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Comment by skybrian | Hacker News Reader

I don't play nearly as many instruments, but I find every instrument has something to teach. Examples:

* A melodica is quite fun for a keyboard player because you learn about breath control and its relationship to phrasing.

* The bass side buttons of many accordions are arranged based on the circle of fifths, so you'll be learning that well if you haven't yet.

* Fingering isn't nearly as obvious or standardized on a chromatic button accordion as on a piano keyboard because so many choices are available. There are multiple useful ways of playing something as simple as a scale, and I have fun exploring them.

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How would you compare the relationship between breathing and phrasing, with the relationship between bowing (eg on a violin) and phrasing? I have musical experience with the latter but not the former.

The buttons on an accordion are usually chords, right? Is it the root then which is arranged in a circle of fifths? Or I guess if it's the same chord shape it's all of the notes in the cord too?

For accordions, my experience is there are 5-7 rows (each manufacturer varies) per column. The first row is actually the minor 6th (a 3rd below) the second row, which is the note the column is based on.

The following rows in the column are usually a minor, major, minute 7th, major 7th, then sometimes augmented or diminished or MM7.

The root note on the 2nd row is arranged in a circle of 5ths, usually the middle corresponds to middle C (denoted by an indentation)

This is my experience with the LHS of piano keyboards.

1st row is major 3rd above, not below, the root (2nd row). This setup makes it easy to play root-3rd-5th bass lines of major chords.

Ah, right, i was thinking the column back 1st row (what i get for having insomnia and typing without thinking). I sit corrected

For a breath instrument I will usually take a breath between phrases. For an accordion I often switch direction there. But sometimes I need to adjust this to be practical.

It seems similar to speaking? Sometimes people will talk about saying something "breathlessly."

The bass and chord buttons on a Stradella bass (the most common kind) both go in a circle of fifths, so the root and major chord are next to each other, for example. There is a second bass row with the major third, and for French accordions sometimes a third bass row.

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