Diatonic Accordion Vs Chromatic Accordion | Which do you need? 

The diatonic button accordion is recommended for people that play specific styles that are mostly played on diatonic button accordion, such as Irish Trad, Morris, Mexican Norteño, Zydeco, Cumbia etc.. If you want to play a little bit of everything else including Jazz, French Musette, Klezmer, Russian music etc. then a piano accordion or chromatic button accordion is recommended…

Piano translates most easily to piano accordion, obviously. My progression was piano, piano accordion, chromatic accordion, chromatic bandoneon. None are quite the same but each has something in common with its neighbour in this sequence. Diatonic accordion is an entirely different technique and diatonic bandoneon is the most distant. Diatonic has a great advantage of weight over of the any others in relation to its total note range, because the pull and push reeds are assigned separate notes on each button, which is more efficient than any chromatic system. As the name implies, diatonic accordions are probably far easier to play when it’s music basically in one diatonic key or mode than music that modulates or requires playing ‘across the rows’ of a diatonic accordion.

I had no idea and went with the keyboard layout as former pianist and I think I made the right choice lol. Diatonic is as logical as a guitar for me...

@@jenHry-ng3pw - The right choice was CBA, but piano accordion gives pianists a good head start lol…

Remember the diatonic is just three monster harmonicas duct taped together. That means three times the soul,! 😁

My chromatic accordion weighs 6,5kg and is no bigger than a 3 row diatonic

It's odd that you never came across diatonic accordions in Europe since they were created there. You find them in most European folk musics. The chromatic accordion developed later.

Certainly the closest. The problem with piano is it’s the least efficient accordion system of all weight to note range, as piano keys are far bigger than buttons and are unnecessary on an instrument in which the expression is controlled chiefly by the bellows not the fingers.

Aside from Richard Galliano, most of my favorite players played dry-tuned, piano accordions. The jazz and Brazilian players mostly used piano and play amazing.

Go for a diatonic 3 row hohner if you want an authentic tex mex/conjunto sound.

Diatonic for Norteno/Tejano music

get a diatonic GCF. It's what all the 😎players choose (Flaco etc) And dive right into single note scales then 2 button major and minor 3rds just like you did on your guitar. It loves 3rds...oh man, Heaven!

on new second thought, Flaco is using an EAD with Texas Tornadoes at Austin City

No cause you still need the other arm to pull the bellow

I disagree. I have switched from diatonic to chromatic and it's a no bainer. Btw, the sound is the same for both but playability is definitely won by the chromatic

I play B-griff (Russian system) chromatic (3.5 octaves) and also play diatonic melodeons ("melodeon" being a word that means "diatonic accordion"). Chromatic is better for playing easily in all keys, logical layout etc. BUT, because the chromatic and piano accordions are monosonoric (same note push and pull) playing tends to be legato. The result is playing that can be boring, like a violinist who doesn't ever change bow direction until he/she must. Bellows dynamics add a lot, and is often ignored (by piano and chromatic players) in favor of complex chords and dazzling chromatic runs. Because melodeons are diatonic and bisonoric, a completely different thing happens. You get a much lighter and more fun to play instrument that covers the same range with half the weight. Because you must change bellows direction to access all the notes needed, you are forced to pay attention to bellows dynamics. Many styles just need a tune played in one key at any given moment. A diatonic melody that spans only an octave only needs four adjacent buttons to play on diatonic instrument. In practice, one ends up with a much lighter and more fun to play instrument, that is also very limited with regards to key changes and the use of chromatic runs. Chromatic players tend to play lots of notes fast, because they can, but the notes blur together and performances aren't always musical. Diatonic players, as a rule, sound more interesting to me because of all the clean separations of some note pairs that is caused by a forced change of bellows direction. For a good example of this, search on youtube for "3 Great English Melodeon Tunes". The instrument is a DG melodeon that also has a short third row to supply missing chromatic notes (but these are rarely needed). The second tune of the three ("time Will End) was originally written on a piano accordion. If you go and find THAT video (search youtube for "Time will end j. mclane") hearing the original after you have heard the melodeon version, you will have a really good example of the way that playing a diatonic forces you to pay attention to and use the bellows the way a fiddler uses a bow, to put edges on notes. Since I am on this rant, I also gotta say, chromatics beat the snot out of piano accordions for everybody except folks that have already learnt the piano. Chromatics have shorter distances between octaves, and you don't need to learn how to play each scale and mode in all twelve keys. On the chromatic, one pattern for each scale and mode is all you need (if you have all five rows). If (like me) you have a four row chromatic, you need two patterns (still better than twelve) and a three row chromatic forces you to three patterns to learn. I really do think that chromatics cover everything, but diatonics really are much lighter and more fun!

I disagree, actually I see the opposite. Diatonic players do not control (the instrument does) and do not pay attention whether they play legato or staccato. Chromatic accordion players pay a far bigger attention to it, one reason is they usually have more music theory knowledge

That's for damn sure! Well said, although I have never understood the need for six chromatic rows that the balkan peeps use.

From the Polish German, you mean