Atzarin Accordion - What Bass System?

Although the main area of development of Atzarin is the bandonion, which has several advantages over the accordion, the arrangement of notes was originally intended for the right hand keyboard of medium sized "diatonic" or bisonoric accordions, and was designed to be played using only 4 fingers to make the transition from conventional diatonic instruments to Atzarin easier. The incorporation of the thumb into playing technique, offers several advantages in terms of comfort and musical expression.

Whilst the use of the thumb remains optional on the right hand, on an Atzarin "free bass" system it is essential for comfortably playing a stride accompaniment, typical of Stradella and diatonic accordion bass, or for playing the very broadly voiced chords typical of bandonion music. When playing these kinds of accompaniments on straight rows positioned at the front of the instrument, with either the hand or the wrist strapped to the side, as in the case of the acordion, as the thumb is extended away from the fingers to press a far button on a parallel row, the other fingers curl in extreme, hitting the buttons at a very bad angle and the position of the hand becomes unnatural and uncomfortable.

On an accordion that uses an Atzarin bass layout, free bass accompaniments and accompaniments using closely voiced chords are very easy and comfortable to play. However, as the inventor, I feel that adapting an accordion bass mechanism to an Atzarin layout is not the best way to get the most from the accordion. In my opinion, the best configuration is an accordion that has an Atzarin layout in the right hand in combination with a 48, 60 or 72 bass arrangement in the left hand.

The best format to get both stride accompaniment, free bass accompaniment and bandonion sytle broadly voiced chords from an Atzarin bass layout is the Atzarin bandonion, and to a much lesser extent an Atzarin concertina.