Hi Linda,

I sent you an email. For others who might be interested, I organize a beginner/adv. beginner level jam once a month in the Bay Area. Been doing it about 12 years of so, since before I even knew how to play. It was the only way I was going to learn anything.

We sometimes precede the jam with an hour of accordion "breakdown" where someone shows everyone else how to do something on accordion.

I think there's something to be gotten from any jam you can find. I started mine because it was too intimidating to sit in with professional musicians and try to pick something up when no one was "teaching" anything. That was the only jam model going at the time.

So, you have my email address. Hope to hear from you, and anyone else who is interested.

Dwight Shackelford
zydeholic at yahoo dot com

Hey, thanks all!

I've gotten some really good feedback so far and I just wanted to thank all of you for your time and advice.

Hopefully I will be seeing some of you soon!

Best,
Linda

Hello Linda, and welcome to this blog, where people from all over the globe who share the love of Cajun music & culture, and diatonic accordion congregate.

Regarding your question. As a beginner, I would definitely recommend the two DVD (or videos) from Dirk Powell. These are known to be the best tools to start on a solid ground on the technical side.
There are several posts on this forum which will provide you with more details. BTW, what key if your new box? FYI, the most prominent key is C.

Salut et à la prochaine...:-)
Maz

Hi Maz!

My accordion is being made in the key of D. Junior Martin had me sing and determined that C would be too low for me. Do you think that will be a problem if most of these are in the key of C?