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In a concertina workshop at the recent Old Pal Concertina Weekend in East Texas I emphasized a couple of concepts that will hopefully help those beginning to play the Anglo in the harmonic style. Simply put: “There are no wrong notes – only notes you like, and those you don’t like”. What happens if you hit a “wrong” note? NOTHING! The note might sound terrible and be an awful clanger, but that’s it. No harm done to the tune, the player, or the instrument. It might even lead you to a surprising harmony or wonderfully rich chord that you would never have found otherwise. Stray notes can be your friend, and can lead to amazing discoveries. A lot of the chords I use in my playing are found by trial and error and “by mistake”. Truth be told, I often have no idea what the particular chord is officially called. BbMAJ7sus+b4#9? Maybe, sure, whatever. In contrast to the desperate exactness of how many approach ITM, harmonic style is all about exploration and discovery. Professional players like John Kirkpatrick, John Watcham, Phil Ham, Jody Kruskal, and Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne all encourage folks to be more adventurous in their playing, to be musical and have fun. This is not intended to stir up any opinions or controversy here at CNET although I have no doubt many will chime in. This is for the beginners here on the forum - all instruments are daunting at first, but if beginning Anglo players replace any fear or timidity with a robust sense of experimentation, they will likely be rewarded with a wonderment of sounds that will help them craft their own unique style. Books and tabs only show one way of playing a tune, and are just a starting point. Once you're no longer afraid of wrong notes, you are free to move about the instrument! Gary