I have been playing a few months and really enjoying it. I think I have a
problem playing with my left hand. Most instruments that I have payed before
I used both hands to make the melody, like the banjo , tin whistle, etc.

So when I play the accordion, I tend to want to use both hands. I can play a
non Cajun tune like Edelweiss using both hands with no or little problem.
Waltzing seem to be a little easier using both hands, I do have the Dirk Powell
DVD.

My questions:

When you first learn a tune, do you do it with just the right hand?

When yo do you start using the left hand?

Any suggestions for a Cajun tune using both hands.

Fair question, actually it's a dang good question.

One told me: " Don't mess with that junk on the bass side, that comes later on down the line ya see"

Another told me: " commence rocking the bass and dont stop, right or wrong.. just keep using those bass buttons, sooner or later it'll catch up with the tempo thing."

These two were among the best of the best and did not have any problem with that left hand thing at all. It depends on who you're asking.

Now the one that said it'll come later on... went on to tell me this:

Q.(me) So what you put in this gas tank (refering to his motorcycle) High Test??

Ans. (him) Oh no... in that thing? Nah Dave, that thing run on gazzoline!

Hummmmm, start em rocking back and forth.

I "feel your pain"...getting the left hand thing down
is the hardest thing I have encountered since I started playing
cajun accordion! My biggest problem is "speeding"
things up...according to a friend who plays very well.
Her suggestion was to try and not "chop" the beat..let it
flow on the 2 step. Good luck.

My suggestion is to start with the left hand going while you learn.

If you learn to play with only the right hand first, one of two things will happen.

1. You will never learn to play the left.
or
2. you will have to re-learn all over again how to play using the left hand.

You are already a musician, so that is a big plus. My suggestion is to find a tune that you can play to some extent on the left side and slow it WAAAAAY down. Painfully slow so that it's not even noticable as a song.

Since you are a musician already, you know where the bass notes are supposed to go, it's just a matter of getting them there!

Try taking just a little piece of a song and play it over and over with both right and left hand going, start really slowly so that you can play both sides at once. Then speed it up little by little.

Once you start to feel and hear the relationship of the bass side to the melody side, it will start falling into place.

Good luck,
I hope that helped some.

DP

Thanks very much for your replies. You have give me some good things to work on and I do appreciate it very much.

........ Ed

I used a "muscle memory" left hand training method. Load the CD player in your car with Cajun tunes and as you drive 'play' the base-chord left hand part on the steering wheel. Pretty soon your left hand will be tapping base-chord automatically to every bit of music you hear. It sounds strange but it allowed me to concentrate on the right hand when learning a new tune.
Leslie

That doesn't sound strange at all. Rather, that is an outstanding idea.

Hal

One difficulty that is encountered by learning the right hand first is air management. Now you're consuming air on the left hand and running out of it on the right.
Start slow and breath easy.
Craig