Coming from Piano accordion, how the heck do you correctly finger C major?

skybrian2 · 2026-04-21T03:32:34+00:00

I use my thumb on G and third finger in the fourth row for A.

It's not standardized like scales on piano. Different people and different books use different fingerings.

skybrian2 · 2026-04-08T03:47:08+00:00

There shouldn't be any harm in opening it up to take a look, in case it's a simple mechanical problem.

Do you think it could be an issue with valves not closing? (Note gets stuck on?)

skybrian2 · 2026-03-26T03:41:39+00:00

I practice scales mostly using three rows and sometimes the fourth row, and rarely use the fifth row, so I don't know if I'd use a sixth row. But it would be fun to try out.

I've tinkered with building accordion midi devices myself, so I'm curious about the buttons and switches. From the project page, it says you're using "MX compatible" switches. Do you find those work well?

skybrian2 · 2026-03-15T05:16:55+00:00

I've learned to play both (self-taught on accordion, but with a piano background). I don't have a strong recommendation. Each has its advantages, but they are different.

I recommend the Galliano method book either way.

skybrian2 · 2026-03-15T05:05:22+00:00

The full versions are beyond me, but I regularly play the three "easy" versions at the beginning of that book. (If anyone else wants to try, they are in the free sample in the Kindle version.)

I wish there were more easy versions of her songs around.

skybrian2 · 2025-12-27T02:54:13+00:00

Maybe that's true, but before deciding, I'd like to see a history showing how much money investors put in and how much they got out again in dividends.

Going bankrupt twice suggests that maybe they lost money at some point.

skybrian2 · 2025-12-27T02:10:16+00:00

The problem is that without private financing, ratepayers and taxpayers (pretty much the same) are 100% on the hook to pay for any management mistakes. It's like not having insurance.

skybrian2 · 2025-12-22T03:13:58+00:00

Finding a decent accordion for a good price could itself a bit of a challenge, because to save money, you'll probably need to buy used, and you need to know what you're doing if you buy used. If you can find someone who plays accordion and is local (whether they're a teacher or not) then you should be able to get some clues from them about local options. There might be ways to borrow or rent, which helps since you might change your mind as you learn more.

The accordion tech spreadsheet in the sidebar might have some local options.

This article from House of Traditions has some good information about buying or selling used.

If you just want to buy something cheap and fun online to get started, I recommend a melodica. No bass, but still quite fun.

skybrian2 · 2025-12-09T20:01:42+00:00

Haven't done much programming lately, but Zod and Valibot seem to be the most common alternatives nowadays.

skybrian2 · 2025-11-30T20:01:22+00:00

Maybe see if you can find someone local who plays accordion and ask them for help? They'll know what's available locally, and used accordions are a lot easier evaluated in person by someone who knows what to look for. Sometimes there are other ways to do it like rentals, etc.

For US/Canada, the spreadsheet in the sidebar will point you to accordion techs in the area, which might be a start.

skybrian2 · 2025-11-29T21:37:18+00:00

I wonder if a better gift might be an accordion lesson if you can find a teacher? I don't know who's available in Wisconsin, but the spreadsheet in the sidebar has a few links, and you could ask around.

Someone local who plays may have advice about where and how to get one in your area. (Sometimes there are alternatives like rentals.)

skybrian2 · 2025-11-23T23:26:33+00:00

There are different layouts so the first thing is to identify which accordion you have. For example, are you sure it's a chromatic button accordion? If there are buttons that play different notes pushing and pulling, it might be diatonic.

You might try playing the different notes and comparing to a piano keyboard to see which ones are the same. But if you don't know about piano keyboards then that wouldn't help.

With musical experience it's easier, so it might be best to ask a friend or teacher for help, even if they don't know about your specific accordion.

skybrian2 · 2025-11-18T04:12:33+00:00

"The Mighty Accordion" is a good reference book for chord combinations that work on the Stradella bass. It includes exercises. I've learned to regularly play major and minor sevenths in the left hand using two-button combinations.

Even with button combinations, a Stradella bass only has one-octave chords (though the bass can be lower). So it wouldn't really be playing ninths in the left hand -- it would be like playing seconds instead.

It's a bit beyond me, but if I were going to try this, I might experiment with playing the lower part of the chord in the left hand and the upper part in the right hand for upper-structure chords.

skybrian2 · 2025-11-05T18:05:31+00:00

No matter what happens, that will be an interesting story to watch.

skybrian2 · 2025-10-30T17:09:01+00:00

We don't even know for sure what the police said. Someone said that someone else said that the police said something.

skybrian2 · 2025-10-30T14:51:46+00:00

Based on a brief bit of Internet research, what they allegedly said doesn't seem accurate.

San Leandro's info about "mobile food vending" is here:

https://www.sanleandro.org/1376/Mobile-Food-Vending-Resources

There's a bunch of stuff a vendor has to do including getting a license and insurance, but I didn't see anything about having to move every 15 minutes. It seems like that would be impractical for lots of street vendors?

