How to Play a Classic Accordion Oompah Sound

Part of the Video Series How to Play the Accordion

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On the accordion, learn how to achieve a classic Oompah sound in this free online video music lesson for beginners.

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Posted by sabellius on Wednesday, 07 November, 2007 at 1:36 PM

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Bravo! The secret has been revealed! I had an accordion about 20 years ago and I could never figure out what to do with the left hand. I played it anyway and it finally fell apart. Recently another old accordion came my way, and NOW I know what to do. Obviously there's a lot more available (look at all them buttons!) but here's the door to accordiondom. Thank you Brett, you have made a difference.

Video Transcript

How to Play a Classic Accordion Oompah Sound
In our previous lesson we talked about the bass buttons over here. Quick review. The button in the middle with the rhinestone is C. One button below this way is F. One button, this way towards the sky, is G. Those are single bass buttons in this second row of buttons on the button side. If we move down and back down towards the palm the bottom of the accordion, we have chord buttons, that is, you can press one button and it will play three different notes creating a chord. We practice moving from single bass to a chord. Now what we want to do is work on the classic accordion oompah sound. Place your fourth finger on the C single note bass button, your middle finger on the C major chord button, and you are going to use your index finger to alternate and move up to that G button. So you have C, C chord, G, C chord. So these three fingers are alternating. Fourth finger, third finger, second finger, third finger, fourth finger. Now you have that oompah sound. It will be slow at first, but if you practice you can get faster. You can use the same technique now on F and G. I have my fourth finger on the single bass F, my middle finger on the F major chord button, and then my index finger is looking for a c somewhere, and there it is. That is how you create that classic accordion oompah sound.

About the Expert

Expert: Brett Larsen earned a B.A. in music composition from UCSB in 1992 and currently works as a middle school music teacher. Read More