Interestingly, most people visit the chord page here on the blog. Perhaps this great video by Matt Heaton gets a little lost in the shuffle. In this video, he shows chord shapes in the key of G major. Many chords are close together, making them easy to play. I posted the information on the video about four years ago. Perhaps you'd like to watch it again.
Matt has published several videos on chords and tunes on youtube. Just look for "Backer Corner Bouzouki" and you'll find lots of good instructional videos he made.
In their January Session Matt and Shannon Heaton played Joe Bane's Barndance, a tune I really love. As we are invited to play a few tunes at a wedding of a good friend we decided to play this tune. So as a preparation for the event I tried to tab Matt's version. I tabbed the first and second round through which are slightly different. First line accompaniment (Capo 5), second line melody (no capo).
Tune starts at around 6:00
If you'd like the whole tab as pdf please write an email and I'll gladly send it to you. You can contact me by clicking on "about me" on the right side.
I really like Daoiri's version of this old song. He uses some nice chords here. I tried to tab the chords, which can only be very loose, because he plays very free. Capo on 2nd fret. Hope this might be helpful. Maybe I'll try to tab the intro one day, but it's a lot of work.
By the way, if someone of you has some tabs, helpers or anything to with with the irish bouzouki to offer which I can post on my blog, this would be very appreciated.
John O’Dreams
{t:John O'Dreams - Daoiri Farrell}
{c:Bill Caddick}
[G]When midnight [G/B]comes and people[C] homeward [G]tread,
[G]Seek out your [G/B]blankets and your [C]feathered[G] bed,
[G]Home [G/B]comes the [D]rover, his journey's[C]over
[G]Yield up the [G/B]night time to old [C]John O[D]’Dreams
[G]Yield up the [G/B]night time to old[C] John O'[G]Dreams
[G]Across the [G/B]hill the sun has [C]gone a[G]stray
[G]Tomorrows [G/B]cares are many [C]dreams a[G]way
[G]The [G/B]stars are [D]flying, your candle's [C]dying
[G]Yield up the [G/B]night time to old [C]John O’[D]Dreams
[G]Yield up the [G/B]night time to old [C]John O'[G]Dreams
[G]Both man and [G/B]master in the [C]night are [G]one
[G]All things are [G/B]equal when the [C]day is [G]done
The [G]prince [G/B]and the [D]ploughman, the slave and the [C]free man
[G]All find their [G/B]comfort in old [C]John O’[D]Dreams
[G]All find their [G/B]comfort in old [C]John O'[G]Dreams
[G]When sleep it [G/B]comes the dreams come [C]running [G]clear
[G]The hawks of [G/B]morning cannot [C]reach you [G]here
[G]Sleep [G/B]is a [D]river, flow on for [C]ever
[G]And for your [G/B]boatman choose old [C]John O’[D]Dreams
[G]Yes for your [G/B]boatman choose old [C]John O'[G]Dreams
The words are by Bill Caddick, who took the tune from Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 6, Pathetique) who in turn borrowed it from a southern Italian lullaby entitled Piva Piva.
This is a slow Polka in G. Shannon and Matt are playing it nice and slow. The tune starts at 3:05.
This is the tab I made for the first time round the tune. Looks more difficult that it is. First time I tried to write a tab for a Polka. 2/4 time. I hope I did it right.
Btw: If you like my blog please click on "Follow" on the right, so you will get notified whenever there is a new post.
I also made a tab of the 2nd time round the tune because Matt uses several chords up the neck here:
Here is a tab for the melody at capo 2. I made it from the second file on thesession.org with the program tabledit, but changed a few little things. https://thesession.org/tunes/1367
From the Heaton's weekly virtual session from July, 25th here is a jig called The Haunted House. Matt uses several voicings for G, C and D. Tune starts at 7:42.
A slow march played by Matt & Shannon Heaton called Sean South of Garryowen. Matt plays in G without capo. He uses several voicings for G, C and D. Tune starts at 3:18.
I tried to write down the first round through the tune. Hope, I got it right. Here's my tab:
