Diatonic Button Accordion - Bass Systems

Bass Systems

Traditionally, one-row instruments have two or four buttons on the bass side, two-row instruments have eight, and three-row instruments twelve. As mentioned above, bass buttons are conventionally arranged in bass-note/chord pairs.

Some modern players, particularly in France, are driving a trend towards instruments with more complex bass systems, with as many as 16 or even 18 buttons. Sometimes these more elaborate systems will diverge from the single-action principle, and may feature bass notes only instead of bass-chord pairs of buttons.

The B/C/C# system (also known as the British Chromatic System) used in Scotland provides a notable example of the use of a double-action bass side with a single-action melody side: these instruments frequently feature a full Stradella bass system as used on piano accordions and chromatic button accordions.

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