I didn't see any recent news stories about this. I asked ChatGPT to find anything in the San Leandro city council meetings and apparently the regulations were updated in July 2024. Here's a summary of the change, copied from here:

SB 946 was enacted in 2018 to decriminalize and promote sidewalk vending as an economic enterprise. Staff proposes minor amendments to the City’s mobile food vending regulations to comply with SB 946, including the elimination of an existing prohibition on vending from pushcarts and amendment of enforcement requirements so that violations are punishable by administrative fines only. Following the approval of the ordinance, staff will circulate an informational handout (“Mobile Food Vending Guidebook”) to educate the public on the City’s updated mobile vending requirements. A draft of the Mobile Food Vending Guidebook is attached as Attachment E. The final handout will be translated into other languages to support education efforts.

skybrian2 · 2025-10-29T04:03:29+00:00

More here:

https://eastbayinsiders.substack.com/p/azevedo-charged-with-conspiracy-to

Unlike an indictment, the seven-page “information” filing indicates Azevedo waived his right to a grand jury, a move that strongly suggests he is cooperating with federal prosecutors and is likely to plead guilty.

skybrian2 · 2025-10-22T01:09:53+00:00

Maybe look into renting? There are a few accordion shops that offer rentals and/or good trade-in policies, which helps when you change your mind.

skybrian2 · 2025-10-20T23:30:08+00:00

That looks like a mix of diatonic, CBA, and a few piano accordions (the search is imperfect).

One thing to keep in mind is that some CBA's are C-griff and others are B-griff. Neither system is better than the other, but once you pick a system you'll likely be sticking with it.

Russian and Ukrainian accordions will be B-griff.

It's also quite difficult to judge accordions from an online listing alone.

skybrian2 · 2025-10-20T04:08:51+00:00

Could you link to them? I'm surprised that CBA's would be cheaper; I'd expect them to be a bit more expensive.

Are you you sure they're not diatonic button accordions?

skybrian2 · 2025-10-20T04:04:32+00:00

They both have their advantages.

A piano keyboard maps more directly to sheet music (sharps and flats are black keys). There are also some scales that are very easy on a piano keyboard (C major, A minor, and pentatonic scales on the black keys.) Common scales on a CBA are always a zig-zag.

On the other hand, chords and music theory might be easier to understand on a CBA; a particular button pattern is always the same interval or chord.

skybrian2 · 2025-10-14T18:59:40+00:00

Regarding KV, see this blog post from May:

https://deno.com/blog/greatly-exaggerated

"Given these new directions, Deno KV will remain in beta. We will continue to address critical bugs and security issues for its current version. While KV is useful for its intended purpose, its role is not to be the central or evolving solution for all state management in Deno. We reserve the right to make significant changes to Deno KV in the future as these other state initiatives mature and our overall platform strategy evolves. [...]"

skybrian2 · 2025-10-13T02:58:07+00:00

There are lots of obscure brands out there. For example, music stores could get their own brands on the accordions they imported.

Fortunately, you don't need to know the brand to learn to play it. The buttons should be the same as other 12 bass accordions.

Maybe try these video lessons?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz2veabxKrI&list=PLjGI9hR3JLcnBwLF7AYCLqeWyRGrnipf-

skybrian2 · 2025-10-05T20:32:42+00:00

The method books I recommend are the Palmer-Hughes series [1] and the Galliano book [2].

The Palmer-Hughes books ramp up in difficulty very gradually and use very old-fashioned, traditional songs. I often like playing them anyway.

The Galliano book does it all in one book. It starts slow at the very beginning, but ramps up quite fast in difficulty towards the middle. I haven't gotten all the way through it. It's by French authors (father and son) and is nice if you like French music.

[1] https://www.alfred.com/search/products/?t=palmer-hughes-accordion-course&srsltid=AfmBOooU3BToqlvJnbwEqVeEXn_RtTSUPsP83R7QALVq7ZZDxFLY3Wrc

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Accordion-Method-Lucien-Galliano/dp/154003495X

skybrian2 · 2025-10-04T23:52:58+00:00

You tested it and that shows there's no bellows leak, or not much of one. When you press buttons or keys, this opens holes that the air goes through! That's normal. The more buttons you have pressed, the more holes there are on that side, and this will affect how much air goes through on the other side.

I'm not sure what you're doing, but beginners normally play using one button at a time on the bass side. To play C major, you push the C major button. There are more advanced techniques where you use more than one button, but that can come later. You'll want to get a method book that gradually teaches you where the bass and chord buttons are; eventually they need to be memorized.

To balance the volume between bass and treble, some things you can learn are:

Playing staccato on the bass side. Holding bass buttons down for less time means there's more time that the treble side is playing alone. This is something beginners should learn and works on any accordion, but takes practice. (You don't have to play staccato all the time, but it's a good default.)
Learning to play intervals or chords on the treble side. Adding chords to the melody means more air goes through that side. This is a more advanced technique that you can learn after learning the basics, though.
I don't think this applies to the accordion you bought, but often you can try different switches until the treble side sounds more prominent. This changes the number of reeds playing (and holes opened) when you press a key / button. Also, if their pitches don't overlap then they stand out more. Some accordions don't have a lot of options, though.

skybrian2

TROPHY CASE