Table of Contents

Foreword by Andy Cutting Introduction The Squeezebox Family Music Basics for Squeezers Introducing the D/G Melodeon Holding the Melodeon The Air Button The High Octave The Treble Buttons Counting Time Major Keys Minor Keys Shifting Hand Position Introducing the Bass Buttons Playing the Bass in Time Various Rhythms Crossing the Rows The Basses Playing the Other Bass Buttons Um Cha Through Some Easy Tunes Smoothing the Bellows Action The Other Chord in the key of D Fundamentals and Chords Playing the Bass in Harmony Percussive Bass : No Bass Drones and Snappy Off-Beats Accidentals A minor and B minor Slides and Slip Jigs The Key of A The Variable Buttons Transposing Hot Cross Buns! Baa Baa Black Sheep Jingle Bells Little Brown Jug Mulberry Bush Oranges and Lemons Bobby Shaftoe Three Blind Mice Whip Jamboree Drunken Sailor Silent Night The Best of Society Frere Jacques Egan's Polka What Can the Matter Be? Cock of the North Katie Bairdie The Keel Row Polly Put the Kettle On Skip to My Lou Shepherds' Hey Tralee Gaol I Have a Bonnet Donkey Riding Buffalo Girls Uncle Bernard's Polka Rakes of Mallow Davy Davy Knick Knack Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Bonny Green Garters Rodney Liza Jane Constant Billy The Twenty-Ninth of May Sweet Jenny Jones My Darling Asleep The Steamboat Sonny's Mazurka Speed the Plough Soldiers' Joy Staten Island A Trip to the Cottage The Tenpenny Bit Tripping Upstairs The Scattery Island Slide Drops of Brandy Bill Sullivan's Polka Sweeney's Polka

About the Author

Dave Mallinson has been known as Mally since his first day at school. He has been involved in music since the age of nine when he learned to play the recorder. In his mid teens he played the pop music of the era on guitar, but his interest was always little more than half-hearted. In his late teens he discovered folk music but still the guitar was unable to inspire him. At the age of twenty two, Mally discovered the melodeon and immediately felt the musical stimulation he had unconsciously been seeking for many years. Practice was no longer a chore, it was his favourite occupation, an addiction even. Although starting late in life makes virtuoso status unattainable, it is still possible to reach a good standard. Mally, through lengthy practice, hard work and dogged determination, has managed to achieve a high level of competence and has become a well respected player. However, his constant struggle to maintain his skill makes his days as a beginner never seem far away. He is well able to recognise, and is very much aware of, the problems and difficulties facing beginners and novices.