Accordion advice for newbie?
 

Hello all,

I've been in love with bagpipes, accordions, harmonicas, penny whistles, fiddles, etc since I was a wee lad. Recently, my funds have cleared enough to where I can consider buying an instrument.

My first choice would be an accordion, but I have literally zero idea how to find one, how to play it, what makes it quality as opposed to cheap, etc.

I've only ever fiddled(no pun intended!) with a penny whistle and harmonica, and I can play the first bit of Yankee Doodle on a guitar. Clearly, I am the next master musician, haha.

But I digress. I'd like to know basically how hard it is to learn an accordion. I don't need to know fancy complex songs or anything like that. My personal favorite music, in fact, is the simple fiddle and drum, stomp-your-feet style folk music. So I'm looking for any advice about accordions, and also on harmonicas, penny whistles... something to play a rousing tune around the campfire.

I also have no idea where to begin in terms of actual accordions. Several sites have suggested to others that they look at Goodwill, and I did find several there for less than $60, which would be perfect. However, I have no idea how to judge the quality of any of these instruments.

As a side note, is it hard to learn harmonica? Figured I'd just throw it all into one post and save y'all some time.

Any advice is appreciated, I've an empty head that's yearnin for some learnin.

EDIT: Also I've heard some positive reviews on someone called Palmer-Hughes for accordion books? Can anyone speak for these books, or ones that are better? I have no money for lessons, so anything I learn will be home-based. However, I have money for books, and internet for video lessons.


Cheers all,
Drame22