New from Salt Lake City.

[nnnnnate]

I had been thinking about learning accordion for a few months and so the week before Christmas I dropped into the local accordion store to see what they had and to ask about lessons and maybe a rental. Happy with what I was told I went back a couple days later and left with a full size Atlas cassotto rental, the first palmer book, and an appointment for a first lesson on 1/7/25. I also got a quick 15 minute intro on some basics. Over the break I was able to pick things up pretty quick which no doubt was helped by the 8 years of piano lessons I took as a child/teen. It took a little to figure out bass fingering and I did my best with the bellows. I worked through the whole first book without too much trouble and after picking up the next couple books to keep progressing I made my way through about half of the second book.

My bellows work is pretty bad but I got some good tips on that in my lesson yesterday. I'm a big guy with real big hands so its going to be a process to learn bass button positions. Noodling around with the button layout chart I was working on a C scale using the root and counter bass buttons. Going up and back down. In the books there are hanon exercises for the right hand, I'd appreciate it if someone could point me to something similar for the left hand. Or not necessarily similar but a way to warm up my left hand while reinforcing button placement if that makes sense.

I've also been looking for an accordion to buy and have been reading here and elsewhere for a couple weeks trying to pick up advice and tips on things to look for. I'm mainly looking at accordion shops i.e. liberty bellows, and petosa, since they seem to have an array of new/used with decent info and videos on their websites. I don't really listen to accordion music and don't have ethnic ties to anywhere with strong accordion background so the advice I keep seeing to pick an instrument based on those things has been difficult to wrap my head around. My favorite movie is Disneys Luca, which is kind of what got me thinking about picking up the accordion in the first place, so maybe that is enough to point me towards Italian instruments. I kind of subscribe to the "buy once, cry once" mentality and can have a decent budget to buy one so we'll see what happens on that front.

Anyway, not that anyone has made it this far but I appreciate the info you have all shared here and am excited to keep learning and enjoying my accordion journey.

 

[Tom]

Welcome Nate!!!! Maybe try as many as you can and rent a while to see which direction appeals to you? It’s pretty common for a new accordionist’s preference to change after a month or two of playing, so maybe don’t rush into a decision?

 

[Paul vdV]

Welcome! If you do the exact same notes of the Hanon excersises in the left hand, you're good! This would my advice as fingering goes ( ample room for debate ...)

 

[nnnnnate]

Welcome! If you do the exact same notes of the Hanon excersises in the left hand, you're good! This would my advice as fingering goes ( ample room for debate ...)

I appreciate your fingering notes. I can go up pretty well on the bass scale but for whatever reason coming back down is harder. I'll keep working on it.

I had also considered going in at lunch one day to see about playing the accordions they have at the shop to give them a test run. I looked over them yesterday since I was a big early to my lesson and most of what he had shelved didn't seem to be full size. I have been thinking I'd look for LMH or LMMH thinking it would be at least general purpose.

I grew up playing classical piano. I generally need and want sheet music to learn and follow and I'm okay with that. I'm drawn towards the more mellow and harmonic songs so far in the palmer books rather than the marches and om PAH PAH's.

 

[Dingo40]

so its going to be a process to learn bass button positions.

Hi nnnnnate, and welcome!
I found it helpful, at first, to sit in front of my wife's dressing table mirror where I could see the bass board while reaching for the right bass button.
Later, you won't need to do that.
The Palmer and Hughes accordion course has an introductory bass book: "Melodic Adventures in Bass Land".
See here:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Palmer-Hughes-Accordion-Course-Adventures-Bassland/dp/0739021729

Happy playing!

 

[Giovanni]

I had been thinking about learning accordion for a few months and so the week before Christmas I dropped into the local accordion store to see what they had and to ask about lessons and maybe a rental. Happy with what I was told I went back a couple days later and left with a full size Atlas cassotto rental, the first palmer book, and an appointment for a first lesson on 1/7/25. I also got a quick 15 minute intro on some basics. Over the break I was able to pick things up pretty quick which no doubt was helped by the 8 years of piano lessons I took as a child/teen. It took a little to figure out bass fingering and I did my best with the bellows. I worked through the whole first book without too much trouble and after picking up the next couple books to keep progressing I made my way through about half of the second book.

My bellows work is pretty bad but I got some good tips on that in my lesson yesterday. I'm a big guy with real big hands so its going to be a process to learn bass button positions. Noodling around with the button layout chart I was working on a C scale using the root and counter bass buttons. Going up and back down. In the books there are hanon exercises for the right hand, I'd appreciate it if someone could point me to something similar for the left hand. Or not necessarily similar but a way to warm up my left hand while reinforcing button placement if that makes sense.

