Tuesday 30 March 2021

Finale Guitar - How to play strummed triplets in slip jigs

Nye Farley talks about strumming triplets in slip jigs. Of course this one is made for guitar, but can easily be translated for bouzouki. If you like it look for more videos of Finale Guitar on youtube. Nye also has published a good book on accompanying irish tunes on guitar with a lot of ideas you also can use for bouzouki.

Here's his youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiiTbjn4LW-CkWt1t2dC_Kg


Bodhran Metronome

 Are you in need of a cool metronome? Well, ask youtube. You'll find Bodhran beats you can use as metronome. Here is a list of a few of them, maybe you'll find some more. 

Unfortunately until now only Jig and Reel available.

These are from this website: 

https://www.tunesandtools.com

Jig 110 BPM



Jig 90 BPM

 

 

Reel 100 BPM

 

 

 

 

Reel 90 BPM

 

 

Monday 22 March 2021

Richie Rosencranz - Three Fishers, Stan Rogers cover

A beautiful version of the Stan Rogers Song "Three Fishers" played by Richie Rosencranz from Portland, Oregon on Shruti Box and Bouzouki.

Here he can be found on soundcloud (but only guitar and or banjo)
https://soundcloud.com/richierosencransmusic

Capo 3rd fret

Three [Bm]fishers went [Bm]sailing out [G]into the [A]west
[Bm]Into the [Bm]west as the [G]sun went [A]down
Each [G]thought on the [G]woman that [Bm]loved him the [A]best,
and the [Bm]children stood [Bm]watching them [G]out of the [A]town
 
 
{soc}
For [D]men must [D]work and [G]women must [A]weep
For there's [Bm]little to [Bm]earn and [G]many to [A]keep,
and the [G]harbour [G]bar be [A]moanin',
and the [Bm]harbour [G]bar be [A]moa[D]nin'
{eoc}
 
Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower,
They trimmed the lamps as the sun went down, and
They looked at the squall and they looked at the shower, and
The night-wrack came rollin' in, ragged and brown.
 
For men must work and women must weep,
Though storms be sud - den and the waters be deep, and
The harbour bar be moanin', and
The Harbour bar be moanin'.
 
Three corpses lay out on the shining sand,
In the morning gleam as the tide went down, and
The women were weepin' and wringin' their hands,
For those who would never come back to the town.
 
For men must work and women must weep, and
The sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep, and
Good - bye to the bar and its moanin', and
Good - bye to the bar and it's moanin',
 
Oh men must work and women must weep, and
The sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep, and
Good - bye to the bar and its moanin', and
Good - bye to the bar and it's moanin',
 
 
Bm: 4400
G: 4500 or 0550
A: 2200 or 6700 
D: 7000

Matt & Shannon Heaton - Song of the chanter - Chanter's Song - Bouzouki Arrangement

 On March, 20th Matt & Shannon started their virtual session with this tune. Matt played a wonderful arrangement on his bouzouki. Here's my attempt to write down the arrangement for the first time round. The Song starts at around 5.10.


 

Here's the tab:



 

Tuesday 16 March 2021

Lillies In The Field - Reel in G with Capo 7th fret - John McCormick & Mary Vanorny with Brian Miller


A few days ago I posted the tabs to the first two reels of this set. Today I tabbed the third reel called Lillies In The Field.

 

Here's the link to the track on bandcamp:

 

The Black Haired Lass/Bag of Spuds/Lillies in the Field

 

 

Underneath you'll find my tab. There might be some mistakes in there, but If you listen to the tracks you'll hopefully get along with them.


Link to the tune at thesession.org:
https://thesession.org/tunes/1750















Monday 15 March 2021

Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny together on stage

 These two giants of irish trad music together on stage. One hour of the finest of bouzouki playing.


Sunday 14 March 2021

Chordfinder app for iOS - Chord Library

This is a really cheap little which provides lots of chords for newbies, so maybe worth to have a look at. It's only 0,99€ so it's cheaper than the chordbook which is available, and it's more handy, because you can have access everywhere on your mobile phone.

