Okay, not an accordion player (yet) but have a question about the key of instruments versus the key of songs played, scales, etc. So on a C accordion you would play tunes in C and G? What type of scale does it have for the ten keys. I am a guitar player (mostly by ear verylittle music theory) So on the accordion It has the C major scale? Any explanations of this would be helpful. I know that when I play a blues in certain keys my harp player plays a different keyed harmonica (an a when I am playing in E I think??)Since I am mainly into blues on guitar I mainly just do minor pentatonic runs wherever it sounds right when I play a lead....so basically I am musically ignorant.

No takers? I am not really an idiot. Just never learned music theory....Play guitar, bass, mandolin, some fiddle, etc. Picked up an accordion at a bar one night and was able to squeeze out "the Back Door" somewhat so am really interested in learning more just don't undestand music very well....just know when it sounds right

Hello Slim,
Sorry for the slow replies. We do try to manage 24-hour coverage on this board so that every question is answered within 45 minutes but I'm sorry we were not able to manage that in your case. Our scheduling must have broken down.
Anyway, David put it succinctly. I'll add my answer which may add to the clarity or the confusion. There are some similarities between the ten button accordion and the ten hole harmonica. In each case, you get one full major scale with an incomplete scale above it and one incomplete scale below—the instrument mostly cover three octaves. The notes on the two instruments are not identically set up—same pattern but different starting point you could say. For example, the blow notes on the harmonica run CEGCEGCEGC, while the push notes on the accordion run EGCEGCEGCE—in both cases I suppose the idea was that you would always get a C chord on the push or blow. Drawing on the harmonica it’s DGBDFABDFA; on the accordion , GBDFABDFAB. With a harp, say in C, you would usually play blues in the fifth of that key, G. Likewise, with a C accordion you would be as likely to play in G as C, depending on the song. Other keys are possible further on down the road with either instrument. Broken down this way, these instruments might seem simple--but that's an illusion, in my musically ignorant opinion.
Enjoy the music!

Yes, a C accordion has the C major scale.

You are absolutely right about the analogy with the harp player using a different key - it is the same principle. Both the harp and the accordion have a single key scale (say C major), but to get a bluesy sound, you can play in the key of G. On a harmonica this is called "cross harp". On the Cajun accordion, it is called playing the "pull" key.

The reason it sounds sort of bluesy is that when you play cross harp or the accordion pull key, you get a flat 7th note instead of the major 7th note.

With your harp player, it probably goes like this: if you are playing blues in E on the guitar, your harp player would be playing cross harp using a harmonica tuned to A major.

Hope this helps.

-David

i use an A accordion quite often for blues in E, and what i really miss is having a bluesy bending 3rd (G#), and the 3rd (Bb) of the II chord (F#major). you can get them by bending notes on a harmonica; i am jealous ... nout

If ya squeezed out the back door at a bar, they probably have an open tab..lature.

~RRRRR!CK

That's why I got one!

You can't bend the third, but you can blend the major and minor third and get nearly the same effect.

It would be VERY cool if we had a way to bend notes on an accordion. There was a guy who patented such a thing, but they never got into production.

-David

midi accordions usually have some way to bend notes
wle.

I'm a bit confused on the flatted 7th in G. Wouldn't that be Fb? Not having sharps or flats on a C box, wouldn't it be a major 7th? (F)

the 'normal' 7th for any key is a major 7th

a 7th that isn;t major is called
'flat 7th' or
'dominant 7th'

G's 7th is F#
an F is 'flat' or 'dominant'

a major 7th is 11 half steps up from the scale root
a flat 7th is 10


this doesn;t have anything to do with
accordion or any other instrument, it;s
just the [overly confusing IMHO] language of music


the only thing more confusing is accordion terminology

[
why does 'single-acting' mean 'two notes per button' and vice versa?

why is a chromatic accordion called that,
when piano accordions, much more prevalent,
are also chromatic?

(even a standard triple row is technically
'chromatic' since all 12 notes exist on the right hand side)




wle.

It is true that a chromatic button accordion and a piano accordion are both chromatic. But, it's not confusing if you use the full name: chromatic button accordion, typically abbreviated CBA.

-David

It is so clear that even a blind man could see!

You can get a nice blues thing going playing out of the D chord on a C box. Try Sugar Bee in that position. Pull for the D (1); pull for the G(4) and you can get a nice blues note on that pull. Then feel around for the 5 (A).

good tip, also some modal ballads from the dayz of old work in D minor on a C accordion, ... f.i Darling Corey, as irish E minor tunes (Drowsy Maggie) on a D accordion do. - still haven't found the opportunity, but some old time fiddle tunes work very well, only it won't be very cajunesque messieurs (et madames). PS a G scale on a C accordion is called a mixolidean scale as far as i know; a mixed up one for your trip to the bar, Rick? oops, i promised to behave - Nout

You are correct, if you play a G scale on a C accordion, it is the mixolydian mode.

-David

If you start on any note on the accordion and go up the scale to the octive you will be playing in a historic "mode".

Music has been written in every mode but over the centuries some modes have evolved as more "pleasing to the ear" then others.

One only has to venture into near or far eastern music to begin to find what westerners consider unusual note combinations.