Ganey's exactly right, of course, about the dissonance being essential to the traditional sound. As much as some of the rhythmic techniques..i.e. finger bouncing...the dissonance makes the sound uniquely Cajun. I also think there are times that a song calls for the release of tension the "in tune" bass brings. A sweet waltz, ending a phrase, sometimes just sounds right.
The second bass on this on is Eb both push and pull. We debated other options, but settled on this as much to move on as anything. Bb on the push was another option. Next time.
Chris Miller, I'd love for you to play this one and give us some feedback. Balfa Camp maybe?
In some bands I have seen, the accordion player doesn't use the bass side because there is a guitar, bass and drums to drive the rhythm. If this a similar setup in your band then maybe you should try to play without the basses. Playing an off bass is part of the "sound" of traditional Cajun music. A good example is Cajun Hot Shoes, my favorite two step. In the turn, there is an odd chord that is not on the bass side but I play it any way. Listen to Nathan Abshire play the Old Folks Polka. The basses don't fit at all but he still plays them. That is the way traditional Cajun is played. There are many tunes that the basses don't match but you play them any way. I think in the end, it depends on what you have for instrumentation and what kind of sound you want.
Thank you all for the replies on my questions.
Our band plays the traditional way with fiddle, guitar, tit-fer and accordion. I love the sound of the accordion-bass.
For Nout: the other in the band have no problem anymore with the bass-notes of the Cajun accordion. They are used to it. And you're right anout Netty :-)
This is a funny coincidence.
Steve Riley put a photo on facebook from a new accordion he ordered by Eric Martin from France. It's a four-stopper key of C with three buttons more on the melody side. 3 additional buttons are from top: G# push/Bb pull, middle button is Eb push/C# pull, bottom is Bb push/F# pull.
They also built them like this for Quebec?
And also four Bass buttons.
Look at Steve's Facebook-page.
Great job from Eric.
It is true that the bass side will not harmonize properly a good part of the time.
As others have said, that bit of dissonance is part of what makes Cajun music what it is.
The best thing to do is to think of the bass side as part of the rhythmic accompaniment (like a drum), and not as harmonic accompaniment (like a rhythm guitar).
Just keep the rhythm going with the bass side, at least if you are playing in first or second position (C or G, on a C box). If you are in third position (F on a C box), the bass side is often left out because it gets in the way. Same with Pine Grove Blues or Danse de Mardi Gras.