- The piano accordion is a free reed instrument with a keyboard and is particularly popular on mainland Europe and in Scotland
- It obviously appeals to those who already have a knowledge of a piano keyboard
- The size of the instrument is usually indicated by the number of bass buttons
- These are arranged in rows of 6 buttons for each key: counter bass, bass, then major chord, minor, seventh, and diminished
- A 120 bass with 41 treble keys is the full size model, and the bass end offers a chromatic scale, and all the chords, arranged in 6 rows of 20
- A 72 bass has a 34 note keyboard, but retains the 6 row bass
- The most popular size for beginners is the 48 bass, usually with 6 rows of 8, allowing accompaniment in the keys of Bb, F, C, G, D, & A.
- The treble keyboard on the 48, 32, and 12 bass models usually has 26 keys, enough for most tune