Greg:

Welcome! You have found the site with the best advice available on learning about cajun-french accordion.

Mr. BuFraw's commandments #4 and #5 on learning the left hand and right hand are below:

#4.Learn the melody completely before you try the left hand. Don't finish learning the melody until you have integrated your left hand.

#5.Don't worry about playing the left hand, it's never miked anyway. But, you must always play the left hand because it gives it the true cajun sound, even though it's out of key about half of the time.

Yes, like each of us... you are euchered.

Peace,
Griff

The left hand "frogs" were the slowest aspect of the accordion for me to achieve. The best way to look at 'em is to think of them as you would tapping your toes to keep time. When you keep time with your feet, do so with your frogs -- alternating them. This will also assist you with air-flow management and lessen your dependence on the breather button.

Getting those bass notes integrated into your tunes will not only enrich the overall sound, they also add essential rhythm to your songs --AND-- (here's the kicker) -- they will actually accelerate your learning of the melody! Trust me on that.

Perseverance is the key, mon ami...

R!CK

Hi Greg,
Glad you piped up. I agree with the suggestions youve got about playing the bass side. Also I was instructed to spend some time playing the bass side ALONE. This gets boring pretty fast, but it does help. I agree with Rick, that perserverence is the key. You are not doomed.

I live near Lawrence Ks. I've found that people in this area love and respond to this music when they hear it. Drop me a line if your interested in getting together for a jam sometime. --Tommee

Thanks again for all the input. I'll try to be a good student. Already tried the green candle as stated above but it made the house smell really bad and the wife made me toss it.
Tommee, glad to hear that you are so close, relatively speaking. I dont think I will be ready for an accordion jam in the near future but would be thrilled to be able to hear you play and could probably do some guitar backup if it was ok. Will hook up on the email.