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patches - Posted - 02/04/2007: 15:14:21
OK, now I know that most "jams" are done with other string instruments... but my brother-in-law has a squeeze box.... and loves to play polka music.
I will be visiting him soon and would like to know if anybody has ever jammed with a squeeze box?? Recommend any polkas... need to know some names so I can request tabs.
Thanks for any/all help! 
Keep on the sunny side!
Don
banjomikey - Posted - 02/04/2007: 15:44:36
Uh, one guy on here plays banjo and sqeeze, but I can't remember his name. I'll let ya know if I think of it.
Mike
You can pick your nose and you can pick your banjo, but you can't roll banjos into little balls and flick 'em! (_)==='~
salmoncove - Posted - 02/04/2007: 21:57:22
The banjo and accordion are excellent together. I'm a beginner though so i have yet to jam with friends and family members that play the box. Can't help ya with polkas as I play/listen to Irish/Celtic/ Newfoundland stuff.
Here's a link to to a great set played with a banjo and squeeze box.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB03bbbnWl0
Good luck
Ken
BRASMAN - Posted - 02/05/2007: 01:06:13
I think it would sound great.
Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
patches - Posted - 02/05/2007: 08:27:27
Howdy Ken, thanks for the link! I'll pass it on to my brother-in-law so he will know he has to really pump his leg to keep in time!
Don
Keep on the sunny side!
Don
mikeyes - Posted - 02/05/2007: 13:42:32
don,
In Irish traditional music the combination is very common, just look at Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn (www.reeltrad.com) and take a listen. Of course, this is tenor banjo but it will give you an idea of the sound.
Also, tenor banjo is played in polka bands in our area (Wisconsin) all the time.
Mike Keyes
http://www.banjosessions.com
http://www.mikekeyes.com
gottasmilealot - Posted - 02/05/2007: 20:09:16
Be nice to the squeeze box player... they'll drown you out... 
Bill Evans has one in his group for certain tunes, and it comes off OK.
Keith
pweller - Posted - 02/05/2007: 23:54:14
Be nice to the squeeze box player or they'll run out on you! I tried to get an accordionist to play with me, it was like herding cats!
brokenstrings - Posted - 02/06/2007: 00:20:45
I'd think the squeeze box--are you talking about a little concertina or a giant piano accordion?--might drown out the banjo depending on what kind of banjo it is.
Jessy
Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!
patches - Posted - 02/06/2007: 08:01:11
Oh... he plays "REAL" loud... but if we should have some fun that's all that matters.
Thanks for all of the replies.
Keep on the sunny side!
Don
MrSrubas - Posted - 02/06/2007: 09:02:23
My kid brother plays both button and key accordion. We play stuff together all the time.
That thing makes sweet train noises...
Feo - Posted - 02/06/2007: 12:05:32
A fiddler friend of mine keeps breaking out his accordian and stomping all over our music with that loud thing .... I play fiddle and openback banjo , the accordian is way too loud for trying a duet with those instruments...
That's ok .... I'll fix him REEL good next time .... I took most of the sheet music he wants to work from and found that I can play most of those tunes ( using crossfingerings ) on my bagpipes .... muhwa ha ha
Yea buddy, bring on that accordian now !
scotty22 - Posted - 02/07/2007: 01:49:14
Banjoist and concertina/accordianist here! Two of the great, great folk iinstruments.
banjoscotty - Posted - 02/07/2007: 08:23:52
If the squeeze box is to loud for banjo duet,have box turn around with his back to the mic and take 6 giant steps to the rear.Maybe he will fall
off stage.Then banjo will be solo
-----Only kiddin folks,do what
you do and play well
And the banjo said:
Why is everybody always pickin on me ?
banjoscotty
Bruce Weeks - Posted - 02/16/2007: 15:39:38
quote:
Originally posted by patches
OK, now I know that most "jams" are done with other string instruments... but my brother-in-law has a squeeze box.... and loves to play polka music.
I will be visiting him soon and would like to know if anybody has ever jammed with a squeeze box?? Recommend any polkas... need to know some names so I can request tabs.
Thanks for any/all help!
Keep on the sunny side!
