A true professional. You have not given any preferences, only facts. I have not identified any errors in your judgements. The customer choice is simply his alone, down to curiosity. I play the chromatic 'C' system as adopted by most French and have no regrets. Of course, even with this system, there exist different approaches to fingering, but that is again purely a personal choice and should not 'put the brakes' on any progress. There, however is one other very important fact that you may or may not be aware of. In France, there is a preference amongst those who are more 'informed'(for want of a better term), to adopt a stradella bass system which has three rows of fundamental notes plus three rows of chords which they refer to as a 3x3 system as opposed to a 4x2 system with which most people are familiar . To put it simply, I shall use the 'C' note oblique row as an illustration. For the fundamental notes you have C, E and G#. For the remaining 3 chord rows you have Major, Minor and Dominant 7th without the tonic which sounds the notes E, G and Bb. You will ask, where is the Diminished 7th row? Well, the C diminished 7th chord can be sounded by simply playing the same Dominant 7th chord without the tonic in the oblique rows of the 'F' and the Ab notes. By simple transposition, all the other Diminished 7th chords are executed in the same way. Sounds complicated at first, but let me tell you, if you are a serious bass player, this system has serious advantages over the 'standard' stradella 4x2 system. You can perform great 'bass runs' plus additional chord 'combinations' and inversions to add to the standard major, minor and 7th chords. In fact the system is illustrated in Manu Maugain's 'Perfectionnement Vol.2'(page 6). Sorry to drop this 'Bombshell' so early in the year. Happy New Year to everybody from Paul in London, UK.
Thank you so much for this comment. Here in America it is difficult to find anyone who knows the reasons and consequences behind certain configurations, especially when it comes to the chromatic button version of the instrument. I have always been intrigued by the French preference for 3 rows of bass notes, and I have noted often by watching carefully the fingering of France's best players that many are using this system. I did not mention this subject in my video series for two reasons. One, my main focus was the chromatic system on the treble side. Second, I really don't know much about different bass side configurations. Thank you for giving me some enlightenment. But could you further clarify the playing of the Diminished 7th chords. Are you saying that the Dominant 7th of one column (oblique row) is enharmonic with the Diminished 7th of another? Or are you talking about a two finger combination that produces it? For example, to produce a Minor 7th on the Stradella system I use a two finger combination of the Minor with a bass note from another column. Is that what you are talking about? I also know that a portion of France's accordionists prefer a chromatic configuration on the bass side. My goodness. There's no shortage of configurations. How are people to decide? Don't worry, your comment is not a 'Bombshell'. Indeed, perhaps it will help other viewers realize that before starting a journey into the world of the chromatic button accordion, one should fully research all possible ways that the instrument can be configured to ensure that they pick the one best suited for the type of music they intend to play most of the time.
Do you know what, I simply love your enthusiasm, even though it is your trade. There is too much information to give you without the danger of confusing you and your readers of your RU-vid channel. If you don't mind, I shall write to you at your address with ample notes, diagrams and a few pieces of music to illustrate. That will be easier for me and you. But just be a little patient for the reply. Have you heard of the french accordionist Claude Thomain? His music is sensational(for me at least) because it is well written and very educational. There is plenty of him on RU-vid. As a matter of fact, most of his repertoire would be very difficult if you DON'T use the french 3x3 system in the left hand. I will give his address in France in my reply. I have travelled widely in France having met many of the top accordionists there. That's all for now my friend. Take care and I promise to give you a full reply. Paul Elliott from London.
I have a Roland 8X Dallape digital accordion. My main acoustic accordion is a converter free bass with B system bass. I am able to setup the Roland 8x in many bass systems so you can choose Stradella, B system, C system, 3 rows bass/3 rows chords, and several other systems also. Mine is a piano keyboard but Roland makes chromatic keyboards on their various digital accordions and they allow you to switch from C system or B system treble. There is no clear advantage of one over the other... it is simply a matter of what style you learned to play. I know some that play multiple systems. One plays piano accordion with C system free bass and also plays a Russian Bayan with B system on both sides. He has no problems playing on either instrument. I also play pipe organ with bass pedals, classical guitar, and have no problems swapping between instruments.
