19 Apr 2018

Drunk at night, dry in the morning

An arrangement for the tune Drunk at night, dry in the morning, written by Perthshire fiddler Neil Gow. You can find this tune in the book by Bob Gooday too, in another arrangement. The player names himself C W. You can find some other fine videos of his playing on his youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/OdinIsMyGuide
Bandcamp:
https://hymirskettle.bandcamp.com

Chord-melody playing for the Irish Bouzouki - Bob Gooday

Some time ago Bob Gooday published an ebook with the title Chord-melody playing for the Irish Bouzouki. It seems that I forgot to mention it here.

In this book he publishes arrangements for 8 Scottish and Irish Tunes for the Irish Bouzouki with Notation and Tab. You can buy it on Amazon for €2.99. That's a good price for value. Unfortunately there are no accompanying Audio Files or Midi Files, so you can't have a listen to what it should sound like. I asked Bob if he could record the tunes and put them on youtube, but it seems he does not have the time to do so.

Now I began to put the tab of one of the tunes (No 3: A Glass of Beer) into Tabledit so that I can listen to it.
If you are interested in the file send me an Email and I will send it to you as Tabledit or midi-file.
I will try to put the other tunes into Tabledit as well.

You can buy the book here:
https://www.amazon.de/Chord-melody-playing-Irish-Bouzouki-Bouzouki-ebook/dp/B077JB3WHK
or here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chord-melody-playing-Irish-Bouzouki-Bouzouki-ebook/dp/B077JB3WHK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1524148742&sr=8-2&keywords=chord+melody+Irish+bouzouki

27 Feb 2018

Irish Bouzouki Lesson 2

Darren Lynch gives us his second lesson for Irish Bouzouki. This time it's jig rhythm. Very useful!



Darren is a fantastic singer/Zouk player from Dublin. Look at his website here: https://www.darrenlynch.com







Just as a reminder, here is his first lesson:















29 Jan 2018

Corey Purcell and Genevieve Gillespie - Bouzouki and Fiddle

Some fine tune sets I found from these two great musicians on youtube. Corey is a dancer and accordion player who also plays cittern, guitar and bodhran. He also sings. He danced with supergroup Danu. He played with bands like Amárach and Poor Man's Gambit (together with Genevieve) and released a solo album called "Flying Solo". Check out his website to find out more.
https://coreypurcellmusic.com

Genevieve also played with "Burning Bridget Cleary".
http://www.burningbridgetcleary.com







13 Jan 2018

Irish Bouzouki Forum on Facebook

A bit late but...
There is a Forum for the Irish Bouzouki on Facebook. It's not open to everyone so you have to subscribe. You can find it here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1689228111104135/?hc_ref=ARRwpIzcCic1u0_QmV_Y2juc5-4CDndd1kQZy_x56LboxKEF0xYjhphtOJvZHtEWF38

Many well known bouzouki players are on this forum and nearly every aspect of playing the zouk is dealt with. Feel free to ask any questions. Lots to learn.

14 Sept 2017

Daoiri Farrell - Farewell to the gold

Daoiri plays a song from the Four Winds album called Farewell to the Gold. If you don't know him already check out his two CDs!

His website:
http://daoiri.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/DaoiriFarrell/
Four Winds:
http://fourwindsirishmusic.com/ 


Daoiri Farrell talks about his bouzouki and plays Pat Rainey

Daoiri Farrell, in my opinion the best new traditional Irish singer at the stringdom. He talks about his bouzouki and sings a song: Pat Rainey.

30 Aug 2017

Andy live 22.10.2008 Kuckucksei Nürtingen



Part 1

Erin Go Bragh
The Girl I left behind
Kellswater
The Close Shave
Reynardine
My Heart Tonight's in Ireland
You Rambling Boys of Pleasure
Arthur McBride
The Highwayman

Part 2

Never Tire Of The Road
Oslo
Baneasa's Green glades
O'Donoghues
Time Will Cure Me
Mother Jones
The Wind Blows Over the Danube
The Blacksmith
West Coast Of Clare


Andy Irvine - Kirchheimbolanden, Germany 2004

This was the first concert from Andy I had the chance to film. At first I didn't dare to take out my camcorder, but during the break a friend of mine who knows Andy asked him for permission. He also asked him to play "Baneasa's Green Grass" for me. I was overwhelmed when Andy dedicated the song to me.
Although Andy played together with Rens van der Zalm I only filmed Andy, because I hoped to have the chance to figure out some bits of his playing. Well, more than 10 years passed and I am still struggling with it.

