Battle of the Somme

To the anonymous the person who requested Battle of the Somme for a G one row - here it is! I hope it's useful. If you register with blogger you can subscribe to the blog and keep track of updates etc (and it makes my life easier as I can see who is posting!).

Elizabeth Clare's Waltz

This great tune is hidden at the end of 'Hares on the Mountain' by Chris Wood on the album Lusingac. I'm guessing it is an Andy Cutting tune as it has his hallmark sound to it. There are lots of variations which occur during the tune, and I have tried to capture the framework and the commonly occurring trills/slurs.

The Tune

The album version is in the key of F major, played on a C/F melodeon. I have transposed it into G to be D/G melodeon friendly.

Some Notes on the Tune

The guitar chords indicated are harmonies implied by the guitar, which to me stands out as the main harmonic instrument on the album recording. The melodeon does play chords the second time through, and these mostly follow the guitar. The chords given will work as a starting point to build your own harmonic structure and arrangements. 

It is also worth noting that the third time through on the album, the melodeon switches in the 3rd voice and octave lower (a good trick on an instrument with the stop options - Andy Cutting tends to play a Castagnari Mory which has the stops on the back of the keyboard, operated by a thumb switch). This leads to the tuning sounding an octave lower, but of course keeps the same fingering pattern. 

The Video

I have indicated on the video the various sections and also played the different ornaments and trills slowly and obviously to make them easier to learn by ear. The same ornaments are also indicated on the sheet music.

Speed the Plough - Embellishments and Variation

Speed the Plough is probably the most widely known English session tune, but unfortunately gets played in a very basic style. There are lots of really good versions in different manuscripts and on recordings, and this tries to pull together some of them to give some possible variations on the tune.

The Music

The most important point for playing this tune is keeping your 4 right hand fingers in position on buttons G3, G4, G5, & G6. This allows the slightly tricky descending patterns such as bar 7 to be played fairly easily, without your fingers falling over themselves. The E played on D3' should use finger 1, allowing finger 2 to play the two A notes on G3' in bar 4. The lowest notes G2' in the turnaround bars should be played with finger 1.

The Video

La Marianne

This is the video lesson for the French tune 'La Marianne'.

The Music

The first score shows the notes in standard notation with the button numbers above. Pay careful attention to the phrases where you are crossing rows whist keeping the bellows direction constant. There are no mid-bar bellows direction changes which means it is possible to keep the tune sounding very smooth.

 The chords for the tune are shown here, above the stave. Notice that it requires both an Am and Bm chord. These are not available from the 'normal' button combinations and must be formed by playing 'cross chords'

Am is formed from playing the A pull bass note and the C pull chord simultaneously.

Bm is formed from playing the B push bass note and the D push chord simultaneously.

These are both indicated in the video below.

G Major Scale, D, & G Chords for the Mandolin

This is a very basic mandolin lesson designed to cover the G major scale and two chords.

The G Major Scale

It is very important to have a firm knowledge of the various scale shapes used to play the Mandolin as forms the foundation of almost all the pieces you will play. Try playing up and down the scale slowly and smoothly, insuring all the notes come out sounding nice. Avoid making any buzzing noises by pressing too lightly, or fretting the notes too heavily causing them to go out of tune and making your hand seize up!

The diagram below shows the scale shape in what is called tab. Each line represents a pair of strings from low G, through D, then A up and to the high E. The number on each line indicates the frets to be pressed to give the complete ascending scale. 

For every fret 2 note use finger one

For every fret 3 or 4 note use finger two

For every fret 5 note use finger three

Start by playing the open G with a down stroke with your pick. The second note should be played as an up stroke, and the rest played following this picking pattern of alternating your down and up strokes.

The Chords

The G major chord is played using finger one on the 2nd fret of the A string and finger two on the 3rd fret of the E string. This can be written as 0 0 2 3 (open string, open string, 2nd fret, 3rd fret). Hit all the strings together to produce the chord.

The D major chord is played using finger one on the 2nd fret of the low G and finger two on fret 2 of the high E string. This can be written as 2 0 0 2 (2nd fret, open, open, 2nd). Again, hit all the strings together to form the chord.

Practice strumming the chords by holding the shapes down and moving the pick alternately up and down across all the strings. Insure all the notes are being fretted properly by playing the chords one string at a time.

The Video

Hopefully the video will make the concepts described above clear!

G Major Melodeon Fingering and Eh Cumpari Video

Here is the video to go with the G major scale lesson and tune Eh Cumpari.

Notice the scale is firstly played using only one finger at a time to provide a clear sight of the buttons. The second time through the correct hand position is shown with the fingers hovering over the buttons.

When playing Eh Cumpari I have again tried to move my fingers out the way quickly to show which button/fingers are being pressed.

The tune is then played at full speed with some ornamentation and variation on the melody to indicate how it will eventually sound.

The G Major Scale

 

G major is a very easy key to play on a melodeon which has a G row! All that is required is learning the push/pull pattern which gives the notes in the right order.

The scale will start on button 3 of the G row. 

To play the scale you must play: 

Button 3 on the push (G3)

Button 3 on the pull (G3')

Button 4 on the push (G4)

Button 4 on the pull (G4')

Button 5 the push (G5)

Button 5 on the pull (G5')

Button 6 on the pull (G6')

Button 6 on the push (G6)

Notice that the push/pull pattern reverses for the last two buttons!

Once you can do this pattern ascending, try it in reverse.

Eh' Cumpari

This traditional Italian tune, made famous in 1953 by Julias La Rosa, is a really good beginners tune for the melodeon.

Begin this tune by placing your right hand fingers on the G row in the home position; your first finger on button 3, second on button 4, third on button 5, and fourth on button 6.

The whole tune can be played using these fingers to operate its specific button.

Pay attention to letting fingers fly away once they have played their note; they should stay on the button or hover just about it.

To read the notation: each number corresponds to a button on the melodeon's G row. G5 would mean play the 5th button of the G row on the push (closing the bellows together). G6' would mean play button 6 of the G row on the pull (opening the bellows up) etc.

If you find you are running out of air make sure you use the air button to refill or empty the bellows.