From the first moment I play Cajun accordion , some other musicians have allways trouble with the bass-side of the one row accordion.
When we played a song in G and we need a D-chord they started yelling , "you're playing out of tune". It's for every CA in what key the same with other chords. I'm playing the bass-side most of the time now and my bandmembers are now used to it.

My questions:

1. Are there songs, played on a C-accordion were it's not done to play the bass. I'm thinking of Pine Grove Blues(D) or Danse de Mardi Grass(Am) ?

2. Are there Cajun accordionplayers who have a Cajun Accordion with mor than two bass-buttons. I saw the Hackberry Ramblers once and Edwin Duhon used an accordion with four Bass-buttons.

Chuck in Indy has a 5-stopper with 4 bases built by Bryan Lafleur.

http://pub21.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=1722942123&frmid=16&msgid=1052020&cmd=show

If I remember correctly the box with the 4 bass buttons does not have a bass D note but rather an F note (in regards to a C box). I'm sure Bryan can set us straight.

You're right John. It was a Bb accordion, so the 3rd bass was Eb, which would be an F on a C accordion. It was nice to play mardi gras jig with base.

The dissonance of that G bass playing against the D chord, to me, is what gives the diatonic accordion its character in Cajun music. If you didn't grow up hearing it, then you probably have a hard time getting used to it. With that said, in answer to your question, Ed Duhon had a Hohner bass box mated to his accordion. Junior Martin and Randy Falcon co-conspired to create a bass box with two extra buttons, but I think Junior was the only one to actually build one. Recently, Bryan LaFleur built one.

Ed's was done by Charlie Ortego. After seeing it, I found an old hohner bass side with 8 buttons and Mr Charlie mated it with a new hohner one row four stop I bought. I have C/G pair (like normal one row) then order bass reeds to have F both directions, D both directions and G both directions. It's out of tune now and I never had it properly fitted with a long enough bellow. I think they were 13 folds at that time. It would be ok but the fact the bass side isn't an exact fit causes a little air leakage.

Chris, was that one 8 buttons on a base box, or on the frame?

Well, the truth is that as fiddler i hate those weird wrong bass notes while i'm trying to figure & play the right chords against an accordion honking away on it's own. I can't survive musically as such sitting besides the bass box. BUT as accordion player i tend to think "F*** it, who cares, it's just Cajun music, this is how she sails best, let's honk away as the accordion seems to like it anyway". If i play with a good accompanist or band i tend to leave the wrong notes out as much as possible. If it's only the Bermuda Triangle as backup, it's Honk On Time. Ron, a solution?: Why don't you dump those two compadres besides Netty in your band? She's really that good ... Nout

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?

Jr. built at least ONE, for his grandson.

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.