Don
It all depends on musicians able to play off of each other. I play the Cajun accordion and Banjo Coltrane and I played together and it sounded real good, but he's a top notch banjo picker and knows how to play against it. It also depends on the music, most polka music has a bounce to it and you'll need to learn to swing with it and also vamp along with it. Bruce It can be done.
www.bruceweeksfamilyband.com "How many people does it take to make good Cajun Music? Two, one to play the accordion and one to make the gumbo".
http://www.myspace.com/bruceweeksfamilyband
Jeff H - Posted - 02/18/2007: 14:50:36
Define "squeezebox"
1 row 2 row 2 1/2 row 3 row button accordions ?
the single row IMO sounds great with banjo
and yes I play them
molloy - Posted - 02/18/2007: 17:58:49
another good cd to hear this compo in is paul brock and edna scahill's humdinger.
Jacinto Guevara - Posted - 02/18/2007: 20:17:48
Here's two polkas that everyone SHOULD know. One is Czech from the early thirties, the other is Mexican from the early 1900's.
Skoda Lasky (Unrequited Love) a.k.a. Beer Barrel Polka
Jesusita En Chihuahua (Little Jesse in Chihuahua)
Any decent Texas "Country" band knows these tunes.
estrayisland - Posted - 02/21/2007: 16:09:08
Here is a thread that touches my heart. Try " Lou and Peter Berryman" from up Madison, Wisconsin way. Lou plays accordian and Peter plays 12 string guitar. They do the "state" song of Wisconsin..."Up in Wisconsin." Most of their music is self-written and very little is polka. The banjo doesn't have to be old timey and the accordian doesn't have to be polka.
Up in Wisconsin, Up in Wisconsin
The weather isn't very nice
Up in Wisconsin, Up in Wisconsin
You have to fish right through the ice
give it a shot...donn
All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out.
- Mark Twain in Vienna
oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 02/24/2007: 02:40:34
I used to play contradances with a guy who played accordian in halls where there was no piano. I think you will find clawhammer banjo and accordian are fairly common ingrediants of contra bands.
These days there is an accordian player who frequents the same jams I do. It is always a pleasure playing with him. A couple months ago a friend who plays Scottish small pipes was in town. You could say it was every musician's dream - banjo, accordian, and bagpipes together!
The Whiskey Before Breakfast variations and a few tunes in "F" tuning are now available on the web at:
http://home.thegrid.net/~fjbrad/id20.html
OldDropThumb - Posted - 02/24/2007: 12:30:10
for a second I thought this thread was about the who song...."squeezebox" haha silly me
Ancient - Posted - 03/22/2007: 21:06:46
The accordion and banjo are great together. I play both accordion and 5-string banjo. It is true that accordions tend to be loud, but they don't have to be. They are beautiful instruments that can play any style of music, loud or soft. They go great with mandolin and violin. My music partner plays Irish Tenor Banjo and now I can enjoy hearing how well it goes with accordion.
tom clunie - Posted - 03/29/2007: 01:28:08
Go to CD Baby and our group "Waterbound" for several samples of concertina, both with tenor and 5 string clawhammer, and vocals. I like that sound with the concertina and banjo but YMMV! TC
patches - Posted - 03/29/2007: 07:49:16
wher's the link to "CD Baby"???
I don't play slow, I play at "singing speed"... Keep on the sunny side!
Don
estrayisland - Posted - 03/29/2007: 09:49:42
http://cdbaby.com/
All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out.
- Mark Twain in Vienna
Lukasnewsalem - Posted - 04/02/2007: 01:24:22
I play with a squeeze box player all the time. He plays a wide variety of old time type music. As far as the polkas we play together here is a few of them that are real good for both instruments. Snow Deer Polka, Claranet Polka, Tic Toc Polka, Roll out the barrel, Pensiviana Polka, Under the Double Eagle, Apples, Peaches, Pumking Pie. I hope this list helps you.
BDCA - Posted - 04/02/2007: 11:52:59
I often play Irish Trad with a button accordian. Sometimes it's just the two of us and there's enough rhythm fill with the accordian to make the two instruments complementary.
Cya!
Bob
Santa Cruz, CA
banjovy - Posted - 04/02/2007: 13:28:41
"Playin all night, the music's just right" " Mommas got a squeeze box, daddy never sleeps at night."
SonicGrass - Posted - 04/13/2007: 13:57:29
Earl scruggs Polka on the Banjo
The thing ya can't remember tells the thing ya can't forget -Tom Waits
diarmaid - Posted - 04/13/2007: 20:51:55
check these 2 out on the accordian and banjo, click on tam the banjo (or all the rest in the juke box)...damien is pure class on the banjo, and they both sound pretty freakin sweet together. havn't seen him for years but sounds like he still far better than me! hes also on youtube if you click to search for crosscurrent
Mick S - Posted - 04/24/2007: 21:18:36
I play in a group called Squeezebot based in Louisville, Ky.
We are a Jazz group fronted by Accordian. I play 5-string and then we've got a bass player and Drummer. Everyone else in the group is a jazz professor at the local university. They totally dig it.
It's a really cool sound. and to make it stranger we're actually looking for a Tuba player to fill the bass role.
I've always lived by the rule that there isn't any thing that's musically illegal so go for it, you might stumble on the next great thing. but I can tell you from our 2 year career that Banjo/Accordian Jazz groups are going to always garner a snicker or odd look.
Go for it. and if you know a tuba player let me know.
Pangle - Posted - 05/01/2007: 21:32:09
Ah yes, the elusive banjo/accordion duet. I play both and love both, and think that they should go together more often. Not sure about piano accordion, but I play a G/C diatonic accordion, and it works great for all kinds of mountain music... June Apple, Cluck Old Hen, Sally in the Garden, Cold Frosty Morning... If you learn a couple polkas, be sure to make him learn some "fiddle" tunes!
Wee AL - Posted - 05/02/2007: 21:33:18
At our local session we can have all the molidian Button box and Piano acordion alomg with a couple of Banjos mandolins Guitars and fiddles and it does make for a great sound Google Paddy Rasta great band from here and all real good mates they use Button Box and Banjo and it sounds great..
AL
if its not fun ye aint doin it Right
mainejohn - Posted - 05/04/2007: 21:32:40
Back in the 80's when I was living in Minnesota, my old pal Harlan, an accordion player, and I (on the plectrum banjo) would do our "My Gal Sal", "Five Foot Two", "My Little Margie", "Beer Barrel Polka"and 40+ other old 30's tunes around Otter Tail County. This summer will be the pilgramage...I'm driving out after 14 years back in Maine and we'll be doing our reunion tour of same county, playing to audiences of 10, maybe 15 folks at a time. Sounds as if we'll be kickin' it off at the Schoolhouse Bar & Grill in Edwards, Minn during 4th of July week. Show up and announce yourself as a HO member, and I'll buy the first round of Grain Belt Light!
Cheers,
John
Scarborough, Maine
carteru93 - Posted - 05/04/2007: 21:52:48
I play both squeeze box and banjo...the only song I can play on both is "Polka on the Banjo" LOL.
Go to http://earlscruggs.fullboards.com/ for Earl Scruggs forum!
"Keep on burnin them strings!"
Jim Yates - Posted - 05/06/2007: 14:14:31
Al Kirby (Jazzy Al) and I have a version of Honeymoon Waltz on our CD Sittin' In The Kitchen where I play English concertina and Al plays banjo. My English concertina has the same range as a fiddle and works well with fiddle tunes.
I played in a group called The Piper's Hut which had an accordion player who played piano accordion, two row button and one row cajun accordion. We had two banjo players in the group as well and often played with banjo and box together.
Let's not forget Sally Ann Forrester, who played accordion for Bill Monroe in the early days. A friend of mine in Peterborough has a sticker on his accordion case that says,"Let's put the accordion back in bluegrass, where it belongs."
patches - Posted - 05/07/2007: 07:26:55
Thanks for all of the encouragement! My brother-in-law and I haven't played togther yet, we had a few things come up the last time we got together that were more important (family health concerns).
However, in June we are going to try again!
I don't play slow, I play at "singing speed"... Keep on the sunny side!
Don
Jacinto Guevara - Posted - 05/14/2007: 08:10:12
For those who haven't tried it yet understand this does NOT mean banjo as upstrum accompaniment to the accordion/concertina melody. BOTH should be playing melody and THIS creates a unique sound. It gives pluck to the reed and punch to the string.
