Button chart

D/G melodeon

A D/G melodeon has 21 buttons on the treble side: eleven on the D row, which is the outside one, and ten on the G row inside it. The home notes, D on the D row and G on the G row, are on button 3, counting from the chin end. That is what a third-button start means.

Button 1 on each row is an accidental, there to give you notes the two rows don't have: G♯ and B♭ on the D row, F and E♭ on the G row.

Each button shows its push note on the left and its pull note on the right, with the octave (middle C is C4). Buttons are numbered from the chin end; a ′ marks the inside row, as in English tab.

Every button

D row, the outside row
Button	Push	Pull
1	G♯₄	B♭₄	accidental
2	A₃	C♯₄
3	D₄	E₄	home note
4	F♯₄	G₄
5	A₄	B₄
6	D₅	C♯₅
7	F♯₅	E₅
8	A₅	G₅
9	D₆	B₅
10	F♯₆	C♯₆
11	A₆	E₆

G row, the inside row, written with a ′ in tab
Button	Push	Pull
1′	F₅	E♭₅	accidental
2′	D₄	F♯₄
3′	G₄	A₄	home note
4′	B₄	C₅
5′	D₅	E₅
6′	G₅	F♯₅
7′	B₅	A₅
8′	D₆	C₆
9′	G₆	E₆
10′	B₆	F♯₆

Range

The treble side runs from A₃ to B₆, a little over three octaves. In that range it lacks 11 of the semitones, and those gaps are why tunes in some keys don't fit.

Notes you can play two ways

These notes are on more than one button, often one on the push and one on the pull. That choice is what lets you avoid a change of bellows in the middle of a run, and it's where different fingerings come from.

Note	Where to find it
D₄	3 push, 2' push
F♯₄	4 push, 2' pull
G₄	4 pull, 3' push
A₄	5 push, 3' pull
B₄	5 pull, 4' push
D₅	6 push, 5' push
E₅	7 pull, 5' pull
F♯₅	7 push, 6' pull
G₅	8 pull, 6' push
A₅	8 push, 7' pull
B₅	9 pull, 7' push
D₆	9 push, 8' push
E₆	11 pull, 9' pull
F♯₆	10 push, 10' pull

The bass side

The eight basses come in pairs, a chord and a single bass note, and like the treble each one gives a different note on the push and the pull. The outside pair of rows gives you D and G on the push with A and D on the pull, which covers the two home keys. The inner row adds B and E minor, and a C that is the same both ways.

Row	Button	Push	Pull
Outer	Chord	D	A
	Bass	D	A
	Chord	G	D
	Bass	G	D
Inner	Chord	B	Em
	Bass	B	E
	Chord	C	C
	Bass	C	C

Other versions of this layout

Makers don't agree about button 1. This chart follows Hohner. Castagnari boxes often have the G-row accidental the other way round, with E♭ on the push and F on the pull, so check yours before you trust the chart on that one button.

Older boxes, and some made now, have low notes on button 1 instead of accidentals: F♯ push and A pull on the D row, B push and D pull on the G row.

Some boxes start on the fourth button instead. The best known is the Anahata layout, which has its own chart.

Scales on this box

Each of these has its own page, with the buttons for every note and a way through the octave. Which keys suit a D/G compares all of them.

Where this chart comes from

This is the D/G layout built into Squeezebox Studio. Before it went into the app it was checked note for note, octaves included, against these independent charts:

Other charts: G/C melodeon, B/C button accordion, D/G melodeon, Anahata layout.