Accordion Bass Scales – Melodic Minor

The melodic minor is the best scale! – It’s different on the way up to the way down – on the way up it ends like a major scale and going down it uses the notes of the natural minor.

I also have posts for Harmonic Minor and Major scales, and there is quite a good article on the differences between minor scales on Wikipedia

Transposing Basses

This tutorial teaches Am or “A minor” but as you probably know by now the Stradella Basses are a transposing system so to play a different melodic minor scale just start on the right note on the bass row and make the same movements.

First of all, the Video

Left Hand Fingering for Melodic Minor Scales on Accordion

As usual there is more than one way to play and finger a melodic minor on Stradella Basses. I use a method that starts and ends on the same finger so that you can play 2 or more octaves without having to fudge the fingering in the middle.

Here is the music with the fingering on – as usual 5=little finger, 4=ring, 3=middle and 2=index

Notes with a line over them are to be played on the counterbass row.

Stradella Bass Melodic Minor Scale Diagrams

Start with your 3rd finger on A, then play B on the Counterbass row with your 4th, and C with your 5th back on the Bass row.

Now play D and E with 3 and 5

Next it’s F# and G# with 3 and 2 – all on the counterbass row, and back to A with the 3rd on the Bass row.

Then you descend all on the bass row: G with 4 and F with 5

Play E and D with 4 and 3

And to finish play C, B, A – it’s the same as F, E, D but one button nearer the ceiling – use 5, 4, 3 again and you are back where you started!

That’s it – so Good Luck and thanks for looking – Practice, practice, practice!