Hypertextualized from Alan Polivka's accordion FAQ. Please send comments about the contents to the author (AcrdionMan@aol.com) and comments about the WWWification to Phoebe Sengers (phoebe@cs.cmu.edu).

Accordion Techniques

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  • Question:

    My left hand playing is weak. I would be grateful for help in learning fingerings for "radically jumping chord progressions" (to chords which are not closely related to the key you're playing in), e.g. Bb-Gm-E7-F.

    Answer:

    If you just want bass notes for these radical progressions, use your counterbasses where possible to minimize the distance you must cover with your fingers. If you are also trying to do "radially jumping chord progressions", it's just plain hard.

    Question:

    How likely am I to pick up bad habits by teaching myself to play the squeezebox?

    Answer:

    The son of a friend of mine taught himself to play concertina. One day he noticed that everyone else was playing theirs upside down relative to the way he was doing it. Needless to say, the rest of the world was not wrong. Please make sure that you at least know which side is for the right hand vs. the left hand. (-:

    Disclaimer: I make no guarantees regarding the accuracy of any information included here. If you know of any corrections, please let me know via AcrdionMan@aol.com.