The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Who has the real dope on accordion madness? My wife wants to learn, and I'm ready to accept this fact and get her started. There are many kinds. She loves French music. I like those little French squeeze boxes.

Is one the perfect type to start on? I don't think she wants to start with one of those 80 pound ones.

Any insights and advice much appreciated.
Thanks.

Erin has an accordion, one of those 80 pound ones. It's a lot of fun to play! I mostly just use the side with the piano keys. The side with the buttons is very challenging to figure out for a variety of reason. Also the big accordions can be surprisingly loud and hard to play softly, so there's another reason to try to get a smalle one. Erin took a few lessons and she had a lot of fun with that, so getting some lessons might not be a bad idea too.

Yeah, I had a friend in school who played the heck out of those big pearl accordions. Seemed like carrying around a baby grand piano though! But I was also lucky enough to call T-Bone Wolk a friend, and he was a champion accordion player who could play with such finesse it killed me.

I think one of those small concertina. She reads music and plays piano, but doesn't rawk. So, you know...accordion!

The chord buttons on the left side of an accordion are one of the most logically laid out interfaces I have ever seen. Circle of fifths, totally. I love it. I bought a used one way back when, and it has been an absolute BITCH to work on. Looks like the insides of an old hardwired memory core in there. Buy a new one.

OK, I personally find the left side challenging to figure out because: 1) I can't see what I'm doing 2) 119 of the 120 buttons feel the same 3) the grid of buttons is slanted. For me personally it seems like something I will have to practice a lot to build enough muscle memory to be able to quickly and accurately switch rows. Your mileage may vary.

I agree. Practice is required. The grid is slanted to match the angle of the hand and fingers, as far as I can tell. As it turns out, you don't have to jump around a lot, generally speaking, because the buttons you need are always a row or two away. That's what's so great about the circle of fifths layout. You don't get TOO lost. Can you play your guitar with your eyes closed? I thought so.

My dad rocks the squeeze box. Always the hit of the party. I can play, but nothing like him.

you've been hiding accordion chops! good griefazoids!!!

(or was this what we were supposed to interpret via "porn machine" :O !)

One of those things that doesn't come up unless alcohol is being consumed in large quantities. And when I say I can play, it's more correct to say I know how play. Not that I'm good at it.

Billy's Little Trip wrote:it's more correct to say I know how play.

I would say that it would be more correct to say "I know how TO play".

Billy's Little Trip wrote:One of those things that doesn't come up unless alcohol is being consumed in large quantities.

How much more is that than the usual amount?

ken wrote:

Billy's Little Trip wrote:One of those things that doesn't come up unless alcohol is being consumed in large quantities.

How much more is that than the usual amount?

You'll know this answer when you are at one of my BBQs and you suddenly hear the pallets starting to breathe in the background and my dad yells, prost! Then it's oompah time. He plays best when he's well lubricated.

Billy's Little Trip wrote:

ken wrote:

Billy's Little Trip wrote:One of those things that doesn't come up unless alcohol is being consumed in large quantities.

How much more is that than the usual amount?

You'll know this answer when you are at one of my BBQs and you suddenly hear the pallets starting to breathe in the background and my dad yells, prost! Then it's oompah time. He plays best when he's well lubricated.

I have not received such an invite
Should I just stop by next time I'm in town?

Spud wrote:

Billy's Little Trip wrote:it's more correct to say I know how play.

I would say that it would be more correct to say "I know how TO play".

wise guy.

Roy, I don't let anyone from the interwebz come to my house.

Missed this thread when it was new. I have an accordion. It's got the right-hand piano layout (with five switches for the octaves) and 120 bass buttons on the left. Those buttons are a hassle, and to master them would require a lot more time than I can devote to it right now. But I know the layout (kinda) and try to use them when I play, because otherwise I just feel like I'm faking it. To date, three of my recordings have utilized the accordion - only one (my cover of Paco del Stinko's "Gary") uses the left hand. I feel somewhat guilty over this.

Anyone who can play rudimentary melodies on the keyboard can pick up an accordion and make music with it - just ignore the left hand. I assume that if your wife is actually interested in learning the accordion, she'll want the left hand buttons. She doesn't have to get a model like mine with all 120 buttons, but to actually learn the accordion as something other than a horizontal piano, getting one that's button-based would probably be a plus.

There's a lot of instruments (some of which are not technically called "accordions," but if you search eBay for "accordion" they come up anyway - take a look at this Youtube video of a guy rocking out Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody" on a Bayan, which the uploader called an accordion) that don't have the piano-layout keys. I've handled a 20-button concertina before (bonus: I think it was fairly inexpensive), which was kind of fun, but I found it limiting because of how few notes there were. Maybe those would be a better learning tool. Depends on what your wife is hoping to get out of it.

Thanks, Jon. There's apparently a huge accordion shop in NJ so we'll take a trip and try out all sorts of types, sizes and whatnots. I think a small one for those cute French songs is her style.

Yeah, those concertinas are pretty expensive. Size doesn't matter, folks (that's what he said).

Since this is still going. I saw a great little acordion played in a friend' band. It had like two octaves of piano keys and only like 12 chord buttons. I almost bought one of these on ebay and you can find a ton of them for under $200. Seems like just the right amount of stuff for the beginner or casual player.

Ken

ken wrote:Since this is still going. I saw a great little acordion played in a friend' band. It had like two octaves of piano keys and only like 12 chord buttons. I almost bought one of these on ebay and you can find a ton of them for under $200. Seems like just the right amount of stuff for the beginner or casual player.

Ken

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention those. Probably your best bet for starting to learn, if she's especially interested in the right-hand-keyboard/left-hand-buttons layout. You can find a lot of different size combinations including 12 button, 20 button, 60 button, and the full 120. I bought the full 120 because I really didn't feel like step-upgrading as my skill improves (which it won't, because I rarely practice unless I'm actually using it in a song).

roymond wrote:Size doesn't matter, folks (that's what he said).

I took my accordion to a shop to have it worked on, and they wouldn't do it because they said it wasn't big enough for me (pounds chest).

Spud wrote:

roymond wrote:Size doesn't matter, folks (that's what he said).

I took my accordion to a shop to have it worked on, and they wouldn't do it because they said it wasn't big enough for me (pounds chest).

Do you have one of those little ones that monkeys with bell hop hats play?

Bravo! Spud, when I get comfortable with my age and accept my squeeze box training.....you and I will jam.

...and I'll wear one of your skirts with the boys swingin'.