Irish Bouzouki

21 Oct 2009

Irishlike - O'Donoghue's

A new video my friend Irishlike posted. Andy Irvine's song O'Donoghue's. Just the first verse. I like your version a lot, Tom.

16 Oct 2009

Tim has posted some new videos, so I'm really happy to include them here.

On the first video he plays a guitar shaped bouzouki made by Heiner Dreizehnter a few years ago. As far as I know Tim bought this zouk from my friend Tom from Munich. The newry Highwayman

The Ballad of Ned Jones Toyota

A Youth That's Inclined To Ramble

The Handsome Cabin Boy

Never Tire Of The Road - Andy Irvine with Donal Lunny and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh

Dingle 2009. This is a real short but powerful version of Andy's classic.

11 Oct 2009

New book for Irish Bouzouki out now

Ralf Wackers, German musician with Band Curragh
http://www.currach.de/
has release a tutor's book for the Irish bouzouki. As far as I know it is the first book at this topic which is addressed to beginners and intermediate players of the bouzouki. Unfortunately this book is available only in German. So it could be a little difficult to understand all the things said in this great book. But if you have ears and eyes you can learn a lot by listening to the examples on the cd and look at the notation.

For example here is the tune "Toss the feathers":

Click on the picture to see a larger version. Be careful, the chords are for GDAE-tuning! And here's the audio file which goes with it:

MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com

If you want to buy the book or like to have more information got the Ralf's website at:

http://www.currach.de/ralf/Bucher/Irish_Bouzouki-Buch/irish_bouzouki-buch.html

It's a self-pressing, so it's only available directly from him. Many thanks to Ralf for allowing me to publish a sample of his book.

Another example page is to be found at Ralf's website:
http://www.currach.de/ralf/Bucher/Irish_Bouzouki-Buch/B-Buch-2728.pdf

Templates for Reels and Jigs

Some time ago I made some templates for Jigs and Reels where I could just fill in the chords needed. This helps a lot when attending a workshop.
You can download them here:
Reel-template
Jig-template

Find Chord shapes for different chords on GDAD

Some time ago I made this little helper. This shows all the position of the notes wich are in a specified chord. So it helps to find out different positions of the chords.

9 Oct 2009

Freshwater Streams (for Dave Freshwater)

This is a nice instrumental tune in honour of Dave Freshwater, the builder of this octave mandolin. Enjoy!

4 Oct 2009

Jon Sanders & Dave Alley

Jon Sanders is known for his guitar playing, i think. He mostly plays in DADGAD and Dropped-D tunings. On these great videos he joins with Dave Alley.

More information at:
www.jon-sanders.com
www.davealley.co.nz.

Dingle Day

Pure Afghan

Pure Afghan - Live Version

Big Ben

2 Oct 2009

jonathan sells his Freshwater Octave Mandolin/ Irish Bouzouki on eBay

Jonathan posted a message that he is currently selling his freshwater Octave Mandolin on ebay. Therefore he posted a new video:

29 Sept 2009

Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny - Live 2009

Feel like a kid in a candy store. Lots of videos by Andy and Donal. Many thanks to DaraghOwens, the uploader.

Empty Handed

My Heart's tonight in Ireland

Never Tire Of The Road

Arthur McBride

The Blacksmith

Tom Joad

Plains of Kildare

And finally The West Coast Of Clare

All fantastic live versions. Sadly there is no new song.

21 Sept 2009

Duncan Fig - The Mickey Dam

Duncan has made a fine video, in which he plays bouzouki, Bass, Flute and sings a song called The ickey Dam. What a complex video, must have been a lot of work.

Choux pis des melons, a trad song from Quebec

Tim Browne - Handsome Cabin Boy

Another video by Tim Browne. I love his voice and bouzouki playing. By the way: his new album is out now.

30 Aug 2009

Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny - Live on RTE 2009

Live on RTE this summer Andy and Donal with a perfect version of the Blacksmith. As better as ever.

The Braes of Moneymore