Guide

Third or fourth-button start?

By SGWNI, 25 October 2026

The start is the button the home note of each row sits on, counting from the chin end. On a third-button start it's button 3; on a fourth-button start, button 4. Everything else follows from that.

Third-button start

The standard 21-key D/G and G/C layouts are third-button starts. On a D/G that means D on the outside row and G on the inside row are on button 3. Button 1 holds an accidental and button 2 a low note below the home note. The D/G chart shows the whole layout.

Fourth-button start

On a fourth-button start the home notes move to button 4. As Bob Ellis describes it on the Melodeon Forum, the box is laid out like a third-button start with low notes, then every button except the accidentals moves one place down the row. The accidentals stay on button 1, there's an extra low button where the old button 2 was, and the top button of each row drops off the end.

So you gain notes at the bottom and lose them at the top.

The Anahata layout

The best-known fourth-button start for D/G takes its name from Anahata, who describes it on the Melodeon Forum. It changes the two new low buttons. On a plain fourth-button start they give F♯ push and A pull on the D row, and B push and D pull on the G row. The Anahata layout raises the F♯ to G and lowers the D to C. As Anahata puts it, “you gain a C natural and a low G”.

The result is a complete G scale down to the G below the usual one, which is why it's also called the low G scale layout. Red Cow Music lists Hohner's current Pokerwork D/G with this layout.

The Anahata layout. D and G are on button 4, and the G row's button 2 gives B and C.

Fourth-button G/C boxes exist too, but they're unusual. No published chart for one turned up when the layouts for Squeezebox Studio were researched, and one forum regular called the idea “madness”.

Which one have you got?

Press button 3 on the outside row and push. On a third-button start D/G you'll hear D, the home note of the row. On a fourth-button start you'll hear the A below it, and the D will be on button 4. A tuner app settles it if your ear isn't sure. On a G/C, listen for G on button 3 of the outside row.

Then try button 2 on the inside row. On an Anahata box it gives B on the push and C on the pull.

Does it change the tab?

Yes, by one button. Apart from the accidentals, tab written for a third-button start is a button out on a fourth-button start, all the way up the row. If you have a fourth-button box, check which layout a tutor book was written for before you start.