Something Stupid Cover FR4x Bk7m

[Keymn]

 

[JerryPH]

Nice Larry!

I've never seen it discussed anywhere, but I want people to note something that will never ever happen when playing an acoustic accordion, something that mostly a more experienced or advanced digital accordionist will do;

With acoustic accordions we switch registers and play the same notes out generally in the same manner and this gives greater variety. This is great, sonic variety is wonderful!

However, when a digital accordionist changes to a different "instrument" a higher, truer sense of that new instrument happens when you change playing styles to match the characteristics of that instrument.

For example when Larry switched to a saxaphone sound, he reverted to single notes and different phrasing vs when playing accordion, and it changed again when he added the mandolin sound, holding the notes a little longer to accentuate the tremelo of the mandolin sound.

It's these little things that add a lot to the level of enjoyment of the experience, at least for me, and displays a cognisance of the instrument that is a little bit above the average... am I alone in this mentality?

 

[Tom]

Nice Larry!

I've never seen it discussed anywhere, but I want people to note something that will never ever happen when playing an acoustic accordion, something that mostly a more experienced or advanced digital accordionist will do;

With acoustic accordions we switch registers and play the same notes out generally in the same manner and this gives greater variety. This is great, sonic variety is wonderful!

However, when a digital accordionist changes to a different "instrument" a higher, truer sense of that new instrument happens when you change playing styles to match the characteristics of that instrument.

For example when Larry switched to a saxaphone sound, he reverted to single notes and different phrasing vs when playing accordion, and it changed again when he added the mandolin sound, holding the notes a little longer to accentuate the tremelo of the mandolin sound.

It's these little things that add a lot to the level of enjoyment of the experience, at least for me, and displays a cognisance of the instrument that is a little bit above the average... am I alone in this mentality?

Thanks Jerry! I went back and listened again and did notice this as you say. However, you may not be alone, but among the few. I am a little below acerage and never would have cognisized it on my own.

 

[dan]

However, when a digital accordionist changes to a different "instrument" a higher, truer sense of that new instrument happens when you change playing styles to match the characteristics of that instrument.

For example when Larry switched to a saxaphone sound, he reverted to single notes and different phrasing vs when playing accordion, and it changed again when he added the mandolin sound, holding the notes a little longer to accentuate the tremelo of the mandolin sound.

It's these little things that add a lot to the level of enjoyment of the experience, at least for me, and displays a cognisance of the instrument that is a little bit above the average... am I alone in this mentality?

Thanks for pointing this out, I agree those nuances add to my enjoyment

by the way how do you get the vibrato effect on the saxophone?

 

[losthobos]

Sorry... Can't help but thinking it's akin to watering plastic flowers..... ?

 

[JerryPH]

Sorry... Can't help but thinking it's akin to watering plastic flowers..... ?

That's OK, everyone has a right to their opinion and yours is as right for you as it may not be for someone else, at least you were sharing and funny about it!

 

[JerryPH]

Thanks for pointing this out, I agree those nuances add to my enjoyment

by the way how do you get the vibrato effect on the saxophone?

It's a timing setting. Like real life sax player adds vibrato after they've completed the note, the note has to be pressed more than a certain time before it starts to add tremolo

 

[Keymn]

Thanks for your inspiration and support.

 

[Valski]

I like your performance very much, it shows skill and musicality from a professional musician. It was very well played and it showed me a level of excellence that inspires me to improve.

When purchased my FR8X I was fascinated by the orchestral sounds, especially their realistic attributes however I've slowly backed away from using them too often as I think that they confused audiences who were present to listen to an accordion. They often commented on that very point.

The Fr8x has a lot of good accordion sounds built in and I think that the best features are the options available in the left hand. This gives your performance a level of crispness and finishes the performance with a pleasant combo like sound. I try to stay with styles which incorporate the accordion perhaps with the addition of some orchestral sounds as long as they're not overpowering. In addition I try to manage my Bk7m so that it also leans towards accordion sounds.

At work a couple of my colleagues are or were professional musicians who make their living working in business so that they could support their families. . They critiqued my music and their advice was to incorporate more realistic accordion sounds. After much thought I have come to the conclusion that there is a lot of merit in this suggestion to aim for using sounds which compliment the accordion.

In the end everyone must choose their own approach to their playing and we can probably learn things that can make us better regardless of our relative skills. I eagerly look forward to the end of this pandemic so that we can start having lots of fun with our music.

 

[Thomas N]

I like your performance very much, it shows skill and musicality from a professional musician. It was very well played and it showed me a level of excellence that inspires me to improve.

When purchased my FR8X I was fascinated by the orchestral sounds, especially their realistic attributes however I've slowly backed away from using them too often as I think that they confused audiences who were present to listen to an accordion. They often commented on that very point.

The Fr8x has a lot of good accordion sounds built in and I think that the best features are the options available in the left hand. This gives your performance a level of crispness and finishes the performance with a pleasant combo like sound. I try to stay with styles which incorporate the accordion perhaps with the addition of some orchestral sounds as long as they're not overpowering. In addition I try to manage my Bk7m so that it also leans towards accordion sounds.

At work a couple of my colleagues are or were professional musicians who make their living working in business so that they could support their families. . They critiqued my music and their advice was to incorporate more realistic accordion sounds. After much thought I have come to the conclusion that there is a lot of merit in this suggestion to aim for using sounds which compliment the accordion.

In the end everyone must choose their own approach to their playing and we can probably learn things that can make us better regardless of our relative skills. I eagerly look forward to the end of this pandemic so that we can start having lots of fun with our music.

Yep. 5 or 6 years ago I came to this same realization. It was fun playing with all the sounds initially, as I had done that for 20 years with synthesizer keyboards as well.

After a couple months I killed it all. I use my FR-8X, and have been using it this way for the past 6 years, with three accordion sounds on the treble side, and the string bass on the bass side. And that's it. I don't mess with all the woodwind sounds, and orchestras, and drums, and stabs, etc.

I just concentrate on getting the most out of the accordion sounds using the bellows and technique. It sounds darn close to an acoustic now, but it took years of practice with it to get the dynamics down. I occasionally layer an organ under the accordion to get that Cordovox nostalgic sound, but other than that I play my FR-8X exactly like a, well, accordion!

I still like listening to others that do play the other sounds. It's always good to see what others are doing with this accordion.