It might be argued that the accordion is not a traditional instrument for English folk music and the melodeon is more suited for the purpose.  To be honest, I have tried the melodeon and find it a lot harder to play.  The reason being is that you get two different notes on a melodeon depending on whether you are pushing or pulling on the bellows.  To play a scale is very similar to the  mouth organ or harp as our US cousins call them, sort of blow-suck-blow-suck-blow-suck-suck-blow!  Ideal for many tunes but you have to be really good to take on some tunes that have a fast paced melody line.  It's not impossible but for me the accordion is better suited to cope.  You press a key and you get the same note in either direction.  However, you may not have noticed I have conveniently not mentioned button accordions.  (And I won't after this!)

The accordion comes in a wide range of sizes from a small, single voiced, 1 octave/8 bass Hohner to the really big instruments that have 3 octaves/120 bass and up to 12 treble and 8 bass couplers that give a wide variety of voice combinations.

For general playing the beginner may find a 48 bass model quite suitable over a range of 2 octaves.  Considering most folk tunes were written to suit the range of the voice, the keys of C,G,F,D and B-flat are well within the range of an instrument this size.  Below (left) is my Hohner/Bell 48 bass model which has two treble voices and (right) my Alvari which has the same number of bass chords.  The latest addition to the stable is an early Hohner Carmen II model.  This is only a 24 bass but has the advantage of a longer keyboard than the Bell and the power of the Alvari.  An ideal instrument for a beginner to allow them to produce a powerful sound in the melody line without having to lose too much concentration on the bass hand.  The other advantage is that it's a lot lighter for prolonged playing at all day sessions.

	48 bass Hohner-Bell 48 bass Alvari

	24 bass Hohner  "Carmen II"

The most daunting task for a beginner is identifying the bass buttons.  Below is a chart for a full 120 bass layout of chords.  The three shaded areas show my Bell's configuration in pale red, the Alvari's configuration in black and my Carmen II's in green.  The Bell and Alvari models are both 48 bass models and whilst the Alvari has a wider range of keys (D-flat to F-sharp), the Bell has a larger selection of chords which add a richer and more varied sound to the music.  The Carmen II is a basic model with a narrow range of keys and simply the major or minor chords. 

If you wish to see a larger version that you may save to your PC and print out for your own reference, click the picture.

The direction finder that is always on an accordion is very simple.  The C button on the bass hand is slightly indented.  That is the one at the cross-piece of the black 'T'. Once you've learned to feel for that, the whole mystery of the keyboard becomes simple.

Each diagonal column adds a sharp to the key as you progress towards the top of the body and each column going down adds a flat.  If you now look at the bass chart above, it may start making more sense to you.

'Practice makes perfect', as the old saying goes and for the first few weeks of owning your 'box', I would suggest you leave it where you can pick it up and practice, even if it's only for a few minutes at a time.  If you have had keyboard experience in the past, you should not find any problems about changing from a horizontal keyboard to one that is vertical, except maybe the size of the keys.  The bass buttons can be 'a bit of a bugger' at first.  Fortunately, most music will also include the guitar chords.  These are the bold letters you often see either above or below the stave.  Use them as a guide to your accompaniment and you should soon be harmonizing without any trouble.

Finally, here are a few points about the care of your instrument.