Accordion Players

*Originally published on 3/25/09


Accordion players get no respect. Anyone who picks one up is usually labeled a nerd or loser. It makes no sense. Fear not accordion players, I have your back.

People, playing the accordion is freaking hard! It is probably, no scratch that, it is the hardest instrument to play. More so than the guitar or the piano. People who can play the accordion have mad skills and must be given the proper respect.

OK, first off you have the expanding and contracting. This seems simple enough, but the angle at which you do it is also a factor. Sometimes you have to curve the accordion downward or straighten it to achieve the desired effect. Even with that, it still seems pretty simple. It's no more difficult than the tuba or trumpet at this point.

Add to that the piano keys on one side. Playing piano is an admirable skill and does take practice. This requires the same principles. There are less keys, but it's sideways and has a different setup than the piano does. With the piano, you can look down to see where your hands are going if required. You don't have that luxury with the accordion. The instrument is rather big,so you are forced to fly blind.

As if that wasn't enough there are a ton of buttons on the other side, 120 to be exact. Making things even more difficult is the fact that the buttons are all fraggin' tiny. Seriously, how on earth are you supposed to manage all that? Well people, against all odds, master this Rubik's cube of an instrument and are repaid with jokes and laughs at their expense.

It is often joked that people play instruments to woo members of the opposite sex. This is usually said of the guitar more than any other instrument. Well, accordions are played on gondola's, the quintessential romantic moonlit ride. Italians are usually skilled with this instrument and Italy is one of the more romantic countries in the world. Coincidence? I think not.

Learning to play any instrument poses a challenge of some sort. Playing the guitar, organ, piano, or drums require you to practice in order to master them. The accordion is no different. The difference is the fact that the accordion presents a challenge on multiple levels that make it the grand daddy of challenging instruments. Rather than joke and talk about how lame the instrument is, we should tip our caps in respect to the hard work that was put in.