New Course on OAIM: Bouzouki Progressions

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.

The Holly Bush - The Dogs Among The Bushes Reels

A few days ago I posted a version of the holly bush. Here's another one played by Tommaso Tornielli (irish flute) and Luca Sulcanese (cittern).

Catherine McEvoy & Ruairí McGorman - The Holly Bush/The Shores of Loughrea

Lovely flute and bouzouki duo. Ruairi's playing reminds a lot of Alec Finn. Sounds so easy, but look at his right hand. Where are the ups and downs? Hard to figure out.




I tried to tab the first round through The Holly Bush. Here it is. Capo 1st Fret if you want to play to the video.

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Éamon Doorley - An Sean Duine

Today I tried to tab the accompaniment by Eamon Doorley to a very beautiful song sung by Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh to the song An Sean Duine. I saw Muireann oftentimes live in various pubs in Dingle where I spent my holidays during the last few years. It's always a pleasure to hear her sing or play her flute.

In this video from 2005 she is only accompanied by Eamon Doorley so the arrangement of the bouzouki can be heard very well. As always my tab is not intended to be 100% correct. But it helps a bit to understand how Eamon plays his zouk. The real accompaniment can't be put in tab, because Muireann makes some small pauses sometimes which have to be filled which I had to omit. 

 Just saw that the owner of the video does not allow to post the video on other platforms any more. Here's the direct linkt to youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3DD0GcU7Hg

 

Here's my tab:

Isaac Anderson and Alan Murray - John McHugh's/The duke of Leinster's wife/The Jolly Tinker - updated!

Lovely set played here on Flute and Bouzouki. I already posted some videos with Alan Murray. Really love his style of playing.

I tried to transcribe the accompaniment of the bouzouki. Here's the intro and first part of John McHugh's Jig aka Kevin McHugh's. Please don't expect it to be 100% correct. ;-)

Nuadan - Barrell Rafferty's

Just got the new CD from Nuadan yesterday. I really like the style Macdara plays his bouzouki. So I tried to figure out an accompaniment. My first attempt was the tune Barrell Rafferty's, it's the second tune on track 8. Unfortunately there is no sound sample to be found on the web to link to.

So here's my attempt to create the tab. There might be lots of mistakes in it, but I hope it shows a little bit how Macdara's style works. He uses Capo 4 on this track.

Here's the link to thesession: https://thesession.org/tunes/12410
To accompany it put capo on 7th fret.

Update: chords and positions for bouzouki

I recently updated my worksheet for building chords. Here's the new version. It contains positions of possible fingerings for most used chords. So you can figure out, where to put your fingers if you need a chord for a chord change.

For example: If you play a D (7400) and want to change to a nearby G chord you could choose (7500) or (7900) or maybe (7 9 10 0).


! There is a mistake in this list. It should be Bb Major, not minor! You don't need a BbMinor chord for the most common tunes.

Oisin Morrison, Macdara O'Faolain

I really love the playing of Macdara O'Faolain from the band Nuadan. Here is a video of Oisin Morrison on Flute and Macdara an Zouk.

I tried to figure out some of Macdara's accompaniment. I don't think it's really correct, but it helps a bit to understand what he is doing. I think the tune is called The Hills Of Larraga. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Here's the Link to thesession:
https://thesession.org/tunes/5202

Chordfinder for Irish Bouzouki

Here's another websites which helps to find chord shapes for bouzouki. Someone mentioned it on the Bouzouki Forum in Facebook. Thanks for the hint.

In the advanced section you can make some adjustments. Definitely worth a try when looking for variation of chords.
http://www.chords.cc/irishbouzoukigdad

Paddy Ryan's Dream

This time I tried to find out the accompaniment which Brendan O'Regan plays on the tune Paddy Ryan's Dream together with Matt Molloy. He starts at the repetition of the A-Part.

Here's the video I tabbed the accompaniment from. I cut off the first tune, the air black is the colour of my true love's hair.

Here's the link to the notation at thesession.org
https://thesession.org/tunes/79

Daoiri Farrell live in Pforzheim, Germany, 24.09.2019

I had the pleasure to see Daoiri Farrell and his Trio live in Pforzheim some weeks ago. Here are some of the videos I took that day. Enjoy.

Out On The Ocean - Jig

It is always interesting in how many ways one tune can be accompanied. Inspired by this thought I listened to lots of recordings of one of my favourite tunes and wrote the chord combinations down. Out of these I chose the ones I liked the most and combined them on this worksheet.

The chord range stretches from two chord arrangements of Hayes/Cahill, which I really like, to more complex chord combinations.

Here's my worksheet. If you need a better quality contact me and I will send it via mail.

Exercise: Coordination of both hands 2

Another exercise for coordination of both hands. If you download the photo of the tab it will appear larger.

This exercise is in D-Major.
You will also practice in D-Minor which would be
0,2,3,5 on the D string and
0,1,3,5 on the A string.

If you'd like to practice in D-Mixolydian it would be
0,2,4,5 on the D string and
0,2,3,5 on the A string.


If you don't know which notes you are you can learn them by saying them while practicing.

in D-Major it is
D,E,F#,G
A,B,C#,D

in D-Minor:
D,E,F,G
A,Bb,C,D

in D-Mix:
D,E,F#,G
A,B,C,D

Exercise: Coordination of both hands

I don't remember where I found this exercise, but it is a nice exercise to practice coordination of both hands.

Video:

Daoiri Farrell - Pat Rainey Intro

Just tried to figure out the intro to Pat Rainey. Here's what I found out.

This is not the video I tabbed the intro from, but I can't find the other one right now.