I have already introduced Luke Ward's lessons here. Today, Luke has published a new lesson. This time, it's about playing melodies. He teaches us the reel Princess Royal. A beautiful melody. He shows us how to play with the capo on the 7th fret. This has the advantage that we can reach the high notes better without having to change position. If you play an instrument in GDAE tuning, you can play the top three strings just like on a mandolin or banjo.
This is a lesson that many musicians have surely been waiting for. A classic Irish folk song. I think the most famous version is by Paul Brady. But there are many other fantastic recordings of the song.
In the first part, Robin introduces the song and shows the chords and a basic pattern for accompaniment.
In the second part, which you can buy on his website, he shows you the intro, interlude and a few more nice tricks.
If you like it, you might want to consider registering for a monthly subscription. This will give you access to all his workshops and support Robin in his work. I hope he will continue to offer more workshops for some time to come.
Just got the information that there is a new course out there. It's 12 hours of lessons which cost 150 pounds, which sounds great to me.
There's a sample video available here which gives a little inside what to expect. He explains very well and the pace is not too fast and not too slow. Unfortunately sound and video is a little bit out of sync which might be a problem when he plays a bit faster, so it is not easy to really see what he is playing.
!If you buy this workshop please let me know what you think about it!
Tutor Summary Declan Plummer plays bouzouki, tin whistle, Irish flute, bodhrán, uilleann pipes, and DADGAD guitar. He has a BMus, MA, and a PhD in music and is an expert in online tuition. All handouts, audio files and video files, have been carefully designed and organised by him to give students the best possible experience in home learning! He can be contacted anytime through email:info@topscoremusicacademy.com
🎵 Learn the Irish Bouzouki with Our Comprehensive Online Course – From Beginner to Advanced! 🎵
Hi everyone, Welcome to the Online Irish Bouzouki Course! My name is Declan Plummer and I’m the creator and teacher of this course, which I’ve designed to explore the unique and soulful sound of the Irish Bouzouki. Whether you're just starting out or aiming to elevate your skills, this course is the perfect guide for players of all levels! Our detailed, step-by-step lessons will take you from complete beginner to advanced level, helping you develop the skills you need to play Irish traditional music with confidence and authenticity.
What’s Included?
🎥Over 12 Hours of High-Quality Video Lessons Currently there are over 12 Hours of High-Quality 4K Video spread across 17 lessons. Our video lessons break down every essential technique, ensuring you have a solid foundation. Each lesson is designed to be clear and easy to follow, providing you with practical demonstrations and insightful tips. You’ll learn everything from the absolute basics to advanced techniques in a structured format that’s easy to follow and fun to practice.
🆕Constantly Updated with New Material The course doesn’t stop after the initial 12 hours! We regularly add fresh material to keep your learning journey going. Whether it's new tunes, tips, or techniques, you'll always have something new to dive into.
🎶Dozens of Audio Examples There are dozens of Audio Examples, including backing tracks with me playing tunes on the tin whistle and bodhran at different speeds, which you can download to practice offline and accompany on bouzouki. Understanding rhythm and melody is crucial in Irish music, so we've included numerous audio examples to guide your ear. These examples reinforce the techniques you learn, helping you connect theory with practice, and giving you a feel for how the Bouzouki should sound in real Irish traditional music.
📄Downloadable Handouts and Sheet Music Similarly there are also dozens of downloadable handouts and sheet music to help you with your practice and understanding. Each lesson is accompanied by handouts and sheet music that you can download and keep. These include chord charts, tunings, progressions, traditional tunes, understanding music theory and Irish dance types, and other valuable resources, giving you something to practice offline and use as a reference. 💬Answers to Your Questions in Future Videos Got questions? We’ve got answers! Submit your queries, and we’ll address them in upcoming video lessons, making sure you’re never stuck or left wondering how to master a concept.
Topics Covered
🎸How to String and Tune an Irish Bouzouki To start with the basics—our pre-lesson videos cover everything you need to know about setting up your Bouzouki for the perfect sound. You’ll learn how to tune, and how to string your instrument to ensure it's always pitch-perfect, and you’ll learn the technical names of the different parts of the bouzouki.
