New to Accordion

[Poppa_Sus]

Years ago my daughter loved a diatonic accordion she had, so did I. I found a small accordion at a flea market that turned out to be too large for her. I recently found it on a shelf in the closet, 20-odd years later and thought maybe I should learn. I played the electric organ when I was a child, so the piano keys are familiar. Don't know much about the instrument beyond that it seems to work.

 

[Tom]

Welcome Poppa! I also have a C. (Charlie ) Fidardo accordion. Yours is the only other one I’ve seen, thanks! Mine’s a full size piano accordion as yours appears to be. Although yours seems to have only 5 bass rows. I’d like to see a full picture if you get the urge to retake. Mine seems to be a decently built “workingman’s” accordion, and is in the “to be restored” pile. Named after the town in Italy where many accordions are still being made - Castelfidardo. Yours seems to be a little older than mine.

Yeah, please try to learn to play it! You can get plenty of tips here.

 

[Ventura]

Charlie's wife, Doris, who was the Penny Lane of that Golden Era of
accordion, fell for Charlie when he played the Clarinette Polka at her
Sisters wedding staring at her the whole time without hitting one
correct note

 

[Tom]

….and as we have noted in the not so distant past, they fell hopelessly and Charlie customized one of his red Scandallis, (the one with the gold plated handmade reeds tuned to 440.5) for his beloved Doris and they played beautiful music for centuries.

 

[Dingo40]

Don't know much about the instrument beyond that it seems to work.

Hi Poppa, and welcome!
Don't be put out by Tom and Ventura's antics, they have this "in joke" that has a tendency to break out from time to time but, otherwise, are quite knowledgeable and informative!
What is it you'd like to know about your accordion?
From your photo we can already tell it's quite old in accordion terms, possibly the 1930s ?
It's made in Italy (Castelfidardo) by an unspecified maker, but should be quite decent.
It's an 80 Stradella bass chromatic piano accordion, so suitable for playing lots of folk and popular music.
What else do you want to know? (For example , how the bass buttons function)
Send a few more pictures so we can see it better!

 

[Poppa_Sus]

Thanks all, even for the jokes (groan). I'll take it out this week, and get some better photos. I am just wanting to play basic times to start with, then we'll see where that takes me.

Cheers

 

[Dingo40]

Good luck with it !
On the left hand side you have 80 bass buttons arranged in 16 rows of 5 buttons each.
Each row (beginning nearest to the bellows)
contains a counterbass button (a note a " third" higher than that of the relevant fundamental bass row of the same key), a fundamental bass button, a major chord button for that key, a minor chord, and a 7th chord button.
Starting with the distinctly brownish button, which is your "C" fundamental bass, going up (skywards), the rows are arranged according to the "circle of fifths", so the key of C, G, D, A, E etc.
Going down, they proceed by "fourths", so key of F, key of B flat, etc .
Google "Stradella bases for accordion" and "circle of fifths", for more details.
A good printed introductory accordion course would help.
Here's an introduction to the bases:

Stradella bass system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Your's has only the first 5 buttons per row, but that's OK! ( There's a workaround for the missing 6th button)
And here:

Circle of fifths explained: What it is and how to use it - Blog | Splice

What is the circle of fiths? In this post, we'll explain what it is, why it's important, and two interesting ways you can use the chart in your own music.

splice.com

 

[Poppa_Sus]

Good luck with it !
On the left hand side you have 80 bass buttons arranged in 16 rows of 5 buttons each.
Each row (beginning nearest to the bellows)
contains a counterbass button (a note a " third" higher than that of the relevant fundamental bass row of the same key), a fundamental bass button, a major chord button for that key, a minor chord, and a 7th chord button.
Starting with the distinctly brownish button, which is your "C" fundamental bass, going up (skywards), the rows are arranged according to the "circle of fifths", so the key of C, G, D, A, E etc.
Going down, they proceed by "fourths", so key of F, key of B flat, etc .
Google "Stradella bases for accordion" and "circle of fifths", for more details.
A good printed introductory accordion course would help.
Here's an introduction to the bases:

Stradella bass system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Your's has only the first 5 buttons per row, but that's OK! ( There's a workaround for the missing 6th button)
And here:

Circle of fifths explained: What it is and how to use it - Blog | Splice

What is the circle of fiths? In this post, we'll explain what it is, why it's important, and two interesting ways you can use the chart in your own music.

splice.com

Thank you. I never did understand how the buttons were arranged.

 

[Dingo40]

There's a lot about it on Google!
Just put "Stradella" bass in your search engine.

 

[Rosie C]

Thank you. I never did understand how the buttons were arranged.

My first ever accordion performance was a bunch of rock'n'roll tunes, every one of them a 1-4-5 chord progression. So each song sat on the stradella buttons in a neat little 3x2 area. For that sort of tune it really is wonderful.