Diatonic Accordion Notes

By

Jim Allen

Introduction

The One-Row Box

The Three-Row Box

Pull-Stroke Playing

Push-Stroke Playing

Chromatic Notes

The Accordion With Other Instruments

Introduction

The diatonic accordion, also known as the melodion, is a joyful-sounding instrument which is best played by ear and by memory. It is set up to play in one major key for each row of buttons, making it inconvenient to play from a printed page.

The position of a button on the instrument in relation to the position of a note on the printed staff depends on the key of the instrument. In most cases, it will be necessary to transpose from the printed key to the key of the instrument.

These notes are not intended to teach music to a beginner. Rather, they are to explain the nature of a specific group of instruments to persons who already have at least an elementary knowledge of music. A beginner looking to buy a diatonic accordion will likely have a hard time finding the basic information needed to make a decision. Most instruction books are aimed at getting a person playing the instrument in a beginner fashion and not at giving a good overview of the instrument.

The basic instrument has one row of buttons and plays in one major key, one minor key with the third and seventh diminished or flattened, and one key with a diminished seventh. A multi-row instrument has additional rows to play in additional keys, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Multi-row instruments can be played across the rows for expanded musical effects, as in Irish or Tex-Mex music. The Irish style of instrument has two rows, in the keys of B and C. The right hand side is fully chromatic in that the notes not in one row are all in the other. Irish playing is an art in itself, and will not be covered here. Non-Irish multi-row instruments are most frequently tuned in fourths. Typical tunings are, from the outer to the inner row, G-C-F, A-D-G, or F-Bb-Eb. The cross-row features discussed here are for instruments tuned in fourths. Other tunings will show up from time to time. It's not unusual for manufacturers and repair shops to produce custom reed arrangements. Strange instruments should be approached with caution, especially if money is involved.

The keyboard diagrams in these notes appear as the instrument would be sitting on a table. Low notes are on the left, high notes on the right.

Some notes for the cautious. A diatonic accordion usually involves a substantial monetary investment. If a person has doubts about his or her ability to learn to play this instrument, it would be wise to start with a harmonica. A one-row diatonic accordion will cost as much as 20 good harmonicas, and the two types of instruments play in a nearly identical fashion. Also, it's wise to hold the instrument in one's hand and get the feel of it before making a purchase.

Many diatonic accordions come from the manufacturers without provision for attaching shoulder straps. This is a handicap for many people. Leather supply dealers have D-rings with short metal straps drilled for screws. These are easy to install and are good for attaching shoulder straps. Two straps can be accomodated by one pair of D-rings, but one strap is often enough.

Single-Row Instruments

A single-row diatonic accordion or melodion is the basic instrument upon which the multi-row instruments are built.

The German style, with 10 buttons, plays just like a 10-hole harmonica or mouth organ. Open one up and and you will see what looks like a big wooden harmonica for each set of reeds. Most of the German style instruments have four sets of reeds, each one operated by a sliding stop with a knob sticking out on top. Usually there will be one low set, two middle sets and one high set, at octave intervals.

The two middle reed sets are the key to the style of music for which the instrument is designed. There is wet tuning, dry tuning, and stages in between. Dry tuning is for the Cajun style. The two sets of middle reeds are set very close to the same frequency. Some makers will set them exactly the same, others prefer them just a tiny bit off, and some customers have them tuned to their own specifications. The result is a raspy, grating sound which pleases fanciers of Cajun music.

If the two middle reed sets are tuned to somewhat different frequencies, the result is tremolo or wet tuning. This is very easy to test. With only the stops for the two middle sets open, play a single high-pitched note with strong volume. Listen carefully. With wet tuning, there will be a distinct throb. It will come and go at a rate which is equal to the difference in frequency of the two reeds. This style of tuning is preferred for most types of music, particularly polkas. It gives a sound which is rich with overtones and is very cheerful.

Hohner German Style One-Row Tuning

This is the keyboard layout of a German-style instrument. Each button is represented with the push note above the line and the pull note below. (Push is when the bellows is being compressed, and pull is when it is being expanded.) It covers two full octaves plus some extra notes at either end. The Vienna layout is the same except that the button on the far left has odd-ball reeds which come into use only in advanced playing. Note also that the La below the low Do is missing. This is limiting on some numbers, but the note can be picked up on a multi-row instrument. This is similar to the layout of a 10-hole Marine Band or Blues Harp harmonica, except that the harmonica has a Do-Re hole on the lower end and omits the Mi-Ti hole on the upper end.

