2 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION

CONTENTS
About the Author................................................4 Guide Button C..............................................34
Introduction........................................................4 Bass Note C.....................................................34
Chords.............................................................36
PART 1GETTING STARTED C Major Chord Button...................................36
The Squeezebox: A Brief History.....................5 Types of Chords..............................................38
Parts of the Accordion.........................................6 Diatonic Harmony.........................................38
A Look Inside...................................................7 Combining Bass and Chord Buttons.............39
The Bellows......................................................7 Combining Left and Right Hands.................41
Buying an Accordion..........................................8 From Ode to Joy........................................41
Adjusting the Straps.............................................9 Alternating Bass..............................................42
Practicing Tips.................................................. 10 Ode to Joy..................................................44
Standard Music Notation..................................11 Ode to Joy (Key of F)................................45
Musical Alphabet, Before You Play..................................................46
Clef and Staff...............................................11 Stretching........................................................46
Lines and Spaces.............................................11 Right-Hand Warm-Ups..................................46
Notes...............................................................12
Ledger Lines...................................................12
PART 3STYLES FROM HOME AND
Beats, Note and Rest Values............................13 AROUND THE WORLD
Bar Lines and Measures..................................13 Putting It All Together.......................................48
Time Signatures..............................................14 Childrens Folk Song.........................................49
Rhythms and Counting..................................15 Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star....................49
The Waltz...........................................................50
PART 2PLAYING THE ACCORDION Minuet in G..............................................50
The Right Hand................................................16 Bluegrass or Old-Time......................................52
Notes in C Position........................................16 Angeline the Baker....................................52
D Position.......................................................24 Musette..............................................................54
E Position........................................................25 Playing Minor Chords....................................54
F Position........................................................26 Sad Caf1st Accordion..........................54
Some Basic Music Theory.................................28 Sad Caf2nd Accordion........................55
The Major Scale..............................................28 The Tango..........................................................56
Keys and Key Signatures................................29 Sophias Secret Tango................................56
Movable Hand Positions...................................30 Conjunto............................................................58
Shifting the Right Hand.................................31 Tejas..........................................................58
The Left Hand...................................................32 The Polka...........................................................60
Left-Hand Position.........................................32 Dennis Murphys Polka.............................60
Button Chart, Note
and Row Identification...............................33

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 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION 3

Zydeco and Cajun..............................................62 Latin American..................................................82

Zydeco Romp.............................................62 The Clave Rhythm..........................................82
Cajun 2-Step.............................................64 The Montuno.................................................82
The Irish Tradition............................................66
Air...................................................................66 PART 5APPENDIX
Hornpipe........................................................66 Playing with the Band....................................84
Reel.................................................................66 Amplifying Your Instrument..........................85
The Counter Bass............................................66 MIDI Accordions............................................86
Embellishments..............................................67 Digital Accordions..........................................86
Air Alone...................................................68 Reed SettingsAccordion Voices
and Registers................................................87
Air Alone (with ornaments)......................69
Tunings...........................................................87
Maggies Hornpipe....................................70
Types of Accordions........................................88
Maggies Hornpipe (with ornaments).......71
Sizing an Accordion........................................89
The Care and Feeding
PART 4THE WELL-ROUNDED of Your Free-Reed Machine.........................90
SIDE PERSON: PLAYING
WITH A GROUP Do It Yourself Repair......................................91
7th Chords.....................................................72 Self-Maintenance............................................91
The Blues...........................................................73 Great Musicians, Bands and Recordings........92
The 12-Bar Blues Progression........................73 Resources........................................................93
Improvising....................................................74 A Note From the Author....................................94
Swing Eighths.................................................74 Bass and Chord Button Chart...........................96
Da Blues....................................................75
Rock n Roll......................................................76
Squeezebox Rox.........................................76
Swing.................................................................77
The Swingbox Comps................................77
Jazz....................................................................78
The Circle of 5ths...........................................78
Tin Pan Squeezebox..................................79
Country and Western........................................80
A Cry in Your Beer Country Tune............80

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 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION 7

A LOOK INSIDE
The mechanism inside the accordion
through which air passes and creates
sound is the reed block. It is very
much like a harmonica, a block of
wood with a series of holes. Along
the tops of these holes are small slips
of metal called reeds or reed plates.
When air passes through, the reeds
vibrate and produce sound. Reed blocks. Reed blocks up close.

THE BELLOWS
The bellows is the heart and soul of Get the Feel for Your Bellows Tip: You can use the air button to
the accordion. It lies in the center close the bellows when you need to
of the instrument and is basically Its time for you to get a feel for start a new phrase.
a folded, sealed paper pump that how the bellows works. Unsnap
pushes and pulls air through the the bass straps (see page 6), top
reed blocks to create sound. It is and bottom, and open and close
the mastery of this push and pull the bellows several times. Using the
that allows you to create dynamics thumb of your left hand, press the
(changes in the loudness or softness air button (page 6) and open and
of sounds), alter your phrasing (the close the bellows several more times.
musicality with which you play a Remember to always pick up the
certain line) and basically create your accordion while closed and begin
own sound. playing from this closed position (see
photo below).

Closed position. Opening the bellows. Bellows extended.

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 16 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION

PART 2Playing the Accordion

THE RIGHT HAND
All notes in treble clef (see page 11) 3
are played by your right hand on the 2 4
keyboard.
The fingers of the right hand are 5
numbered 15, starting with the 1
thumb (1) and ending with the
pinky (5).

Right-hand finger numbers.