I've also been looking for an accordion to buy and have been reading here and elsewhere for a couple weeks trying to pick up advice and tips on things to look for. I'm mainly looking at accordion shops i.e. liberty bellows, and petosa, since they seem to have an array of new/used with decent info and videos on their websites. I don't really listen to accordion music and don't have ethnic ties to anywhere with strong accordion background so the advice I keep seeing to pick an instrument based on those things has been difficult to wrap my head around. My favorite movie is Disneys Luca, which is kind of what got me thinking about picking up the accordion in the first place, so maybe that is enough to point me towards Italian instruments. I kind of subscribe to the "buy once, cry once" mentality and can have a decent budget to buy one so we'll see what happens on that front.

Anyway, not that anyone has made it this far but I appreciate the info you have all shared here and am excited to keep learning and enjoying my accordion journey.

Welcome to the forum .......Have you visited the Accordion store in Salt Lake City owned by Paul Pasquali ...he is a good player and has years of experience selling and playing Piano Accordions he also gives lessons .
If you go to the Store ask to see Paul Pasquali the owner of the store tell him Giovanni from England sends his best regards ..and wishes to be remembered ..................we had a lot of good times at the Las Vegas Convention

 

[nnnnnate]

Welcome to the forum .......Have you visited the Accordion store in Salt Lake City owned by Paul Pasquali ...he is a good player and has years of experience selling and playing Piano Accordions he also gives lessons .
If you go to the Store ask to see Paul Pasquali the owner of the store tell him Giovanni from England sends his best regards ..and wishes to be remembered ..................we had a lot of good times at the Las Vegas Convention

Yes, Paul's shop is where I went and am taking lessons. I'll try and remember to give you a shout out at next weeks lesson.

 

[Giovanni]

Yes, Paul's shop is where I went and am taking lessons. I'll try and remember to give you a shout out at next weeks lesson.

Well it certainly is a small world !!!..............................yes please do not forget !!!

 

[tcabot]

Welcome and good luck with your accordion journey.

"buy once, cry once"

With accordions, it's closer to "keep buying all the time and learn to love and crave the pain & crying".
Try as many as you can before you commit any funds to purchasing one.

 

[Rosie C]

Welcome to the forum! I've been playing about 18 months now, but on my 5th accordion. It took me a while to realise that maybe one accordion won't cover all the bases for the music I play. Also that as I've improved I've dipped into different genres that I didn't expect to play. So instrument rental at the start seems a really good idea - what I'm doing now as I embark on violin!

 

[Tom]

Welcome and good luck with your accordion journey.


With accordions, it's closer to "keep buying all the time and learn to love and crave the pain & crying".
Try as many as you can before you commit any funds to purchasing one.

I got really lucky with the new accordions I’ve bought and am not craving to add to or replace them. I bought them after playing for a while so had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Guess I got lucky in that respect. I think a person needs up to 4 accordions.

If you really like a digital, like a Roland, you only need one.

If you need volume control, but you also love the acoustic accordion, you need a Roland and an acoustic.

If you want to stand at your gig, and you love a full featured accordion, you need a stroller and a beefer. Unless you’re super muscular.

And of course you need an organetto or other diatonic.

Problem is that once people know you play accordion they start giving them to you. This is a double edged sword.

Anyway, good luck to you!!!!! Looking for perfection never works, either in any relationship, accordions included.

Just my 2 cents, what do I know?

 

[fjsys]

Hey and welcome from another one of Paul's students!
I have been his first Saturday morning lesson for the last 10 years and he is a great teacher. I drive down from Provo (around 45 min each way) to pay him to tell me what I am doing wrong.

As someone who helped him do a "Retail Product Placement" of those accordions in the show room just before christmas (unless Chans undid all my work) I know he has a lot of the "full sized" ones in there. So perhaps we need your definition of what a full sized is? (mine is a 41 key F-A with around a 19in keyboard and 120 bass)

If it was still there the wooden Colombo that I put in the center of the bookcases is the one that you really should pick up and try.

One thing that I wish I would have done was to just buy my good accordion from him rather than from the factory. Local support helps so much when it comes to these and I have paid for things on my Victoria that should have been done under warranty but I didn't want to ship it back to have the work done. You may pay a little more for the local, but it is worth it not to have to ship and argue over it with Liberty Bellows or even Petosa (I have no issues with either, but I also have never purchased an accordion from either of them just accessories)

I too miss the Convention, but I don't think he has any plans of bringing it back. However I always felt that I was too young to be at them even though I am in my 40's, but they were still a good time and a nice way to meet other accordionists.

I actually remember meeting you Giovanni at one of them years ago, you had just purchased a new accordion but we were discussing the Elkavox 83 that both of us owned at the time.

​

Ben.

