The Arrangement of The Left Accordion Keyboard

Let’s look carefully at accordion from all sides.

Here is a fairly complete modern instrument, with very complex and contradictory evolution.
The left side of the full size accordion has one hundred and twenty buttons. And the most interesting thing is that during the playing performer-accordionist can not see them.
It seems incredible: to manage lots of buttons without looking – there is something mystical in this.
Someone may think it is impossible to learn all those keys!
However, it’s much simpler. For the playing on the left keyboard to cover all keys even sixty buttons would be enough – exactly half of the left keyboard. And, even this is too much.

Use all sixty buttons while playing is almost impossible: in fact, we do not use all keys in particular piece of music!

Thus, a core group of sixty-buttons on the left side of the accordion lays in twelve transverse rows.
Each row – bass button and four buttons corresponding to the different chords. Main bass buttons are not arranged as a scale but in a certain system – F, C, G, D, A, E, B.

Each row – bass button and four buttons corresponding to the
different chords. Main bass buttons are not arranged as a scale but in a
certain system – F, C, G, D, A, E, B. It would seem nonsense.
But no, in such order there is a great meaning, great organization of the left keyboard.

It would seem nonsense. But no, in such order there is a great meaning, great organization of the left keyboard.

When the accordion player starts to play a music piece in any particular key, all the buttons he needs for a full accompaniment, miraculously appear beneath his fingers.

Transitions in the relative key do not cause any trouble, because buttons of these tones are close – just above or just below.
When you play particular song on accordion, major bass buttons are located in the lowest rows of twelve. If left keyboard would be limited to a core group of buttons, the performer would have to jump through a series of ten or eleven rows up.

Chance to miss the right button is high!

That’s why the keys from top part of the keyboard are repeated at the bottom of the main group, and accordion player does not jump up, risking to miss, but simply playing his music piece with comfortable fingering.
By analogy, the lower part of the main group of buttons is repeated at the top of the keyboard. This repetition is forty buttons. Remains twenty more.
They also have a special mission! They exactly duplicate the vertical range of the bass, but are laying by four notes down.
Now, all bass buttons are grouped really very convenient and always under the fingers of the performer!