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/chordfinder-for-bouzouki/id507236609



Saturday 13 March 2021

The Black Haired Lass - The Bag Of Spuds - McCormick & Vanorny with Brian Miller

I recently discovered the album In the Tap Room by McCormick & Vanorny with Brian Miller. 

Brian plays some fine bouzouki backings there. Now I tried to transcribe the first two reels of the Set "The Black Haired Lass / Bag of Spuds".

 

Here's the link to the track on bandcamp:

 

The Black Haired Lass/Bag of Spuds

 

 

Underneath you'll find my tabs. There might be some mistakes in there, but If you listen to the tracks you'll hopefully get along with them.












Wednesday 10 March 2021

Otter's Holt - Accompanyment by Matt Heaton

 On August, 8th 2020 Matt and Shannon Heaton played a Set they started with the Reel "Otter's Holt", this is one of my all time favourite tunes. So I tried to write down the accompaniment of the first round through the tune. 

 

Here you can find the video of the session with deep links to the sets:

http://www.vgsdb.com/sessions/2020/8/8

It is Set No. 8





Sunday 7 March 2021

Darren Lynch - Go To Sea No More

Darren plays the sea song Go To Sea No More on his Greek Bouzouki. He writes as comment:

Origins of this song have been traced back to the English Merchant Navy. It's thought to have been brought back from San Francisco and changed in England. Reasons being that Liverpool had no whaling industry and there was a known crimper in San Francisoco called Shanghai Brown. Shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence.

He also made some tutorials for Irish Bouzouki. You'll find them here:

https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search?q=darren+lynch  

 


Darren Lynch - Sam Hall

Darren Lynch presents the classic Sam Hall on his 6-string Greek Bouzouki. Also check his bouzouki tutorials.

https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search?q=darren+lynch

 


These are the chords I play it:

Sam Hall

NoCapo

[D]  [G]  [D]
Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep, chimney [A]sweep
Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep

Oh, me [G]name it is Sam Hall,
and I've [D]robbed both great and [A]small
And me [Bm]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die, when I [A]die
And me [Bm]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die

I have [D]twenty [F#m]pounds in [Bm]store,
[D]that's not [G]all, that's not [A]all
I have [D]twenty [F#m]pounds in [Bm]store,
that's not [G]all

I have [Em]twenty pounds in [G]store,
and I'd [D]rob for [F#m]twenty [A]more
For the [D]rich must [F#m]help the [Bm]poor,
[D]so must [G]I, so must [A]I
For the [D]rich must [F#m]help the [Bm]poor,
so must [G]I

Oh, they [D]took me to Coot[G]hill,
in a [D]cart, in a [A]cart
Oh, they [D]took me to Coot[G]hill,
in a [D]cart

Oh, they [G]took me to Coothill,
where I [D]stopped to make my [A]will
For the [D]best of friends must [G]part,
so must [D]I, so must [A]I
For the [D]best of friends must [G]part,
so must [D]I

Up the [D]ladder I did [G]grope,
that's no [D]joke, that's no [A]joke
Up the [D]ladder I did [G]grope,
that's no [D]joke

Up the [G]ladder I did grope,
and the [D]hangman he pulled his [A]rope
But [D]ne'ar a word I [G]spoke,
tumbling [D]down, tumbling [A]down
But [D]ne'ar a word I [G]spoke,
tumbling [D]down

Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep, chimney [A]sweep
Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep

Oh, me [G]name it is Sam Hall,
and I've [D]robbed both great and [A]small
And me [D]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die, when I [A]die
And me [D]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die

Saturday 6 March 2021

Marty Smith

Marty Smith, a fine bouzouki player and Singer. Unfortunately I did not find lots of information about him. It seems he owns a lot of bouzoukis ;-)

McShane

The Close Shave

 

The Shepherd Lad 

The Mickey Dam

 

The Spanish Lady

  

Farewell To The Gold

 

The Foxy Devil

  

Clasped To The Pig

 

Some Reels

 

Some Jigs

Lucy Farr's Barndance

Daoiri Farrell and Donal Lunny - The Creggan White Hare

 Daoiri and Donal together. What a great version of this classic.


Andy Irvine - Live stream from Cyprus Avenue

 On Jan, 24th Andy played this live gig at Cyprus Avenue Cork.