Wednesday 24 July 2013

Bouzouki Chord Chart and Fretboard Poster GDAD Tuning on ebay

This is what I found on ebay today. A poster containing the fretboard of a bouzouki GDAD tuning and some chords for $6.95 or 5,26€. Maybe this could be helpful to someone? In my opinion the price is much too high. Of course it is a good idea to put the info on a poster, so you can have a look at it if in doubt, especially for the fretboard. I did this for myself years ago and it still hangs on my wall. But the few chords are of no great help. In my opinion no chordchart is of any help for the bouzouki, because you seldom play full chords on the bouzouki. You need to have several different shapes for each chord and try everytime which one fits best into the structure of the other chords you play. But decide for yourself.


4 comments:

Tom Parker said...

I have a spanner to toss into the mix. For reasons known only to the Gods of stringed things I have been tuning my Zouk to ADAD.
My fiddle buddy cannot get used to this but I find the lower G (of GDAD) superfluous. I rarely play chords, being more comfortable with melodic runs (have a sketchy background in mandolin). I took up the Zouk at the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020). Would it be useful to create a chart based on other tunings of the Irish Bouzouki? I have a strong graphic art background, creating a coherent chart would be easy for me. I could also create charts for other tunings (GDAE) and cross tunings. The resultant PDF file would be small and therefore easily transferable.
No charge, just like some feedback.

Tom in rural Missouri, USA

Irish Bouzouki said...

Hi Tom, I think, that's a good idea and could be helpful to a lot of player. So if you would like to do so please do it and I'd be very pleased to add it to the blog if you give the permission.

Btw, I had a workshop in Nov with Eoin O'Neill. He only plays ADAD and so I tried this tuning for the first time. Since then I play both tunings. I really like the simpleness of ADAD. On the other hand there are some disadvantages, because you have to use the capo even more often than in GDAD. So I often use ADAD for backing tunes and GDAD for accompanying songs.

Tom Parker said...

First I must make a confession. I took my wife's last name for my own. My name is actually Tom Meisenheimer which surname can be awkward for some and irritating for me.

What I'm sending you should be easy to open and use. I didn't name some of the chord combinations because, frankly, I don't know how to figure out which combination of notes actually constitute a chord. I am still exploring the bouzouki. I find it to be incredibly versatile and wish I had "discovered" it earlier. I play the 5 string banjo. Over the years I developed my own "style" of playing the banjo and I have quite a few different kinds from antiques to replica styles including what is considered the original, the African gourd lute from the Casamance Valley of Senegal (Sene-Gambia), called the Akonting. Brought to the US by slaves.

I hope the attached can be of use. I know that it is much clearer than the ebay chart. I decided not to illustrate the courses as double lines. just clearer that way. If I come up with a better presentation I'll send it along. At this time I am trying to improve my tremolo.

/Users/Tom 1/Desktop/Bouzouki Chord Charts for ADAD Tuning.pdf

We hope to get our vaccination soon but will stay safe in our rural snug until then. Hope you remain well.

I'm not sure how to attach the PDF. Perhaps I should email it to you.

Irish Bouzouki said...

Hi Tom, thank you so much for your effort. I will make an extra post for your chart. Unfortunately I don't know how to add pdf-files to the blog, so I will try to post it somewhere else and add a link to it.