page_title: Free-bass system
hierarchical_section_title: Free-bass system
caption_attribution_description: Melodiebasssysteme C-Griff, B-Griff, Bajan
context_page_description: A free-bass system is a system of left-hand bass buttons on an accordion, arranged to give the performer greater access to playing melodies on the left-hand manual of the instrument and to forming one's own chords, by providing a buttonboard of single-note buttons with a range of three octaves or more, in contrast to the standard Stradella bass system which only allows bass notes and preset major, minor, dominant seventh, and diminished chords. The term "free-bass system" refers to various left-hand manual systems that provide this functionality: The Stradella system does not have buttons for different octaves of the bass notes, which limits the types of melodies and basslines that can be performed with the left hand.
  Two related layouts exist as mirror versions of the chromatic button accordion, these were marketed in the US by the Giulietti company as "bassetti".
  The "quint" free-bass system invented by Willard Palmer – later patented by Titano, has extra bass rows to extend the existing bass arrangement of the Stradella system.
  The quint version and chromatic-button versions were available in "converter" models with a control to switch from standard Stradella to free-bass.
context_section_description: A free-bass system is a system of left-hand bass buttons on an accordion,  arranged to give the performer greater access to playing melodies on the left-hand manual of the instrument and to forming one's own chords, by providing a buttonboard of single-note buttons with a range of three octaves or more, in contrast to the standard Stradella bass system which only allows bass notes (range of a major seventh, from C to B) and preset major, minor, dominant seventh, and diminished chords (for the preset chord buttons, pressing a single chord button sounds a three-note chord). The term "free-bass system" refers to various left-hand manual systems that provide this functionality: The Stradella system does not have buttons for different octaves of the bass notes, which limits the types of melodies and basslines that can be performed with the left hand.
  Two related layouts exist as mirror versions of the chromatic button accordion, these were marketed in the US by the Giulietti company as "bassetti".
  The "quint" free-bass system invented by Willard Palmer – later patented by Titano, has extra bass rows to extend the existing bass arrangement of the Stradella system.
  The quint version and chromatic-button versions were available in "converter" (or "transformer") models with a control to switch from standard Stradella to free-bass.
  A piano-like layout exists that mirrors the right-hand keyboard of a piano accordion, with round buttons laid out like piano keys. This system is popular in Asian piano accordions, especially in Azeri garmon.
  Other less popular arrangements also exist, including the Moschino and the Kuehl.
caption: Three chromatic free-bass systems compared
exif: {}