 

[nnnnnate]

I appreciate the encouragement. Seems like I hear something similar across all my "hobbies" about upgrading and adding to the proverbial stable. I am not saying it won't happen, but I also know my tendencies.

Full size to me is 41/120 with 19"+ keyboard length. I'm a big and tall guy with big hands and have always had trouble playing smaller pianos/keyboards so I assumed that I would want a full size accordion for that reason alone. The weight of a bigger instrument isn't an issue either. I was a little early to my lesson Tuesday and was looking at the instruments on the wall. I can't remember for sure if the wood Colombo was there or not but think it was. I need to go in during lunch to noodle around with some different accordions he has there. My plan was to try and find something to buy within the three or four months of paying for the rental so that money would be applied to the purchase if I ended up getting one from him.

I've tried to find info online for his Colombo and Concerto accordion lines and there just isn't much listed. Even here the info on them is sparse. I searched and found one use that had a Colombo and has posted videos of him playing.

I'm sure I progressed through that first book so quickly because of the holiday break. With my boys (4 and 9) back in school this week its been hard to find time to practice.

 

[fjsys]

They are both his "House Brands". They come from a very good Italian factory. The Colombo is just a rebrand, but the Concerto and the electronics are all developed/installed in SLC with the standard overseas components.
Paul can give you more info if you ask, I am not sure how much he wants online about the backend of where they come from so I am not going to post it.

The most important thing for you right now is to figure out how much "Musette" you want out of it and what sound quality you expect as that is what I spent most of my time purchasing the wrong accordion to figure out.

Good luck with the practice, I always find that life gets in the way. Paying him for weekly lessons helps me to find the time and motivation to practice so I am not wasting his time and my money.

 

[Giovanni]

Hey and welcome from another one of Paul's students!
I have been his first Saturday morning lesson for the last 10 years and he is a great teacher. I drive down from Provo (around 45 min each way) to pay him to tell me what I am doing wrong.

As someone who helped him do a "Retail Product Placement" of those accordions in the show room just before christmas (unless Chans undid all my work) I know he has a lot of the "full sized" ones in there. So perhaps we need your definition of what a full sized is? (mine is a 41 key F-A with around a 19in keyboard and 120 bass)

If it was still there the wooden Colombo that I put in the center of the bookcases is the one that you really should pick up and try.

One thing that I wish I would have done was to just buy my good accordion from him rather than from the factory. Local support helps so much when it comes to these and I have paid for things on my Victoria that should have been done under warranty but I didn't want to ship it back to have the work done. You may pay a little more for the local, but it is worth it not to have to ship and argue over it with Liberty Bellows or even Petosa (I have no issues with either, but I also have never purchased an accordion from either of them just accessories)

I too miss the Convention, but I don't think he has any plans of bringing it back. However I always felt that I was too young to be at them even though I am in my 40's, but they were still a good time and a nice way to meet other accordionists.

I actually remember meeting you Giovanni at one of them years ago, you had just purchased a new accordion but we were discussing the Elkavox 83 that both of us owned at the time.

​

Ben.

Well it is nice to be remembered ......yes even i felt a bit on the young side at the Convention .....I met lots of very nice people it was all very friendly with people from all walks of life with a common interest in the Accordion. Next time you see Paul and Chans remember me to them .
We had great times in Vegas .
PS .... what is your name ???

 

[JeffJetton]

I had no idea there was an accordion store in SLC. How cool!

Your instructor will of course have the ultimate say-so in this, but I would advise not worrying too much about playing single notes in the bass at this point. This may be a mindset shift from your classical piano days.

There's certainly no harm in working on it, but it's simply not necessary early on, especially if you're doing the Palmer-Hughes books. For standard beginner (and even beyond) accordion repertoire, the left hand works more like a folk guitar, strumming away as accompaniment to the right hand. You're learning standard "grabs" and bass-chord patterns than you move around as needed to fit the song.

 

[fjsys]

Well it is nice to be remembered ......yes even i felt a bit on the young side at the Convention .....I met lots of very nice people it was all very friendly with people from all walks of life with a common interest in the Accordion. Next time you see Paul and Chans remember me to them .
We had great times in Vegas .
PS .... what is your name ???

Ben Fjeldsted.

 

[Giovanni]

Ben Fjeldsted.

Hi Ben , can you remember what year we met .....my first visit to the USA and Vegas was october
2001 it started my love for attending the Convention and then going on to visit other cities , states and places in your gr8 country ....I would never have thought of doing this if It had not been for the Las Vegas Accordion Convention . well it's my Excuse !!!

 

[fjsys]

I honestly cannot remember, but I think it was either 2010 or 2011.

 

[fjsys]

And Paul sends his regards. He knew right who you were the minute I passed along the hello, so no worry about not being remembered.