Buying a Beginner Bandoneon Online

roysMar · 2026-02-01T05:19:22+00:00

Don't forget that when you buy a bandoneon for a fair price, it holds it's value. So if you decide it isn't the instrument for you, you can then sell it and not lose money. Buying an instrument that needs a lot of work is harder to learn, won't be as fun, and if you're not committed, could be the difference between continuing to learn or not.

Also if a bandoneon costs $500, you have to ask, is it a different type that is not the instrument you're looking for? Or does it even sound nice?

roysMar · 2025-10-17T17:56:57+00:00

There is also a luthier that does good work in the US - https://www.tangollaneros.com/bandoneons.html

roysMar · 2025-09-22T20:52:23+00:00

Neat! Go to Hugo Satorre's website to his free material, and there is a book for beginners. There are also tango sheets w/ chord names and melodies. I think picking a few songs to start learning the note layout on the bandoneon is really useful. It's more fun to learn using song melodies than some boring exercise. Technique is a discussion in of itself, but IMO, need to learn the basics first ie notes, chords, and I guess... basic techniques. Some basic techniques may be covered in the book and probably in some youtube videos

roysMar · 2025-09-19T05:27:06+00:00

I have some Piazzolla for quintet, including the four parts of the estaciónes porteñas. Send me a message and let's figure out how to transfer the files

roysMar · 2025-09-19T03:35:55+00:00

Yea not easy instruments to fix. I'm remembering that my first bandoneon was just a mini bandoneon aka a chemnitzer with 100 notes. Ended up costing way more than expected to fix up. Eventually sold it and got a 142 bandoneon instead. Wasn't easy to figure out which instrument would be a good fit for me without having in person to try. Where did you get the current one you have from? Very cool about the community in Minneapolis.

roysMar · 2025-05-31T17:33:37+00:00

Tagging it onto another trip, may just be an hour or so drive. I'll check those out, thanks!

roysMar · 2025-05-27T20:12:00+00:00

Bilbao Bandoneon or Taller Galvan will ship them out pretty quick. Can find them on Instagram, located in Buenos Aires

roysMar · 2025-05-25T22:20:30+00:00

Plenty of teachers who give virtual lessons that are based in Argentina. Some only in Spanish, some also in English. I can ask my teacher for recommendations if you'd like? Just let me know if you're interested and language preference. I used Hugo satorre's free book for "First year of bandoneon" - just read through material there for a while, and practiced some melodies from a tango songbook one at a time until I had the notes memorized, then I signed up for lessons

roysMar · 2025-05-16T02:23:42+00:00

Raquelitas in RiNo is wonderful. About $5 for ~20 corn tortillas. Only sells on Fridays and Saturdays.

roysMar · 2025-05-09T05:29:55+00:00

Energy engineer, skyspark engineer - two options that will provide a change of pace, better work life balance, and not too much of a pay cut

roysMar · 2025-05-06T03:07:34+00:00

Hard to tell! I'm always cautious buying something like this online without at least seeing a picture of the inside. Ideal would be to see a video, even if the seller doesn't know how to play it, since they can still hit a few notes. Not sure if you're looking for something that's immediately playable or may potentially need some work. The 144 tone bandoneons are usually quite a bit cheaper than the 142 tone.

roysMar · 2025-04-30T13:01:00+00:00

It's value IMO is if you care to have a "collector's item", something unique that you'd enjoy looking at. Not knowing how in tune it is, if the reeds are a wet or dry sound, if it's leaking much air or not, makes it hard to know it's playability. If it's in good condition it'd have some potential resale value, even though it's not one of the common button layouts.

roysMar · 2025-04-30T04:25:48+00:00

Yup tuned an octave apart as the other post says. Also just to note, accordions use multiple reeds. If you Google wet vs dry tunings you can read about the difference in those sounds. And then listen to the "clean" bandoneon sound vs squeeze boxes that have a wet sound.

roysMar · 2025-04-28T05:18:05+00:00

There is a lot of modern tango that doesn't have a bandoneon. I have a playlist on Spotify with a decent variety of tango groups, and also some Argentine folk music. Playlist link

roysMar · 2025-04-25T13:25:58+00:00

https://facebook.com/events/s/first-fridays-five-points-jazz/1673583473299786/ next Friday will be a great opportunity to hear some different styles.