The above layout is similar to the arrangement of notes on the Anglo concertina, but on the concertina the scale is divided between the left and right hands.

The system here is to have the Do-Mi-So notes played on the push and the Re-Fa-La-Ti notes on the pull. We think of an octave as having eight notes, but it really has only seven distinct notes, the highest note being also the beginning of the next octave. So there are more notes crammed into the pull. The upper octave is a little different from the lower one. The Re-Fa-La-Ti notes are moved over one button on the upper octave. The same song has to be played differently when it's played in a different octave. An experienced harmonica player will have no difficulty with this trick, but a person starting on a diatonic instrument may need some practice to get the hang of it.

With this tuning, it's impossible to get a discord on the push stroke. On the pull, a discord can occur only when the La and Ti notes are played at the same time.

The German style melodeon has two bass chord keys which are played by the left hand. Each of these keys plays different chords on the push and the pull. No matter what the right hand is playing, the left hand chords will be in harmony. Playing the chords is like tapping the fingers. Play the melody with the right hand and maintain a beat with a couple of fingers on the left hand.

There's an extra valve which is played by the left thumb or palm. It's an air valve to move extra air in and out of the bellows. Without it, the instrument would get hung up with the bellows fully expanded or fully compressed and unable to generate wind for the next note.

Same Tuning, Played One Step Up In Minor Key

The above layout is for the major key. With a little practice, it is possible to move up one step and play in a minor key. Thus a C-major instrument can also be played in D-minor, or a G-major instrument in A-minor. There are no minor chords on the German style instrument, but they are standard on the Vienna style.

Re	Fa	Te	Re	Fa	Te	Re	Fa	Te	Re
----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
Fa	La	Do	Me	So	La	Do	Me	So	La

The principle here is to shift the half-steps in the scale. Look at a piano keyboard. The interval from one key to the next is a half-step. When there is a black key in between, the interval between two white keys is a full step. With no black key in between, it is a half-step. In the key of C-Major, the half-steps are between E and F, the third and fourth notes, and between B and C, the seventh and eighth notes. To play in the key of C-Minor, play E-flat and B-flat instead of the white keys. This moves the two half-steps down by a full step. If, instead of playing the two black keys, one begins the scale on D and plays only the white keys, the half-steps are similarly shifted down in relation to the rest of the scale, resulting in playing in D-minor.

Playing in a minor key will run against one's grain, because it's exactly opposite of playing in a major key.

Playing Up A Fifth

A diatonic instrument can be played up a fifth, causing So to become Do. This results in a scale with a diminished seventh note. A C-major instrument played up five will be in the key of G, but in G-major the seventh note is F-sharp. The C-major scale has only F-natural.

La	Do	Fa	La	Do	Fa	La	Do	Fa	La
----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
Do	Mi	So	Te	Re	Mi	So	Te	Re	Mi

Chord Keys

A German-style instrument will have only two chord keys, which are for the major key. A Vienna style instrument will have four buttons for each row. The two outer buttons are for the major key, and the inner pair play chords for the minor key. Thus a C instrument will have the C-major chords in the outer row and the D-minor chords in the inner row. When playing up a fifth with the diminished seventh, the major chords usually sound good.

Multi-Row Accordions

A multi-row accordion is like two or three one-row instruments crammed into one housing. Each row is in a separate key and the instrument can be played one row at a time, as if it were a one-row accordion. But it can also be played across the rows for extended range and for different styles and effects.

The rows are usually spaced in fourths, as G-C-F or A-D-G. By playing only one row at a time, it's possible to play single notes, thirds, fifths and octaves. But notice that if corresponding notes of two adjacent rows are played together, it's easy to play fourths and sixths. The Do notes in adjacent rows are a fourth apart. A Do and the Mi in the row above it are a sixth apart.

The values for the buttons on the left, or lower, end of the scale are shown in parentheses. They are chromatic notes which are not in the scale sequence and are used in some advanced styles of playing. The chromatics shown here are for the Hohner G-C-F instrument. They may not be the same on other instruments.