NOTES IN C POSITION The C Note

In this book, we will refer to a If you look at the keyboard, you will
position as the distance of five notice that the black keys occur in
consecutive white keys. A finger is groups of twos and threes. The first
dedicated to each key, starting with note you will learn to play is a C.
the thumb and ending with the The note C is the first white key that
pinky. The C position starts with the appears before every group of two
C note played by the thumb. black keys.

C on the Keyboard
M
i
d
d
l
e
C

C on the Staff

& w

The Repeat Sign ..

C played on the accordion.
The repeat sign tells us to go back
to the beginning and play the same
thing again.

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 24 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION

D POSITION
When you place your thumb on the (see photo to the right). There is a
D and let all four fingers rest on the new note for the 5th finger, an A.
next four notes, you are in D position

D Position on the Keyboard

D E F GA

D Position on the Staff

1 2 3 4 5 Right-hand finger numbers

&w w w w w D position on the accordion.

D E F G A New note

Lets play a few examples in D

position. Use your own judgement
about bellows direction and when to
change it. It is a good idea to write
these things into the music as you
work them out.

D POSITION EX. 1
Track 22

& 44

w
..

D POSITION EX. 2
Track 23

& 44 w
..

D POSITION EX. 3
Track 24

& 44


..

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 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION 45

Lets see what happens when we

transpose Ode to Joy to the key of
F Major. In order to maintain the
correct scale pattern well have to
lower the B to a B b.

F MAJOR SCALE
FTrack
MAJOR55 SCALE


w w w
F G A B C H

w
D E F

w bw
W

& w
W

w
H W
W W

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8(1)

Track 56

j
& b 44
3

.
Scale
3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 3 2 2

degree:

? b 44

j
&b
5

h .

3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 2 1 1

?b

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 54 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION

MUSETTE
The musette sound, characterized by us to a small caf in southern France.
a slight waveran ever so slightly For our next example, you will need
out-of-tune quality (see page 87, to learn how to play minor chords.
Tunings)immediately transports
Minor
PLAYING MINOR chords This next song is a duet (a piece of
CHORDS music with two parts to be played
Em simultaneously by two performers).
Weve already learned that minor
EM Learn the 1st accordion part (below)
chords can be made by lowering or E
Am and play it with the 2nd accordion
flatting the 3rd of a major chord AM part (page 55) on the recording; then
(page 38). Minor chords (designated A
Dm switch parts. Try using a multiple reed
with a lowercase m) are played the DM setting on this.
same way major chords are, they D
are just a row over. Use the same 4th row
fingering, just reach a bit farther with
your 3rd finger. Another option is to
use your 4th finger on the bass and
your 2nd finger on the minor chord.

Track 69

4 4 ..
&4

Chord quality

? 44 ..
m

M

5
4

4

&

?
m

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 82 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION

The range of Latin American music THE CLAVE RHYTHM below are two of the most common.
is vast and varied. There are many An important part of Latin music Count and clap the rhythms aloud
styles: salsa, calypso, samba, bossa is the clave (pronounced CLAH-v) and you will instantly get that
nova, reggae, etc. Its percussive, rhythm. It is a two-bar, repeating salsa feel. Notice that counting
rhythmic element came to Cuba pattern that gives Latin music that numbers below rests are written in
from Africa, while its harmonic off-step or syncopated feel. There parentheses.
qualities came from Spain. Put them are many kinds of clave rhythms;
together and the result is what we
now call Afro-Cuban music.

FORWARD CLAVE
Track 88

& 44 ..
Count: 1 & (2) & 3 (&) 4 & (1 &) 2 & 3 & (4 &)

This one just reverses the order of

the two measures.

REVERSE CLAVE
Track 89

& 44 Q Q Q Q Q ..
Count: (1 &) 2 & 3 & (4 &) 1 & (2) & 3 (&) 4 &

THE MONTUNO How can we approach this on the

Montunos are the next most accordion, you may ask? Use the
recognizable pattern in Latin music. same approach we have been using
They are distinctive rhythmic so far: Find the instruments or parts
patternsplayed on the pianothat to emulate; figure out what makes
drive the band or orchestra. them tick; and then adapt it to your
own style.
For example:
MONTUNO EX. 1
Track 90

4
&4 J
J J ..
J
Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

MONTUNO EX. 2
Track 91

j j
& 44 b J
J b n ..
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

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 96 TEACH YOURSELF TO PLAY ACCORDION

BASS AND CHORD BUTTON CHART

# A#d
A#m
A7
#
D#d
A# #
AM
D #m
D7
#
Cx
G#d
D# #
DM
G #m
G7
#
Fx
C#d
G# C#7
GM
B# C#m
#
F#d
C# F#7
CM
E# F#m
#
F#
FM Bd
A#
B7
Bm
BM Ed
D#
B E7 1st RowCounter Basses
Em
EM Ad
G#
E 2nd RowFundamental Basses
A7
Am
AM Dd 3rd RowMajor Chords (M)
C#
A D7
Dm
DM 4th RowMinor Chords (m)
Gd
F#
D G7
Gm 5th RowDominant 7th Chords (7)
GM Cd
G C7
B Cm 6th RowDiminished 7th Chords (d)
CM Fd
C F7
E
Bbd
Fm
Bb7
FM
Bbm
F
b
A
Ebd
Bb Eb7
BM
D
b Ebm
Abd
Eb Ab7
EM
G
b Abm
Dbd
Ab Db7
AM
Dbm
DbM
C
Gbd
Db b
Gbm
G7
GbM
F
Cbd
Gb Cb7
Bb Cbm
b
Fbd
Cb Fb7
CM
Eb Fbm
b
Bbbd
Fb bb
FM
Ab Bbbm
B 7
bb
Bbb
B M 6
Db
5
4
3
2
Rows: 1

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