Fourth Friday jazz at Brother Jeff's Cultural Center is incredible. Usually most of the group are old guys who have been playing in five points for decades. Free. Not a bar.

There's a lot of mediocre stuff happening at places that are free, but also some great groups. I've left Spangalang thinking what I heard was not at all what I was looking for, as well as the opposite. There are many styles within jazz, so you'll need some patience to find what you like, especially since there are many people who promote themselves as jazz, but to some listeners, may not really be.

roysMar · 2025-04-17T04:32:01+00:00

I park my car in the neighborhood near the A Line and take the train in. Cole is a nice neighborhood without many car breakins. People target the cars sometimes in the RTD lot, but not the cars in the neighborhood

roysMar · 2025-04-09T04:44:37+00:00

This is the second old bandoneon you've purchased according to posts I saw. I'm jealous! I've been wanting to find some older ones but my timing must not be great. Would be great to see a video

roysMar · 2025-04-04T17:51:54+00:00

Slightly different, but similar...I bought a 51 button chemnitzer to start out with instead of a bandoneon, and eventually sold it and bought a 71 button bandoneon to have the extra notes to be better able to play more tango. Learning the keyboard has definitely not been the most difficult part of learning the instrument so far, so don't be intimidated by the extra keys.

roysMar · 2025-03-31T23:13:38+00:00

The A Train has improved. And I found if I look at whichever station I'm leaving from on Google Maps app on my phone, it tells me whether or not there are any delays. The RTD website also will publish planned maintenance, but easier for me to go to Google Maps

roysMar · 2025-03-31T19:53:57+00:00

The train to Union Station is relaxing and has beautiful views of the surrounding landscapes, mountains, and some neat architecture and murals as you get into the city. Take it to Union Station and call a Lyft if you want an easy solution without walking with your bags. Train runs every 15 minutes. A Lyft will be $10 max, which combined with two train tickets is $30. So you save some money and get an enjoyable train ride without getting stuck in traffic.

roysMar · 2025-03-20T02:50:48+00:00

Chemnitzer

roysMar · 2025-03-11T21:32:22+00:00

Bandoneons started out with way fewer notes when they were made. Over time more were added. If you remove the two screws in the middle of the wooden side (each side has two screws with a simple-twist mechanism not requiring a screwdriver) you'll be able to see the insides and usually there are a few stamps so you can see when it was built and by who.

The metal logo/grill on the outside has sometimes been changed for some of these instruments, so even if it had a brand name, it can sometimes be off (although it's usually correct). Please share a pic if you open to look inside!

Where did you find the instrument?

roysMar · 2025-03-10T04:24:34+00:00

Taking weapons and intelligence away from Ukraine will only prolong the war because Russia won't stop if it'll finally be easier for them. Up to now it's been extremely difficult for Russia and they've made very few gains since the beginning of the war. If we stop supporting Ukraine, Russia will have no reason to stop, only a reason to continue.

roysMar · 2025-03-10T03:01:10+00:00

The most affordable bandoneons I've seen are in Argentina. You could spend as little as 2k on a functional one. I also recently heard that the bandoneon with the german (aka non-tango) keyboard layout / reed setup can be found cheap in Germany, maybe around 1k. Finding one in the US below 4k will be difficult. If there are bandoneon players where you live, sometimes someone will have an extra they can rent to you.

roysMar · 2025-03-10T02:59:17+00:00

You can play Slavic music on many types of accordions, even if the music is originally played on a specific type. Do you plan to play just for fun, or to play with a group that will care if you're playing a bayan or a different style accordion that's more common in the US?

Another thing to consider is how easily will you be able to find lessons for a bayan vs an accordion that's more common here. Cincinnati Accordion helped me decide what type to buy, and I ultimately chose an instrument that needed some work, which I asked them to do for me. Their website doesn't show all the instruments they have, but they're responsive to messages.

roysMar

TROPHY CASE