Somebody asked for "West Coast Of Clare" this evening. I think, Andy hadn't played this song for ages. He had some problems with his Bass Bouzouki. But the next shows I saw him this song was on his playlist.

So enjoy this video.

Andy Irvine - Live Sudhaus Tübingen, Germany, April 29. 2004

Another great concert I had the chance to put on video. This one is from a Tour Andy made with and Rens van der Zalm in 2004. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Only A Miner (Only Finale)
The Girl I left Behind
Lintheads
The Close Shave
Suleman Horo
Never Tire Of The Road
The Highwayman

My Heart's Tonight in Ireland
The Blacksmith
Baneasa's Green Glades
The Trip We Took Over The Mountain
Thousands Are Sailing
West Coast Of Clare
Gladiators

Rambling Boys Of Pleasure
Plains Of Kildare

29 Aug 2017

Andy Irvine - Live 2006 Kall-Steinfeld, Germany

This is a concert, Andy gave in Germany in October 2006. I drove nearly 4 hours to see him there. As the location is a bit hidden and with no Navigation System at that time I had lots of trouble to get there. When I finally arrived the concert had just begun. Luckily I found a free seat in the third row. More luckily the seat was on the left of the stage so I had a good angle for filming. You have a good view of his left hand.

I just came across this old video and thought it might be a good idea to share this one with you. So enjoy! Unfortunately I was too lazy to create a Tracklist. So feel free to post it in the comments ;-)


Chords in the Key of D and G

This is by far the most visited blog entry. So it seems that most people are looking for chord-shapes. There are a lot more blog entries which deal with chord or chord shapes. Maybe you could have a look at the labels on the right side. There you'll find some chord charts and some more information and videos about the topic chords.

 

Bob Gooday has released two videos on youtube which deal with Chords in the key of D and G. If you are a beginner this could be really helpful. As these are beginner tutorials he does not all possibilities on the fretboard. So this can only be a starting point.

Basic Chords in D


These are the basic chords he uses in this video:


Chord symbols - low to high string. 0=open string, x=do not play

D5 x000 or 2000 or 7000
A5 2202 or 2200 (with a D drone)
G5 0555

D Major x400 or 7400
A Major 2242
G Major 0020 or 0520 or 0025

B Minor 4420
B5 4424

E Minor 0222
E5 x222





Basic chords in G




Here are the chord shapes he uses in this video:

Chord symbols - low to high string. 0=open string, x=do not play

G Major 0020 or 0520 or 0025
G5 0555

D5 x000 or 2000
D Major 7400
C Major 0232 or 5232

A Minor 2232
A5 2202

E Minor 0222
E5 x222


To give you a lot more information here are chord charts I made for the key of D. They are in useful combinations. So every line shows one possible chord combination. There are lot of 2-Finger chords which let the open A and D string ring to give a drone Sound which is so special to the bouzouki.


















And here is my video which shows how these chords sound like.

25 Jul 2016

Dónal Lunny, Craiceann Bodhrán Festival 2016

Here are some vids I found on youtube featuring Dónal Lunny on Bouzouki. Not many Videos on the net in such high quality.




















21 Jun 2016

More Maids

More Maids is a German Folk Group which plays Irish Folk for many years now.

Barbara Coerdt, Marion Fluck and Barbara Hintermeier are all well known musicians in the German Folk Scene. Until now they produced three CDs.

More information at: http://www.moremaids.de


Here is a video which contains two of the songs from their latest CD.






Here's another video from 2011





7 Jun 2016

Elmstein Summer School 2017 - Bouzouki Workshop with Tobias Kurig


This year Elmstein Summer School will take place from July 31 to August 6th. Look at all the workshops that will take place. And as a special guest Paddy Keenan will give a MasterClass for Uilleann Pipes and Whistle.

The teacher of Bouzouki Workshop is Tobias Kurig, like last year. So take the chance and subscribe here: