Anglo Concertina in the Harmonic Style

I like this book a lot. I had been playing concertina about a month when my husband bought this for me. I figured out fairly quickly how to play a basic melody, which was fine, but it wasn’t enough. I craved harmony and accompaniment, which I knew the concertina was capable of. At first it was difficult to play the melody and then try to put the left hand in; I didn’t think I would get it. But it came together on “You Are All I Have”, a beautiful waltz in the book. This is so much more satisfying than just a single melody line.There are plenty of traditional British and Irish tunes, but I’m really glad that the author also included “St. James Infirmary”, “The Song From Moulin Rouge”, “Over the Rainbow” (especially beautiful) and other tunes not usually played on the concertina.And if you can’t figure out exactly how a tune goes, you can go to Youtube where Coover plays all of them. That helps a lot.The tablature system is fairly easy and you can catch on to it. Right hand buttons are shown above the notes, left hand buttons below and the pull is indicated by a line over the top. It’s a pretty good system. The one downside, I would say, is that, then, transferring to regular music, I’m somewhat lost without the button numbers. Many of the tunes indicate both the chord name (G, C,F, Dm) and the buttons you need to push, but one tends to look at the numbers and ignore the names. I’m sure this is remedied with continued practice (or covering up the numbers?).A very fun, helpful book, worth every penny!

One thing I was wondering about this book was would it also help me learn the 20 key, and that it does. Fair warning though, you will wish constantly while you go through this book that you had sprung the extra money for a 30 key.

I loved this book as soon as I received it because of the range of great tunes and opportunity to learn how to play them with interesting and often quite complex chords and accompaniments. The explanations and diagrams are easy to follow. The tunes get gradually more difficult but offer such a lovely range of types and styles that you feel encouraged to work through them. This may be quite a difficult book for an absolute beginner, but perfect for someone with a reasonable grasp of the instrument who wants to get better and improve their playing in the harmonic style.

I have since purchased an English Concertina. I can read music and already play other instruments, so the English Concertina was a better fit for me. However, the Anglo Concertina book was a nice introduction to the Concertina, was easy to follow, and includes some fun music, which I can enjoy with my English Concertina as well.

After playing the accordion, piano, and keyboard for over 50+ years, I developed arthritis. My fingers made playing keys extremely difficult.. Since my fingers were a little crooked, playing an instrument with buttons seemed the way to go to continue playing music. I purchased a 30-button concertina and needed to learn from a book. I live in a rural area, so that was the only way to learn. This book's instruction starts out very basic and then build your skill level gradually. It's a great beginner's book 1

If you're a melody player who throws in an occasional chord, on a 30 button anglo, Gary Coover's "Harmonic Style" will open your eyes and provide interest. Like all Gary's books, it teaches an approach not just a few tunes!

Great product! Great seller!

Best instruction available. Would love to see a 2nd book based on harmonic style.

This tutor deals with the issues for mastering the harmonic style (melody and chords) and is less suitable for the Irish single note style. I haven't had it long but at first glance I can see that it is much better than any other Anglo tutor I have seen so far and exactly what is needed. (Dan Worall's excellent book on William Kimber is not really a tutor and is restricted to Morris tunes) For the beginner or the advancing student, lots of real transcriptions in easy to read notation, good playable pieces from the tradition. For the price I think a CD would have been good although the material is out there on Youtube and I'm giving it 5 stars anyway.

Another great tuition book from Gary Coover. Clear instructions and good tunes - most of which he has also posted on You-Tube.

Super arrangements, not easy to play for a beginer but very satisfying ehen you can play them.

I had been looking for a while for advice about playing chords on the concertina to accompany tunes and this book has fulfilled my expectations. It is easy to follow and give plenty of tunes with chord accompaniment in incremental stages of difficulty. I would fully recommend it to anyone learning to play the concertina in this way. I have not given it 5 stars only because I am just at the start of it.

This is the best music tutor I have ever owned. Great tune selection, easy to understand tablature and YouTube videos. A must have for all concertina players.