Greetings from Sweden

[teodor]

Hello,

My name is Teodor and I'm a 30 year old guy living in Sweden. The accordion has fascinated me for a long time. Both for it's beautiful sound and apparent complexity. I've played the piano since I was a kid (self-taught) and really enjoy the process of learning new songs on it. Also the fact that you can both play the melody and accompaniment at the same time.

One challenge with the piano however is portability, so the accordion seemed like a good second instrument to learn. And when I found a good deal on a lightly used digital accordion (Roland FR1XB) I jumped straight into it.

As some of you might've gathered from my accordion's name I play a chromatic button accordion. Since my accordion is digital it allows me to choose whatever button layout I want, but I chose the C-system since that's the most common here in Sweden.

Usually with my piano background people, including Ronen, would advice a piano accordion. But I chose the button accordion for a couple of reasons:
1. I find the layout really interesting. Just the fact that I can play a scale in any key with the same fingering is amazing. With my background in piano I know the pain in trying to transpose songs, with the button accordion it's almost effortless. Just place your hand on a different starting point and use the same fingering.
2. The button accordion is historically the most popular here in Sweden, so if I wanted to buy another used accordion I would probably have the best luck finding a button accordion.

I have up until now been learning for a couple of weeks using a swedish book called "Spela Dragspel" by Lars Holm. It's been great in teaching correct fingering and techniques, but I want to expland my horizons and start to learn some more popular songs than the classics in the book. I also like the concept of monthly challenges and am hoping to be able to submit something for the April challenge.

All the best,
Teodor

[annadalvi]

Hi Teodor! Another Swede here, although I have lived in Canada now for a very long time. I also picked up the accordion because it's a much more portable instrument than the piano. I started with piano accordion, but last summer when I was in Sweden, I bought myself a little button accordion (at Karlssons Musik) and I love how compact it is. And the button system is really clever, especially for transposing things.

While I was there, I also got the two books called Dragspelsskola by Håkan Widar. They cover fingering for both button accordion and piano accordion. I though they were really useful in terms of kickstarting my button accordion journey.

It is also a lot of fun to play more popular songs. If you haven't already found the "Tune of the Month" here in the forums, I totally encourage you to participate. We've done all sorts of fun songs. For this month, we're learning My Neighbour Totoro from the tv/video game section of Ronen's lessons.

[teodor]

Hi Teodor! Another Swede here, although I have lived in Canada now for a very long time. I also picked up the accordion because it's a much more portable instrument than the piano. I started with piano accordion, but last summer when I was in Sweden, I bought myself a little button accordion (at Karlssons Musik) and I love how compact it is. And the button system is really clever, especially for transposing things.

While I was there, I also got the two books called Dragspelsskola by Håkan Widar. They cover fingering for both button accordion and piano accordion. I though they were really useful in terms of kickstarting my button accordion journey.

It is also a lot of fun to play more popular songs. If you haven't already found the "Tune of the Month" here in the forums, I totally encourage you to participate. We've done all sorts of fun songs. For this month, we're learning My Neighbour Totoro from the tv/video game section of Ronen's lessons.

Thank you Anna! Inspiring to hear that you had such a similar journey to me. Funny regarding the book. I did my shopping online and really weighed between Håkan's and Lars' book. In the end I went with the book by Lars, but nice to hear that Håkan's book is good as well!

Thank you, yes I saw it. I really like My Neighbor Totoro, so I'll definitively attempt a cover!

[annadalvi]

I don't think I saw Lars' book. When is it from? Is it good?

I also have a Hagströms dragspelsskola from the 50s or something like that, but it's really not that great. I DO like the Palmer-Hughes series, and worked through all 10 books in the series when learning how to play the piano accordion. They are really good, although a bit dated in their repertoire, and they do only cover piano accordion fingering.

[teodor]

I don't think I saw Lars' book. When is it from? Is it good?

I also have a Hagströms dragspelsskola from the 50s or something like that, but it's really not that great. I DO like the Palmer-Hughes series, and worked through all 10 books in the series when learning how to play the piano accordion. They are really good, although a bit dated in their repertoire, and they do only cover piano accordion fingering.

It's from 1989, so pretty old. I do think it's pretty good. It's mainly aimed towards the button accordion, but does have some fingering and tips for the piano accordion as well. What is worth noting though is that it's focused towards groups of students, with up to 5 different voices of sheet. Also there is strangely missing fingering instructions in some pieces which prompted me to skip them. But all in all the book gives a solid base to build upon (I hope )

[ievapa]

Hi Teodor! Nice to see here someone from my neighbor country.