Hohner Scales

Now let's look at fleshing out the scales. Notice that in the middle and inner rows there is a gap at the low end. The low La is missing. In each case, the Re in the next row out is the same as the low La. By jumping rows, the performer can play the low So-La-Ti-Do. On the outer row, there's nothing below the low Do, but three notes can be added at the upper end. On the inner row, it's possible to play a low Re-Mi-So-La by going to both the middle and outer rows.

Inner Row Extended

Middle Row Extended

Outer Row Extended

Notice that the Do on the middle and outer rows is the same as So on the inner and middle rows, respectively. In playing the low So-La-Ti-Do sequence it may feel more natural to play So-La on the same button.

When crossing over from the inner row to get low notes, Fa is not available. But Fi, a half-step above Fa, is there. Sometimes it's possible to play Fi instead of Fa and it will sound good. In mass-produced instruments the tuning relationship between the rows is often sloppy anyway.

Some notes normally played on one stroke of the bellows can be played on the opposite stroke in another row. There are keyboard diagrams showing this farther along in this manuscript.

Using Chromatic Notes

Going back to the chapter on the single-row German style instrument, we notice that playing up a fifth results in a diminished or flatted seventh note. This can be at least partially corrected on the Austrian style of box. On the C row, Fi on the far left button is F-sharp above Middle C. That's the correct value for Ti in the G-major scale. It may not be convenient, but it's there.

Playing up one step on the C row gives the key of D-minor, with the third and seventh notes diminished. Playing in D-major requires C-sharp and F-sharp. Middle C-sharp is a push-note Fi on the G row and high C-sharp is the pull note Si on the F row. The F-sharp above middle C is the push note Fi on the C row.

Playing in A-major on the G row is by picking up the C-sharps as above plus a G-sharp which is the pull note Si in the C row.

The G-major scale can be played on the F row by dropping down to the C row for B-natural and the F-sharp above Middle C. This is not necessary on a three-row instrument, but can be very handy with only two rows.

There are more possibilities with the chromatic notes. This is just a start.

Diminished Seventh

On a multi-row instrument, the diminished seventh scale can start a fourth below the low Do on all but the outside row, which is exactly an octave below playing up a fifth. Thus the low So-La in the adjacent outer row become Do-Re, and then it goes back to the home row where the low Ti becomes Mi. From there on, the rest of the scale is in the home row.

Inner Row Diminished Seventh

Middle Row Diminished (Third and) Seventh

Outer Row Dimished (Third and) Seventh

In summary, a three-row instrument can be played in eleven different keys without resorting to the three chromatic keys. There is the major key for each row, the minor key played one step up in each row, the diminished seventh key, which is played up a fifth or down a fourth and, in all but the inner row, the minor key with both diminished third and seventh which is played up a fifth. In all but the inner row, the key of the home row can be changed to diminished seventh by reaching to the next row in for the lower seventh.

With a G-C-F instrument, the key of G with diminished seventh can be played on either the G or C row, and C with diminished seventh can be played on either the C or F row. The key of D with diminished seventh can be played on the G row.

Similarly, an A-D-G instrument can play A with diminished seventh can be played on either the A or D row, and the D with diminished seventh can be played on either the D or G row. The key of E with diminished seventh can be played on the A row.

And remember, when playing up a fifth, the diminished third can be found on the next row in.

Pull Stroke Playing Style

Accordionists along the border between Texas and Mexico have some distinctive playing styles. They come up with chord combinations and rapid sequences of notes that are not possible when a diatonic accordion is played in the conventional push-pull method.

The Tex-Mex styles emphasize playing on the pull stroke. By playing across rows, it is possible to play all or most of a scale on the pull stroke only. This has two results.

First of all, the chord possibilities are greatly expanded. The diatonic keyboard is set up to play thirds, fifths and octaves. But a cross-row scale played on the pull allows fourths and sixths.

Secondly, playing on the pull eliminates the change in bellows direction between notes, allowing for much faster playing. There's a trade-off, of course. The bellows gets expanded and full of air which must be vented out before the next string of notes. Some styles use a few beats of rest to allow time to contract the bellows. Others mix pull and push-pull sequences.

Once the pull scale principle is understood, it's easy to figure a pull scale for each key of a three-row instrument. Some notes are available in more than one location so two musicians may not play the same scale the same way.

It's also possible to play entirely on the push, or compression, stroke. Push-only scales work out a little better than the pull scales because all of the notes are available on the push, as long as it's satisfactory to play a diminished seventh on the outer row. Push scales seem a little more logical because the Do-Mi-So-Do sequence is always available on the row of the key being played.

