Irish Accordion Lesson #1 - [The Basics] Learn With Alan Kelly

This beginner Irish accordion tutorial shows you how to play the accordion step by step. Professional Irish Accordion player Alan Kelly introduces you to the instrument, how to play the piano and bass notes, the scale of G and a simple tune with bass accompaniment. By the end of the lesson, you will have learned the basics as well as a great new Irish session tune.

Take this lesson here then go to the OAIM website for a comprehensive overview of how best to start playing on piano accordion and to download a free MP3 and sheet music of the tune - https://www.oaim.ie/course/piano-acco...

00:00 Video Introduction
00:45 Intro to the piano accordion
01:17 How to hold & control the accordion
02:34 The scale of G
05:05 The tune played normally
05:49 The tune taught phrase by phrase
07:44 Whole tune practice
08:50 Intro to the bass
11:46 Bass exercise
13:23 Bass accompaniment for the tune
17:49 Whole tune practice with bass

Course Synopsis:
https://www.oaim.ie/course/piano-acco...
Piano Accordion Basics is for the absolute beginner. The first five lessons concentrate on the right-hand melody, with a new tune covered in each lesson. Lessons cover simple Irish tunes that are well-known globally. Hand and finger positioning, and basic ornamentation—cuts, triplets, and slides—are discussed and demonstrated. From lesson seven onwards, the left-hand bass is introduced. For the bass lessons, mp3’s of the melody on its own are included, giving you the opportunity to isolate and perfect the accompaniment aspect of playing. Singling out the melody in this way facilitates that progressive shift in learning: from the foreground, almost one dimensional, melody to the textural backdrop that is the foundation of a lively ceilí.
https://www.oaim.ie/course/piano-acco...

It can take some time and practice for both the left and right hand to be co-ordinated with each other, but this is where the beauty of video tutorials come in. You are encouraged to stay with a particular tutorial until its elements are mastered. Listening to how the tutor is playing the tune and then mimicking it is the age-old way the Irish tradition has been passed down through generations. With the video footage, you have the added benefit of pausing and repeating as often as you need, without any fear of testing the tutor’s patience!

The course offers a really diverse mix of tunes, all beginner, well known Irish tunes and song airs:
Oró Sé Do Bheath Abhaile
The Spanish Lady
The Kerry Polka
Peg Ryan’s Polka
Dalaigh’s Polka
The Toormore Slide
Roddy McCorley’s March
Baby Rory’s Slip Jig
The Killavil Jig

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