Dave's Tex - Mex, Tejano, Conjunto Site for the Diatonic Button Accordion - Ahora Bilingüe

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Music Theory for Tex-Mex Accordion

Music Theory for Tex-Mex Accordion

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Music Theory.

Ok.  So we want to understand some basic music theory in order to play the Diatonic Accordion.  Guess what?  You are lucky enough to be starting with one of the easiest instruments.  This makes understanding music theory easier.
First lets define some words that we will need to understand.

Note:  Pitch or Frequency of sound.

Key:  A set of notes which are related to each other by their relationship to a central or key not.  In simpler terms, if you remember primary school, the teacher would blow into a small circular whistle so that everyone could tune themselves to the key.

Scale:  Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.  This is a scale.  A logical order of notes in one key.

Sharp:  Raise the note ½ tone. (Represented by #)

Flat:  Lower the note ½ tone.  (Represented by b)

Interval:  The distance between two notes.

Chord:  A set of notes which are sounded together and which sound good together.  Usually three or more notes, the simplest form being the triad. (3notes)

Diatonic/Chromatic: These are opposites. Chromatic means including every semitone. Diatonic means in

Tone:  The distance on a piano between any white key and another white key, as long as there is a black key between them.

Semi-tone:  The distance between a white key and a black key, or between two white keys that do not have a black key between them.

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Chords and Arpeggios.
Use the following chart to help you figure out what the notes are for each major chord.

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Seventh Chords and Extensions.
Use the following chart to help you figure out what the notes are for each Seventh chord and other extensions.

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Chords and Arpeggios.
Use the following chart to help you figure out what the notes are for each Minor chord, minor seventh and extensions.

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