Scales on the Pull

Inner Row

Middle Row

Outer Row

Push-Only Scales

The Tex-Mex style of playing is just half of the single-stroke method. It's just as practical to play entirely on the push as it is on the pull.

Here some scales which are played entirely on the push or compression stroke. On the outer row this gives a diminished seventh. The regular seventh note can be played on the pull if desired. On the middle and outer row scales So can be played on the next row toward the outside. On the outer row, Do can also be played on the middle row.

Inner Row

Middle Row

Outer Row, Diminished Seventh

Chromatic Notes

It's possible to play a three-row instrument in any key, playing across the rows and using the three leftmost keys. It might drive a person crazy to do it, but the possibility is there.

Here's the complete key layout for Hohner G-C-F tuning.

D#	C	F	A	C	F	A	C	F	A
----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
C#	E	G	Bb	D	E	G	Bb	D	E

F#	G	C	E	G	C	E	G	C	E	G
----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
G#	B	D	F	A	B	D	F	A	B	D

C#	G	B	D	G	B	D	G	B	D
----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
D#	A	C	E	F#	A	C	E	F#	A

Examining this diagram, notice that the C row contains all of the notes of the white keys on a piano keyboard. The inner row contains the black key note Bb or A#, and the outer row contains F#. The three leftmost keys on the accordion add the C#, D# and G#, plus an additional F#. This completes the chromatic scale over a reduced range.

The practical use of the chromatic capability in not so much in playing in a variety of keys, but rather in being able to strike combinations and sequences of notes which can't be accomodated on a single row. This is useful in several styles of music, especially Tex-Mex and Klezmer.

The effects most frequently used are unusual chords and keying sequences. These work best when played in single-stroke style, as in Tex-Mex. Grace notes, trills and slurring are particularly convenient this way. It allows a musician to hit two notes which are only a step or a half-step apart simultaneously or in rapid sequence, perhaps hitting the second note before releasing the first.

Now we break the keyboard diagram down to show the convenient keying sequences on the different strokes. Most of the combinations are available on the pull stroke, so it will be shown first.

Pull Stroke Chromatics

It will be helpful to print this and draw lines to connect the sequences of half-steps.

Follow the diagram for this sequence, all on the pull or draw stroke.

D Middle row, third button.
D# Outer row, first button.
E Outer row, fourth button, or inner row, second button.
F Middle row, fourth button.
F# Outer row, fifth button.
G Inner row, third button.
G# Middle row, first button.
A Middle row, fifth button.
Bb Inner row, fourth button.
B Middle row, sixth button.
C Outer row, seventh button.
C# Inner row, first button.
D Inner row, fifth button.

Look at that. A full chromatic octave.

Now the next draw sequence. Notice that the D# which would connect these two is not available on the draw stroke. It's on the first key of the inner row on the push or compression stroke, and will be shown in the push stroke diagram.

E Inner row, sixth key, or outer row, eighth key.
F Middle row, eighth key.
F# Outer row, ninth key.
G inner row, seventh key.

The sequence is broken here because there's only one G#, and it's in the lower octave. Next we go to the last chromatic pull sequence.

A Middle row, ninth key.
Bb Inner row, eighth key.
B Middle row, tenth key.

Now we drop back to the lower notes to pick up a pair we missed.

B Middle row, second key.
C Outer row, third key.

This is separated from the first sequence by a C# which is not available on the draw stroke. It's on the first key of the outer row on the push stroke.

Push Stroke Chromatics

Notice this diagram is much simpler than the one for the pull stroke. There are not as many opportunities on the push or compression stroke. There are four chromatic sequences here.

B Outer row, third key.
C Middle row, third key.
C# Outer row, first key.
D Outer row, fourth key.

The sequence breaks here, because the next note, D#, is a pull note on the first key of the outer row. The next sequence picks up after that note.

E Middle row, fourth key.
F Inner row, third key.
F# Middle row, first key.
G Middle row, fifth key.

Here are the next two sequences.

B Outer row, seventh key.
C Middle row, sixth key.

And

D# Inner row, first key.
E Middle row, seventh key.
F Inner row, sixth key.

This is the run-down on chromatics. The note values shown here are for the G-C-F tuning. The same key sequences will apply to A-D-G tuning and probably to Bb-Eb-F tuning, but with correspondingly different values.

Accordions With Other Instruments