never diss him for painting what he loves to paint, but it begs the eternal question. Why are we all (most of us anyway) playing someone else's songs?
What if we all played "what is in our heads", our own melodies, harmonies, lyrics? Why do I, for example, persist in hours spent learning tunes off a page (or by ear)? I myself would never paint or draw someone else's picture. I just never would. So why do I persist in playing other people's tunes? Maybe because it's too hard (presumably) to play my own?
I asked my beloved wife about this and she answered, very reasonably, mind you, that it's comforting to hear music that you know, that I need to play something that my audience recignizes. Makes sense, but....
Anyway, enough of my rant, what do you think?
Ventura
Been here for ages!
well i wish I had written "Misty" and "Route 66" but i didn't
and i may have played Take 5 as many times as Brubeck did
if i COULD have written songs that good i would have..
if i HAD found that Hippie chic that seemed to make poems and
lyrics as easily as she breaths, i would have MARRIED her
and written songs
(but Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell never met me) ''so i am a Fan
just like everyone else and i pay tribute as a fan by playing their songs
as well as i possibly can
when we jam on Jessica or Green Onions or Smoke on the Water
we can use our own notes and riffs a lot.. that's good enuff for me
and i may have played Take 5 as many times as Brubeck did
if i COULD have written songs that good i would have..
if i HAD found that Hippie chic that seemed to make poems and
lyrics as easily as she breaths, i would have MARRIED her
and written songs
(but Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell never met me) ''so i am a Fan
just like everyone else and i pay tribute as a fan by playing their songs
as well as i possibly can
when we jam on Jessica or Green Onions or Smoke on the Water
we can use our own notes and riffs a lot.. that's good enuff for me
kanderso
Newbie
Jerry; I'm a little short on chords on my DBA, but, I did do a half hour on my CBA (which I'm a little rusty on since DBA came along) and enjoyed the challenge. I have found it somewhat difficult finding simple stuff on the Inet to chord along to. Although I'm getting better, I still have trouble IDing the Key tunes are in. Any suggestions welcome.
Tom; Being as the DBA is "always" in Key, I have discovered the joys, as Rat put it in Wind in the Willows, "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing, as simply messing about in boats". Substitute "accordions" for "boats" in this case. It's the "messing about" part that's important. When learning a new tune, I often get the first few phrases under my fingers, and while struggling for the next phrase, I divert (often accidentally) to some other sequence of tones than what is "written". Sometimes what comes out is better (to my ear) than the original tune. The result isn't necessarly what's in my head, but it is new, and insertable into the original tune and personalizies the song. Some stuff I have learned uses repetitive licks (normal as far as I can see) that I alter for variety.
Tom; Being as the DBA is "always" in Key, I have discovered the joys, as Rat put it in Wind in the Willows, "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing, as simply messing about in boats". Substitute "accordions" for "boats" in this case. It's the "messing about" part that's important. When learning a new tune, I often get the first few phrases under my fingers, and while struggling for the next phrase, I divert (often accidentally) to some other sequence of tones than what is "written". Sometimes what comes out is better (to my ear) than the original tune. The result isn't necessarly what's in my head, but it is new, and insertable into the original tune and personalizies the song. Some stuff I have learned uses repetitive licks (normal as far as I can see) that I alter for variety.
JeffJetton
Prolific poster
I think I do!
In a recent email Tom showed me a free cellphone app that flashed the chords it was hearing. That said, I can see this as being a great learning aid, as long as you didn't rely on it all the time, because after a while we want our ears learn to recognize the sounds/notes and with practice and experience will just reach for the right chord.
With it, Tom suggested that he could comp to any of my videos in my YouTube channel... cool!
Good points Jeff. Probably what Ventura said, "I'm not good at it." Which basically means "I haven't put in sufficient time to develop it."Well what's stopping you?
It is true that if you want to get gigs, you pretty much have to be a "cover band". But that doesn't mean you can't also do "originals" on the side.
Maybe we need a "write your own accordion tune" contest for February?
I'll let you run the contest....
JeffJetton
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kanderso
Newbie
People who claim to have no talent are often making an excuse for a lack of interest or of discipline. The implication that it just comes naturally is a little insulting to people who work hard at it, talented or not.
song-writing is a skill but also mostly a group-effort, and a process
there was a Dutch radio show that played only the first version of hitsongs. Like the real barebone lines with a basic progression that somebody started out with before they sold it to a production team and it became a hit.
songs are just unrecognizable then.
the next steps after initial creation in someone's head are often very important
there was a Dutch radio show that played only the first version of hitsongs. Like the real barebone lines with a basic progression that somebody started out with before they sold it to a production team and it became a hit.
songs are just unrecognizable then.
the next steps after initial creation in someone's head are often very important
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