It sure sounds like a piano accordion.

The dead giveaway is the key. It is Eb, and played on all of the black keys.

Dunno why you think Rag Around Your Head is a triple row. To me it sounds like the same accordion, and again, the dead giveaway is that it is in the same key, played on all the black keys.

Also, the sound is "smooth". The notes kind of blend together, which is not that easy to do on any kind of diatonic accordion. That is because changing the bellows direction abruptly changes the note - no blending.

It just seemed kinda in between to me and I wasn't sure. I guess just asking the question means I was leaning in the PA direction, but wanted to make sure. And as I don't play PA, I'm not as clued into what playing on the black keys sounds like.

It's not so much what playing on the black keys sounds like - it's more about the key. Eb minor and F# major use all the black keys on a piano accordion. It's real easy to play in those keys, even if you have not developed a lot of technique on a piano accordion.

But there is also a difference in the sound, that has more to do with being "smooth" vs. articulated. Diatonic accordions have a sound that is inherently articulated, while piano accordions tend to sound more smooth or blended.

Plus, Eb minor and F# are keys that are simply not available on any common triple row. (I mention the F# key because two of my most favorite John Delafose songs are in F# and are clearly played on a piano accordion. The songs are Broken Hearted and Nobody Else But You).

I hadn't gotten to the point of figuring out the keys. I can sometimes transpose in my head, more by listening to positions, and sometimes play along with a recording in another key.

On these, I was lost, but only suspected why.

they won;t be hard, once you get it key shifted to G or something that fits your accordion

but then, you may not be able to sing it

typically even though a piano accordion was used, he didn;t do anything you can;t do with a diatonic, in the right key

what i heard when john d played piano accordion, not only was it in Eb, it also didn;t even use all the 7 notes of that key, just the 5 main ones from zydeco

I, II, III, IV and VI
in G that would be
G A B D and E

think about it


wle

Ok. I will.

When I first started playing Zydeco on a piano accordion,
I thought that the recording was playing back too
slowly or that the band was badly out of tune.

Coming from a (harumph) "rock guitar" background
I couldn't believe that anyone would pick a key such
as E-Flat. E-Flat is just plain wrong on guitar

But, what I quickly discovered was that the black
keys represent a pentatonic scale (at least in F-Sharp).
And .. it's truly incredibly how many "hit singles"
were written in that mode, so it's quite useful.

And .. the second thing that is very handy .. is that
you can "grace" a note from a black key to a white one
quite easily. This frequently works when going from
a flatted third to a major third. If you hear someone
play it, you'd know what I'm talking about right away.

It is much harder to "grace up-hill", i.e., go from
a white key to a black one .. such as would be
required if playing in the key of "E".
(Difficult to grace a note from a "G" to a "G sharp".

Point being, these are additional clues as to what
kind of accordion Geno may be using.

I've seen him use all three: 10-button, 3-row and PA.

Clear like mud?

And that's my 2 cents for this AM

--Big

Axshully, we're talking about John, not Geno, but I digress...

I don't see any possibility that these songs were played on a single row, or a triple row. We're talking Eb minor and F# major. What kind of crazy diatonic could be used to play in those keys? Certainly none of the commonly available ones, that's fer sher.

But on a piano accordion, it's real east to play in those keys. And John was known to play on a piano accordion now and then, but not as his main ax. It was more of a novelty or "me too" kind of thing.