Weird Al Yankovic Accordion Jam
How I Use the V-Accordion
Weird Al Yankovic
There are few artists in the world who’ve had songs and albums at the top of the Billboard charts over a span of three decades. Among those elite few is perhaps the most famous parodist in pop music history, “Weird Al” Yankovic. Since the beginning of MTV in the ‘80s, Al has been there with his hilarious and spot-on parodies of popular songs. Those songs along with a polka-laden library of original songs have gained him legions of die-hard fans around the world. An accordion player first and foremost, Al uses Roland’s FR-7 V-Accordion.
Weird Al’s Take on Mics…
According to Weird Al, there are tons of options on the FR-7 V-Accordion that regular accordions don’t have. His favorite is being able to record directly and digitally without having to use microphones, this speeds up the setup process in the studio and for live performance. He explained that the accordion is a hard instrument to mic, because if you put a microphone next to an accordion – especially the left hand – the bellows are always moving. So it’s kind of hard to get an even sound, because the mic is always going to be closer and then further away from the sound source. Internal microphones are also always a problem, because you still get the sound of the bellows. With a V-Accordion, all one needs to do is plug in or play through the on board speakers.
“V” For Versatility…
Imagine being able to program the bass buttons for one instrument say acoustic bass, and the chord buttons for another instrument say baritone tuba, and the keys for yet another instrument, you could be a one man band. Traditional and orchestral sounds combination scan be created and played back, compete with full bellows articulation. You can instantly switch between instruments because it doesn’t depend on moving parts for sound generation, the V-Accordion is always in tune, and both keyboards can be transposed to play across a wide range octaves.
FR-8x and FR-8xb V-Accordions
Behold the FR-8X V-Accordion…
We haven’t told Weird Al, but we introduced our new flagship accordion, the FR-8X last month during the Frankfurt Musikmesse. This V-Accordion can do anything the FR-7 could do and more. Some of the most notable features are:
- Newly developed Dynamic Bellows Behavior technology which, emulates the true bellows response of an acoustic accordion in every register
- On board battery charging
- 180 orchestra, percussion, and Virtual Tone Wheel organ sounds
- A new interface with a large, easy-to-read color display with programmable buttons
- Built in looper for backing accompaniment
- A multi-effects engine
- The ability to record, playback and connect to a computer via USB
What are your thoughts on the new FR-8x? What is your favorite Weird Al parody? Drop us a comment!
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