Button accordions can be immensely enjoyable and simple to learn if learned by ear. In order to do this, however, one must memorize their button layout.
Diatonic button accordions are the most prevalent variety, featuring a melodic keyboard with diatonic scale keys laid out as melodies on it and pairs of bass buttons arranged in pair arrangements.
Basics
A button accordion is a two-row instrument with both treble and bass buttons on either side. Also referred to as fisarmonica diatonica (in Italy), organetto or, more typically in Limburgish and Saxony dialects as kwetsjbuul/kwetsjebujel.
There are various types of accordions. Button accordions tend to be easier for beginners to learn than piano accordions as there are fewer keys and the bellows move less when pressing buttons.
There are two primary types of accordions, Diatonic and Chromatic. Diatonic button accordions feature a bass button layout on the right hand that has been carefully organized into pairs and orders to make learning the sounds easier; Chromatic accordions feature a left-handed keyboard whose bass rows mirror both C and B systems; these instruments can play more chords than diatonic accordions can.
Bass Buttons
The left side bass buttons of an accordion produce both single bass notes and chords, most commonly through the Stradella bass system found on all large accordions. This system uses columns of buttons arranged around a circle of fifths so that when playing C major chord, for example, each row represents either C major chord, C minor chord or C dominant seventh (minus 5th) chord respectively.
Once you have mastered the basics, practice playing your bass buttons with a steady rhythm – this will help to maintain and perfect timing – while simultaneously practicing alternating bass notes with right-hand chords until this seems natural – this allows for exciting passing chords and combinations which sound fantastic when played correctly!
Keyboard Buttons
Keyboard buttons enable us to type letters and symbols onto the screens of our computers, including using Shift key (which when combined with any letter produces its capitalized version) and Caps Lock key (to toggle between upper and lower case letters). Furthermore, space bar inserts a space one character-width away from where currently word exists.
Keyboards often have additional keys dedicated to specific computer systems. For instance, some keyboards feature NumLock keys which activate a numeric keypad, making data entry simpler; others feature cursor control keys like Home, PgUp, and PgDn that move the cursor around on-screen.
Some keyboards feature Stabilizers to reduce wobbliness in the keys and ensure that pressing larger ones such as Enter, Shift, Backspace and Caps Lock always results in a keypress. Others may feature multimedia keys for accessing the Internet or volume controls as well as language input keys.
Treble Buttons
Treble buttons are located on the right-hand side of an instrument in a row, typically key pairs. These are used for playing melodies and harmonies when performing traditional Irish music.
Treble button accordions offer more versatile playing capabilities for more sophisticated accordion players and competitions, especially as outer and inner row key-pairs can be used to shift through various notes chromatically. This makes them useful instruments.
Button accordions take practice to master, but once you become familiar with their layout it becomes much simpler to identify which buttons make which sounds. Mistakes will happen as you practice, but over time your instinctive knowledge will increase until it will come naturally – lessening the chance that hitting an incorrect button leads to damages! Something worth keeping in mind when purchasing online melodeons!