Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement. I'm gonna work at it for a week, and report back. And Jude, thought you might like to know I'm waiting anxiously for a new box from your protege Ed. The heritage keeps getting passed along, it's a beautiful thing.

Chuck.

One other thing I found helpful: play a recording of a tune you really
like and which is in the same key of your accordion &
"play along" with only the left....

There is a clip on you-tube that has a few seconds of Ray Abshire at a festival. It only shows his left side.

It looks to me like he is holding the bass note button down and pumping the bass cord. At one point he seems to bump the bass cords without the bass note.

Unfortunately, the clip only lasts a few seconds then cuts to other players so it is hard to study.

It lead me to wonder what methods others use. I would expect there is a lot of "feels right", in people's playing.

RPr

I took an accordion class at Augusta from John Vidrine. When he wasn't helping us newbies, he would play for us, and his left hand playing was remarkable, lots more variety and style then just alternating. OK, all his playing was remarkable, but we're talking left hand here. And thanks for the tip.