🎵Playing Chords, Popular Progressions & Understanding Dance Types InPart Iof the course our first six lessons demonstrate how to play chords. Chords are the foundation of Irish music accompaniment. We’ll teach you the essential chords and show you how to play the most popular chord progressions for different dance types, particularly for the fast-paced jigs and reels that are so recognisable in Irish traditional music. By the end, you’ll be able to accompany traditional Irish tunes like a seasoned player.
🎶Playing Polyphonically with Flat-Picking Countermelodies InPart 2of the course, we cover playing polyphonically with flat-picking countermelodies. This part of the course is for more intermediate and advanced players. We delve into flat-picking techniques that will allow you to play countermelodies alongside traditional tunes. This technique adds depth to your playing and gives you the ability to perform polyphonically-perfect for making your Bouzouki sound full and rich during a session.
📖Playing Tunes and Reading Music 🎼 InPart 3(the final part of the course), you will learn how to read Irish Traditional Music in standard notation (and bouzouki tab), and turn these basic symbols into in real living music. Learning how to play real Irish dance tunes like this will foster independent learning, allowing you explore more music you want to learn. We’ll take notated tunes and show you how to turn them into authentic-sounding Irish music, complete with ornamentation, phrasing, and feel. You'll also learn techniques to make these tunes your own. This is key to playing authentically and developing a true Irish sound.
Why Choose Our Irish Bouzouki Course?
-Learn at Your Own Pace: With lifetime access to all materials, you can practice whenever it suits you, anytime and anywhere! -One-Time Purchase for Only £150:No subscriptions, no hidden fees—just a single payment for lifetime access. That’s less than £9 a lesson – and all of these lessons will always be recorded and waiting for you when you are ready to practice! -Regular Updates:Keep learning with new lessons, tunes, and tips added frequently. If you have questions or need help, you will get expert personal feedback and answers from me, and it may even be a good topic to cover in a future video!
🌍Embrace the Spirit of Irish Music!🌍 Start your journey today and become part of a rich tradition. With this course, you’ll be able to play at sessions, join in with other musicians, and develop your own voice on the Bouzouki.
🛒Get Started Now – Enrol for Only £150! Don’t wait to explore the magic of the Irish Bouzouki. Sign up today and unlock over 12 hours of video lessons, dozens of audio examples, downloadable handouts, and more!
And here's a new Lesson from Robin Jones. A tune he learned while staying in Beirut. It has an interesting scale which makes a lot of fun to play around. D,D#,F#,G,A,B,C, which is called the Phrygian Dominant Scale. This is Part 1, you can get Part 2 here
How I love Robin's lessons. Here's the latest: Beeswing by Richard Thompson. As always part 1 is free. You can buy part 2 from his website.
Here's a different approach on the bouzouki. I shot this video about 20 years ago at a workshop weekend in Bonn, Germany. Michael Lempelius on his Sobell bouzouki.
This is a live version of Michael together with Sabrina Palm I recorded at Fiddlers Pub in Bonn, Germany.
And here is another Lesson from Robin Jones. A reel called MacArthur Road. This is part 1. You can buy part 2 from his website. You also can subscribe to get full content of his lessons which is a new feature. If Robin will still present one lesson per week this might be really worth it.
He offers three plans:
Folk Patron which costs £10/month Folk Hero which costs £20/month Folk Legend which costs £30/month
As a Folk Patron you have access to all paid lessons for free. As Folk Hero and Folk Legend you also can send monthly or fortnightly videos of your progress and receive a personalized video reply with detailed feedback.
Robin's latest lesson deals with Willie Coleman's Jig. Learn to play the melody together with ornamentations. Part 1 is free, you can purchase part 2 here.
I really like these lessons Robin publishes on youtube. Here's his latest one. He shows how to play Caledonia on the bouzouki. Part 1 is really basic. If you want part 2 you have to buy it from his website, which is really worth the money. You can get it here.
Robin is extremely busy at the moment. Here's his latest video lesson in which he shows how to play the Shaskeen Jig. This is part 1, you can buy part 2 from his website.
Robin is very busy producing Bouzouki lessons. They are well made and so useful. I love his way of teaching. Cannont recommend it enough. Check it out and buy part 2.
Here's the link to his youtube channel where you'll find more fantastic lessons.
