Accordion Background

The Piano Accordion first appeared about a hundred years ago and initially they were like a melodeon with a piano keyboard, and a limited number of basses. During the 1920’s, great improvements were made to the design and sound, and with the Stradella bass system, a full left hand accompaniment became possible. The instrument became enormously popular in the 1930’s.

Accordion Options

The Piano type tends to suit beginners who can already read music or play the piano, as the instrument is very logically laid out, and of course has a familiar keyboard.

The size of the instrument is usually denoted by the number of basses. These basses are arranged in rows of 6 buttons for each key: counter bass, bass, then major chord, minor, seventh, and diminished.

A 120 bass with 41 treble keys is the full size model, and the bass end offers a chromatic scale, and all the chords, arranged in 6 rows of 20. An 80 bass has 5 rows of 16 (omitting the diminished row), and a 37 note keyboard. A 72 bass has a 34 note keyboard, but retains the 6 row bass.

The most popular size, and ideal for beginners, is the 48 bass, usually with 6 rows of 8, allowing accompaniment in the keys of Bb, F, C, G, D, & A. The treble keyboard on the 48, 32, and 12 bass models usually has 26 keys.

Please read the rest of this article, and much more, on our FAQ page.