Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Accordion: Everything You Need to Know to Start Playing Now!, Book & Online Video/Audio/Software (Teach Yourself Series)

Great examples with supporting pictures.

Very nice

Great for total beginners, but much music theory and keyboard technique is wasted on people who can play piano. The LEFT HAND is, as ever in all books I've seen thus far, just something YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO FIGURE OUT BY YOUR LITTLE OWN SELF! NO information about how to think of hand position in relation to the ONE BUTTON "C". Yet, since you can't see your hands, what a nightmare this can be! I found some relief using a mirror, and thereby remembered how to move my fingers for the easy moves, but at the moment, as a learner, but quite a decent piano player, I am at a loss as to how to I shall memorize the further moves from some base place. Yet perhaps I should assume that IT WILL BECOME CLEAR, but it seems impossible at the moment. But any book cannot replace your own sensibility of touching the keys and INTUITING THE KEYS NEARBY by yourself, and that seems to be the secret of accordion playing, as difficult to win as it is. OVERALL, THE BOOK TRIES TO DO TOO MUCH. NO beginner will have the patience to just follow this method ALONE. Of course you should try other ideas, books, but there comes a point when too much information is presented to those who grasp little. Your job, as a student, is to recognize what sounds like hokum before you buy it. Thus, I say, if you can play piano, great for the right hand. The left hand is STILL A MYSTERY. I guess you actually have to take lessons, which ain't such a bad thing, mate, but to this long-winded reviewer, and LOVER of accordion newly, it seems a quite a pain.

Although I play a variety of musical instruments, including the piano keyboard, the accordion can be challenging, given as many as 120 base notes & chord buttons, & simply knowing how to operate the instrument as a whole; thankfully, the book starts out with the very basics, including simple music theory; also, if you are determined enough to fully learn how to play from start to finish, there are interactive media available on-line via a code provided to purchasers of the book, so that an instructor can guide you through it all, step by step, or you can skip around at any time if you wish to explore the lessons on your own.

As a complete beginner, I found this book very difficult and frustrating. The Palmer-Hugh's book was much easier and helped me develop my skills through song instead of just drills.

My husband decided he wanted to learn to play the accordion. He has a little background in music, but not much. This was very easy to follow and has helped him a lot. He calls it his "music bible". Instructions are very clear and the CD is a great addition. I would recommend this for every beginner to purchase.

We bought this for our grandson, who we gifted with an accordion. He has years of musical training on other instruments. He will enjoy this book to help him learn to play the accordion.

This book is a good one to introduce students to several styles of music for accordian. It does not go into much depth for each style, but I have never been disappointed with any books from Alfred. They are of the highest quality in content regardless of what instrument you are teaching or studying.