Trundler:

First thing you have to do is accept the fact that you can't play like James does. I'm on Year #4 and I still can't get down his 2-1-3-1 thing down with any kind of speed or consistency (that's playing the second note of a chord, then the first, then the third, then the first again; try doing it as fast as he does and you'll see where my frustration is coming from). If you can get past that hurdle (or better yet, work your arse off to actually do it), then I would suggest "Boys From The County Hell" for a good combination of chord and line work, or "Repeal of the Licensing Laws," which is a fairly basic reel that can be picked up fairly quickly (hell, if I can play it, anyone can). When warming up for a show, I'll knock out the opening lines from "Streams of Whiskey," "Sally MacLelanne (actually the chorus)" (which are somewhat related) and "If I Should Fall From Grace." "Dirty Old Town," although played sans accordion, is a good line to learn, as well.

Steviebhoy1888, I play a Castiglione, and it's great.

[quote="steviebhoy1888"]Hi fellow folkster
I'm looking to buy an accordion but I ain't sure what to buy
There's that many from hohner to weltmeister,
I'd like to buy one maybe second hand but it's hard to tell buying without hearing & feeling it
Any ideas?[/quote]
If possible try a few ones out and pick the one that sounds good. Go through all the buttons on the accordion and dont be afraid to pull and press a bit hard. Accordions can be a bit expensive. I got an old Hohner (about 40 years old) it had been tuned and somewhat repaired, I got i for 5000 swedish kroner about 10 years ago. My suggestion would be not to bother to much about wich brand, just get one that seems to be ok and if you really like playing accordion just get a newer and better one.
Good luck

Hi fellow folkster
I'm looking to buy an accordion but I ain't sure what to buy
There's that many from hohner to weltmeister,
I'd like to buy one maybe second hand but it's hard to tell buying without hearing & feeling it
Any ideas?

Philip you're a gentleman.

Great Aunt Liley is a real task master, so I've some practising to do !

I'll look up Dingle Regatta and have a crack at that.

Cheers

[quote="Trundler"]Hello all,

I am just starting out on the accordion (have a little 32 base Stella) and have started on a 'teach yourself' course so learning scales etc from scratch (I can play the guitar).

I'm really keen to learn some Pogues songs, so to get me through the boredom of three bind mice (the first song you learn using the course) I wanted to start learning a Pogues song.

I have bought the Pogues Best Of song book so are there any specific songs in there that you would recommend for for a new accordian player ?

All the songs in there are for the piano but am I okay to use those for the accordion keyboard ?

Thanks for your help[/quote]

While I can't help you with suggestions about easy accordion tunes - I'd probably say "Dingle Regatta" from the first album but of course, that's not in the Songbook - you should note that the piano arrangements in the book are adaptations by the publisher/licensee's own house arranger, as is the standard practice. These are designed not so much to facilitate you in your accordion endeavours as to provide a generic representation of the songs, theoretically for that moment when you will want to sing one of them for the benefit of the assembled company in the parlour, accompanied by Great Aunt Lily on the piano. But I daresay their toplines can be adapted for use on the accordion if you're reasonably music-literate.

Hello all,

I am just starting out on the accordion (have a little 32 base Stella) and have started on a 'teach yourself' course so learning scales etc from scratch (I can play the guitar).

I'm really keen to learn some Pogues songs, so to get me through the boredom of three bind mice (the first song you learn using the course) I wanted to start learning a Pogues song.

I have bought the Pogues Best Of song book so are there any specific songs in there that you would recommend for for a new accordian player ?

All the songs in there are for the piano but am I okay to use those for the accordion keyboard ?

Thanks for your help