Resources for CBA beginner

[Pippa]

Hi all,

As you know I'm considering switching to CBA, but still not sure. Currently borrowing one to try it out.

Do you know of any good CBA resources on the internet? (I've borrowed a C system, but if we could start a collection of resources, B system info welcome!)

 

[Glenn]

Hi Pippa.
Are you thinking of moving to CBA for novelty reasons or is it the possible weight reduction and smaller form factor that is obtainable?
It is certainly no silver bullet to an imporved performance butg if you find one you really fancy then why not.

 

[TW]

Pippa: after switching to CBA many years ago, and despite the assertions about their logical button layout, I still find it more difficult than I remember PA's.

That they are neater is a valid view and if you are talented enough not to fall between the two stools of differing techniques well worth a try - but your caution is well founded as Glenn suggests.

I would return to PA in a flash if the keyboard didn't place stress in all the wrong places for my thumb joints and I don't fancy deep intracapsule steroid injections.

 

[donn]

Do you know of any good CBA resources on the internet? (Ive borrowed a C system, but if we could start a collection of resources, B system info welcome!)

Like technique instructional material?

Know of none myself, just thought Id repeat the question.

 

[Matt Butcher]

Pippa,
http://www.accordionists.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=189
This thread has an old book with some possible tunes and fingerings in. As Im sure you remember from other threads there are lots of different fingerings and the ones in this book arent necessarily what forum members would use (they are a lot different from what I would have thought of using) but you might get some idea of one way to find your way round the instrument.

 

[Matt Butcher]

Also for me, it's not very interesting but learning where arpeggios and broken chords go, including dominant seventh chords etc., was a really good way to find my way round the instrument, one of those light bulb moments when you see how things fit together.

 

[Adam-T]

I did it for size reasons based on RSI generated shoulder problems but I really wish I`d discovered the CBA in the 80s when I first picked up a PA , it`s a far better system .

PAs (like Melodicas) are a compromise to fit in with the general popularity of playing the piano type keyboard (and many still see them as a slingable pump organ with funny buttons on the other end) whereas the CBA like the various diatonic free reeders from Mouthies to Steirishes has been designed as an "instrument" from the ground up hence why people take to them far better than they expected to ....

The number of CBA converts on this forum and its predecessor is quite breathtaking really - I`m sure there`d be far more if awareness of the system was publicised (Talking UK Here where the CBA is a relative rarity) . I find that to Jo-public in the UK at least an "accordion" is a PA , anything else free reed with bellows is either a "Captain pugwash" concertina or a "weird folk instrument" ..

 

[Pippa]

Hi Pippa.
Are you thinking of moving to CBA for novelty reasons or is it the possible weight reduction and smaller form factor that is obtainable?
It is certainly no silver bullet to an imporved performance butg if you find one you really fancy then why not.

Number of reasons really - Im not very far along with the PA so a switch wouldnt be too much of a setback. Im just wondering if it might be easier to play once Ive got the hang of the layout!

This was pretty useful for me:

http://www.thecipher.com/cba_c_system_basics.html

 

[Pippa]

This thread has been split to keep it on topic I'd be pleased to see as many CBA resources as possible!