This was a wonderful series. It was because of your videos that I chose to learn the chromatic. Everything that you say about it turned out to be true, including the notoriety that you mention when people see me play it. I will be upgrading to the FR-4xb.
This video series is the best presentation of the chromatic accordion that I have ever seen. The advantages of the chromatic that you demonstrate make it clear which style of accordion, piano or chromatic, any beginning accordionist should choose. Not only does the chromatic have several playing advantages, it's actually easier to play.
I watched your entire series. You did an excellent job at presenting what is important to the learning and playing of the instrument. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely have chosen the chromatic.
This is probably the most succinct explanation of why button accordions are better than piano accordions. Even though my primary instrument is piano, I would prefer not to have to make leaps or large stretches over piano keys oriented vertically.
Thank you! Just because of this particular video series about Chromatic accordions, I've started playing "C" Giulietti Super continental... ))) I'm seriously considering buying Roland 8 in chromatic version! I'm no longer interested in investing in Piano accordion even though playing it since 1982... Chromatic accordion has all adventures over Piano accordion... I wish I would start Chromatic since very beginning in my childhood...
Very good point! This is exactly why I ceased playing the keyboard accordion ("piano accordion") and switched to chromatic button accordion (b-griff). I wanted to play my classical guitar music on the accordion, just as I do on the fortepiano and organ and which is really easy on these instruments. But on the keyboard accordion this is not possible on the trebble side, so I had to use the bass side which has different sound colour which doesn't fit to be mixed into melodies so well and which is simply more complicated than just playing the music on the right side for the most part. The chromatic button accordion increases the capabilities for classical music on the accordion even without freebass.
I had to trade in a piano yesterday-I already have three plus a free bass-the dealer suggested I trade in for a chromatic hohner. I was very nervous because I’ve always heard rather transition is brutal. But your videos are so encouraging. I ordered the French method you suggested. Thank-you so much. Do you teach via zoom? You’re the best.
Super helpful series on the chromatic button accordion -- I have a 120 Camillo 3, with great sound, but in retirement, is a bit heavy for mobile practice... was thinking of a 48 bass piano accordion, but now will consider a C-griff, 60 Bass chromatic, kind of like your Weltmeister. Thank you... guessing you probably ship a fair bit to Canada, as you are near Buffalo.
Thank you very much for this series of chromatic accordions. It was really informative and thorough. I have Russian Voskhod 2 piano accordion. It was given free to my daughter, because nobody wanted to buy it. Finns bought those cheap from the former Soviet Union. It is in perfect pitch. Very heavy to play. But I started with it accordion playing hobby (otherwise I would be still wondering, how difficult instrument that is. Now trying to buy used Roland FR-8xb. You and my accordion teacher inspired me to move to chromatic version. It is of-course Finnish style. In Finland we have lots of books for chromatic system. When I first borrowed books from our library, I was confused about the small amount written for piano version accordions. Now I know why. Chromatic accordions are 90 % of all accordion population in Finland. Are you going to make more this kind of videos for instance about how to advance in playing with chromatic accordions? Some kind of beginner thing. Do you have something also about guitar playing or piano/synthesizer?
Because we are a music store , we made these videos to help people decide what model to buy, either piano or chromatic, and if chromatic either Russian, Finnish, or French systems. It was never our intention to provide instruction on how to play, other than to suggest the Manu Maugain method book for the C-Griff system. As you say, in Finland you have access to instructional books, as well as to teachers. You should therefore use those to gain proficiency on the instrument. Best of luck with it.
Hello, first of all thanks for the presentation excellent delivery. Question, if I understood properly you said that if you would have good books or a qualified teacher to learn the b system you do so, what is reason behind it?Thank you in advance.
I really don't understand why there are no books in America for the B System (B-Griff or Russian Bayan). One would think that if the system was good and worth learning that books would exist for it. But there are none that I know of. Whatever the reason, it excludes that system from consideration my most music hobbyists.