Robin Jones released a new tutorial video on youtube. Part 1 is free, you can buy part 2 for just 10 pounds which it is really worth. You get lots of tips and exercises which help you to play and accompany jigs. Even if you know how to play jigs I think you can learn a lot from these videos. Here's the link where you can buy part 2.
There's a new course on OAIM: Bouzouki Skills. Tutor Alan Reid teaches a lot of right hand techniqes. Yesterday I subscibed again and in the next weeks I'm going to watch the movies. Seems to be very interesting.
So if you are looking for some new input have a look at the free video introduction and subscribe to watch the course in total. You'll also have access to all the other courses as well, so come on, why don't you do it?
And if you're looking for chords like most of the people that visit my blog (is this really so important for you guys?) look here. Chords or here Chord Charts
Jasper Kaye uploaded a tutorial video to the song The Foggy Dew as played by Ye Vagabonds. This is not the well known Song!
First the song, sung and played by Jasper
And here's his tutorial video:
Here's a solo version by Brian Mac Gloinn of Ye Vagabonds where you can hear the bouzouki very well:
Here are the lyrics with some chords I figured out, don't know, if they are exactly the same as Ye Vagabond's. They differ a bit from Jasper's chords. There is always more than one way to accompany a song ;-)
When [D]I was [G/A]a [D/F#]bachelor [D]young [G/A]and [D/F#]bold I [Bm]followed the [G]roving [D]tra[A]de The [D5]only [A/E]thing that I [D/F#]ever done [G5]wrong {soh}(Basslauf!){eoh} I [Bm]courted a hand[G]some [D]maid
I wooed her all the summertime And part of the winter too The only thing I ever done wrong Was to keep off the foggy dew
'Twas on one night about twelve o'clock As I lay fast asleep There came this maid to my bedside And bitterly she did weep
She wept, she moaned, she tore her hair And she cried "what shall I do?" So I rolled her into bed And covered up her head For to keep off the foggy dew
Well all the first part all that night And we did sport and play And all the latter part of that night Snug in my arms she lay
And when the broad daylight appeared She cried "I am undone!" Well hold your tongue My pretty young girl For the foggy dew has gone
Well I never told nobody her name And its damned be if I do But it's often times that i think on that night That I kept off the foggy dew
Chords could be:
D: 2,0,0,0 G/A: 2,5,0,0 D/F#: 2,4,0,0 Bm: 4,4,0,0 G: 0,0,2,0 or 4,5,0,0 A: 2,2,0,2 or 2,2,0,0 D5: x,0,0,0 A/E: x,2,0,2 D/F#: x,4,0,0 G5: x,5,5,0 Bm: 4,4,0,0 G: 0,0,2,0 or 4,5,0,0 D: 2,4,0,0 or 7,0,0,0
South Sligo SummerSchool gave us two tutorials with Shane McGowan. He's one fine guitar player and has worked with so many famous musicians. I saw him several time live and I think his style is very lively. As it is all about rhythm it should be of interest to bouzouki players as well.
Jeff is a guitar and bouzouki and Flute/Whistle player based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is offering online lessons for Guitar and Bouzouki.
You can find
his website at: https://jeffksiazek.com
OAIM has just released a new course for Bouzouki. Here's a teaser:
I just subscribed and will try it within the next days. You can subscribe here: www.oaim.ie
I finished watching the whole course now. If you followed the two first bouzouki courses you can easily follow this new course. It starts really easy with the well known Reel "The mountain road". Nothing really new here but worth trying. During the next courses Alan will take you to a new level of bouzouki playing, especially in the last courses (7-13). You'll learn more about counter melody, cross picking and some nice chord shapes.
All in all I can really recommend this course. I think one month should be enough to work through the courses which would cost 19.95€, that's less than 2€ per course which is really worth it. And btw, if you subscribe you also have access to all the other courses on OAIM, so why not have a look at all these lovely tunes and don't forget the virtual sessions and the play along tracks.
This one's for guitar, but as it is about right hand patterns it is useful for Zouk also. It is about strumming triplets in a Jig Rhythm. It takes some time to play it fluently, but it's worth the effort. By the way, Nye published a book about accompanying Irish Music. You can get it here: http://finaleguitar.co.uk/product/backing-guitar-techniques-for-traditional-celtic-music/
