How to Play Sharps and Flats on Accordions

Sharps and flats are part of general music theory, but on the accordion, they play a major role. Since the accordion is a special instrument with its own unique sound, sharp and flat notes can add just the right flavor to a song. Of course, whether a note is sharp or flat is only in comparison to the note before it, so here is how to do sharps and flats while playing the accordion.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Play a sharp on the keyboard. Your right hand rests on a piano-type keyboard. This keyboard has the same structure as a piano. To play a sharp of the note you have selected, go up one black or white key.

2. Add a flat on the keyboard. To play a flatted note on the keyboard, select that note, then go down one black or white key.

3. Try a "sharp-mod-flat" flourish on the keyboard. Another way to play sharp and flat is to pick three adjacent keys (black and white mixed) and play them all in a rotating series, from the lowest to highest and back down again. Try this, and you'll hear a note being both sharped and flatted by turns.

4. Do a sharp on the bass buttons. On your left, you have five rows of bass buttons. The second row from the front represents your single key note. Select a note in the middle of that row. To play the sharp of that note, count seven buttons to the right and play the selected button to get the sharped note.

5. Find the flatted note on the bass. To get a flatted note, you do just the opposite: pick a note in the middle of the bass row, then count seven to the left and play that button to hear the flatted note.