I am mainly an uilleann piper, but play self-taught piano accordion occasionally. No teachers or experienced Irish PA players in my area, sadly.
Do you know of any thumb rules of how to achieve fluent playing of reels and the such with your right hand? E.g. trying to avoid using thumb or pinkie (I made this one up) when going up and down the keyboard? No "stick to the pipes or play BA instead" tips, please (I have a nice Castagnari G/C box, thank you).

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Christian

I can't be of much help, Christian. But I do have a couple of friends who play Irish PA very well. And from observation, their thumbs and pinkies are very active.

I'm a very mediocre keyboard player. But occasionally I find myself demonstrating a tune melody on a piano or keyboard. And I find that the same fingerings and finger-crossing patterns I learned for Bach or Clementi seem to apply equally well to trad.

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Vivat diabolus in musica! MTGuru's (old) GG Clips / Blackbird Clips

Joel Barish: Is there any risk of brain damage?
Dr. Mierzwiak: Well, technically speaking, the procedure is brain damage.

Yes you'll need all your digits. I believe Karen Tweed has an instructional DVD out. I don't think you'll go wrong with her. Here's a source in US, maybe you can find one in Europe. Ah, it's a CD-ROM - right at the bottom of this list: http://buttonbox.com/learn-to-play-accordion.html#piano

Thanks for the hints so far. Madfortrad seems unavailable over here. I guess the editors gave up on the whole idea several years ago. Does anyone know the Murray Grainger DVD?
Input still welcome on this thread. Maybe my thumb/pinkie example wasn't a good one, but I find myself regularly trapped when using them while the melody is still moving down/up.

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Christian

This is an old discussion, but since it stopped with an open question.....

Fingering is a significant part of technique of a "piano" keyboard instrument. There's a reason why pianists practice scales and arpeggios. They help to get thumb crossings smooth, fluent and in time and to provide a toolbox so that you don't run out of fingers as a tune heads in one direction! I guess "bad habits" are things that seem like short cuts now, but will hold you back later. They'd include things like missing fingers out unnecessarily, ie going from finger 1 to 3 when the interval is a third, and hopping (and hoping) when jumping from note to note where there should be a thumb crossing.

Whilst it's important to be able to thumb-cross fluently there are some tunes that can be played with none if fingering is sorted out, which can be a useful exercise. Blarney Pilgrim is one.

It's not a style I'll ever play, but I find this video quite inspiring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEOCe4bcOR0

I'm certainly no expert but as time goes by I do feel that fingering just seems to become more and more instinctive.

Good luck!
Tom