Squeezebox StudioGuides for melodeon players
Plain answers to questions that come up again and again, from reading tab to why the left hand has to follow the bellows.
- How to read melodeon tab
What the numbers, marks and lines in melodeon tab mean: buttons counted from the chin end, the inside row, and push and pull.
- Types of button accordion, and what a melodeon is
What a melodeon is, and how the types of button accordion differ: one-row, D/G and G/C, the Irish B/C, three-row GCF boxes, chromatic button accordions and more.
- D/G or G/C melodeon: what's the difference?
How a D/G and a G/C melodeon differ: pitch, the keys each plays easily, the bass side, and which one suits the music you want to play.
- Third or fourth-button start?
What a third or fourth-button start means on a melodeon, how the Anahata layout differs, and how to tell which one your box has.
- Along the rows or across the rows
The two ways of fingering a two-row melodeon, with the same scale played both ways, and what each does to the sound of a tune.
- What the accidental buttons are for
Button 1 on each row of a melodeon: which notes it gives you on a D/G and a G/C, why makers place them differently, and how to check yours.
- Accordion bass buttons: the melodeon left hand, and Stradella
How the bass buttons on an accordion work: the eight basses of a D/G or G/C melodeon, push and pull, why the left hand follows the bellows, and how Stradella differs.
- How a B/C button accordion works
How the Irish button accordion works: why the two rows of a B/C box are a semitone apart, which notes that gives you, and how it compares with a C#/D and a melodeon.
- ABC notation explained, with examples
How to read and write ABC notation: the header, notes and octaves, lengths, repeats, keys and modes, chords and rolls, with two example tunes, free tools and where to find tunes.
- ABC notation for melodeon players
What ABC notation is, how to read a tune written in it, where to find tunes, and how to turn them into tab for your box.
- From MuseScore to melodeon tab
How to export a tune from MuseScore as MusicXML, turn it into tab for your melodeon, and take the fingering back into MuseScore.