Palmer-Hughes Accordion Course, Bk 1

Sadly I can only practice when my wife is out and she hasn't left me lots of jobs to be done but if you're prepared to practice then this is an excellent book to start with. It moves in easy steps and though the tunes are the old favourites you play whatever instrument you're learning, a look on social media will find videos of people playing the tunes from this book and sounding really good. The great advantage of this book is the easy progression compared with other books that were written in a different era. Enjoy playing, it's a great instrument and the other books in the series will have you playing some quite good tunes in no time.

in my opinion this is the fastest and most progressive way for a beginner to learn the accordion. I am an adult but already play another instrument and have music theory knowledge, however anyone can learn from this book. Dont be put away by the songs and writing for children , the book develops at a nice pace and 1 week on it practising 20m per day I could already play the first three songs.what I love especially is it doesn't focus on boring repetitive exercises and scales but challenges you to play these children tunes from the go and on each one adds another layer , whether its a new note or a new rythm on the left hand. Highly recommended.

I play piano so some of this is teaching you to suck eggs but overall with the others in the series it gets you drilled into those nasty bass buttons.

I would recommend this book to any one. Its in 1958 so is a little dated and has comments in it for both your tutor and parents (I am 41 so found this rather amusing). Despite being slightly on the (unintentional) comedy side this book is fantastic. I bought 3 beginners books (due to one being delivered to my dads address and another being delivered by amazon to my neighbour in error!) the other 2 are horrendous to follow. This one is fantastic. It gets straight to it.. no history of music or history of the accordion, no boring details about the design etc it just does what it is meant to do and gets you playing! My dad plays the accordion, he came to visit 2 days after I got this book and was amazed that I could already play several tunes. I have now ordered book one recitals and book 2.

I normally play wind instruments, so I know how to sightread music for Clarinet, Tin Whistle, etc., but even so I like the slow pace of this book. I have ordered the next 4 in the series too.Getting your right hand to do one thing while your left punches out a rhythm on various buttons feels like a challenge (for me, like patting your head and rubbing your belly!) and, thankfully, this course eases you into it with short exercises leading to actual (simple) tunes that you can play within your first 30 minutes with the accordion.The fact that you are playing both hands at once makes even the 'easy' tunes worth the effort and I felt a real sense of accomplishment the first time I got through "Batter Up" without making a mistake. *chuckles*I bought another Accordion book before this, thinking that my previous musical experience would let me progress more quickly - I was wrong. The other book jumped into more complex music too quickly and didn't have enough simple exercises that added to your previous knowledge like this one does. The first 30 pages or so only use the 5 'home' notes of your right hand as they slowly train your left to hop around the buttons.So, enough burbling from me. If you're not already a pianist or similarly skilled, use this book first, then see if you feel confident enough to jump to a more advanced 'learner' book. Maybe, like me, you'll decide that slow and sure is the way forward.

I have been learning to play the accordion for two years, really struggling with using the buttons although my key skills have moved forward apace. I have had various bits of advice in using the buttons but struggled. With the simple but demanding exercises in the book I have started to become more efficient with blending the music to produce better music. I found the tune Salmon Tails up the Water to be a good help too. Although the book is designed for children, at 74 I still find it has been a help.

I live in France, and the choice of accordion books here is limited, even on Amazon.fr. In addition, they are very expensive.I bought the first four in this series. They arrived the morning of my regular weekly lesson, so I took them with me. When my teacher saw the books she asked if she could borrow them until my next lesson. That was before I had a chance to play a single tune. She was very impressed. I suspect she will be buying some in future.I am a beginner, despite being a pensioner. I find the progression is gradual, which suits me. A previous reviewer said the lyrics in some of the earlier tunes are too childish. So what. The point of the book is to teach you to play music. I have found the lyrics an aid in getting the correct flow and rhythm, no matter how simplistic they were.I previously bought Ivor Benyon's Piano Accordion Tutor and Gary Dahl's First Lessons. The first of these was good, but tried to advance too quickly, and I was struggling to keep up. As for the second, I don't suppose anyone ever learned to play an accordion using it - a total waste of money.

This book is brilliant for the beginner. It teaches things slowly and does not move on to the next stage too quickly. There are practice pieces before learning a new song at the beginning. I have learnt more from this book than any other book I own. You can get to playing a simply tune very easily and it encourages you to move to the next stage. Although I don't know many of the short tunes they are very catchy and easy to learn.