Learning to Play the Basses on Irish B/C Button Accordion - 42 Tunes with Bass and Chord Annotation

Since 2022, one of my projects has been writing up tune transcriptions for B/C box complete with bass and chord indications for players first starting to learn to play the bass side of the instrument.

When I started learning to play the basses, I found it hard to find such information anywhere, so I hope these transcriptions will be useful to other B/C players who are taking on the challenge of learning the basses.

In these 42 tune transcriptions, I am not attempting to teach how to backup traditional Irish music.

That is an entirely different skill than the physical challenge of dealing with the basses themselves.

My assumption is that you already are playing the tune melodies on the treble side of your instrument and are looking to learn to include the bass and chord buttons in your playing. I also assume that to extend these skills to other tunes not in this collection, you either already know how to determine the appropriate backup chords from the melody or are willing to learn bass/chord arrangements by rote as a starting point.

My particular chord selections may be a reasonable starting point for learning the skill of backing Irish traditional music, but that is not the primary goal of these transcriptions.

To learn how to backup tunes, I suggest checking out Dr. Chris Smith's fantastic book "Celtic Backup for All Instrumentalists" , available on Amazon from Mel Bay.

While there are multiple possible approaches to playing the bass and chords, my preferred pattern for reels, hornpipes, and barndances is to play the bass buttons only on a chord change, and the chord buttons only on the offbeats.

For jigs, I play the bass buttons only on a chord change, and the chord buttons on the 3 and 6 (assuming counting jigs with 6 beats per measure).

For slides, I play the bass buttons only on a chord change, and the chord buttons on the 3, 6, 9, and 12 (assuming counting slides with 12 beats per measure).

Some players also play the bass buttons on the every downbeat as well, not just on chord changes as in my preferred patterns. Having the flexibility and skill to vary your bass and chord patterns is a useful skill to practice, nothing is set in stone, so play around with all the possibilities!

For waltzes, I'm using a conventional bass-chord-chord pattern.

Going through these transcriptions will provide a good starting point exercise for finding the combination of treble button and bass or chord button for either the push or draw. In particular they should be helpful in those cases where there may be some ambiguity because of the "magic" notes such as B and E as well as the G and D bass/chords that are available in both directions on the most common 8-button bass layouts.

In general, the arrangements should work on most common 8-button B/C bass layouts that include both G and D available on both the push and draw, C and E only available on the push, and A and F only available on the draw.

The transcriptions do assume you have the thirds removed from the chords, either with a dedicated stop or taped off on the reed block.

Playing the Tunes from the Tunebook:

On the tune pages you can click the title to open them in my ABC Transcription Tools player.

Open the "Tune Trainer" to Practice the Tunes Slowly:

From the tune player, you can click the "Start Tune Trainer" button to practice the tunes starting at a slower tempo and increasing the tempo each time through.

In the Tune Trainer you can set the start and end tempo percentage, how much the tempo increases each time through the tune, and how many times it should play the tune before increasing the tempo.


Two versions are included, one that plays the tunes with an Accordion sound and the other that plays the tunes with a Piano sound.

More information is available at:
http://michaeleskin.com/box.html

Review by Graham Owen from Cornwall, England, UK:

"I am still working on my right hand techniques and occasionally come in with a bass note when playing a slow march or waltz. The work you have put in to your tune book with accompanying basses is really impressive, and helped me no end in getting to grips with these buttons.

Without your book or guidance it would probably have taken me a lot longer to work out how to add the basses. The bass on the chord change and then a back-beat (pause/chord) up to the next change to keep good tempo while the right hand uses ornamentation to good effect, expressing the character of the tune."