Eoin O'Neill - Bouzouki Online Workshop

 Well, I'm a bit late with this information, but better late than never ...

Eoin O'Neill offers an online workshop for Bouzouki at the O'Flaherty's Retreat 2020. It runs from Out. 18th until Nov 8th, so it is already online. It cost 150$ and you'll get 9 Lessons each lasts around 25 - 30 minutes You can register here:

https://oflahertyretreat.org

The online workshops are available until December, so enough time to learn from/with Eoin. I'm so happy to have the opportunity to learn the way Eoin plays. This might be the only good thing about Corona.

Andy Irvine - Live in Kuhstedt (Germany) 4th of November 2010

 Found this now 10 years old Video on my hard disk. I filmed it at a concert in a small village in Northern Germany. The concert was sold out and I had bought no ticket in advance. Luckily they opened up the room and let me and some more people in. Btw. I drove more than 700 km to see Andy there, well, to be honest, I also wanted to visit my sister who lives there ;-)

Matt Heaton - Bouzouki Workshop #3 - Accompanying in Em

 Matt's workshop for this weeks is all about accompanying in Em without capo. He gives some ideas to play in Em which might be useful when accompanying a set of tunes in different keys.

This time no chord diagrams necessary, just watch the video.

Matt Heaton - Bouzouki Workshop #2 - Chords in the key of G (mostly)

 Matt just released the second workshop in his Backer Corner series. Here he gives an overview of useful chords in the key of G. 

I made a chord-chart with the app guitartoolkit (highly recommended) so it is easier to follow him.

If you'd like to donate to Matt you can do it here: PayPal button -- https://tinyurl.com/wqofe4b

 

Matt Heaton - Workshop Right hand technique

Matt offers his first bouzouki tutorial. This one is about right hand technique. In this way he shares my opinion about accompanying tunes on the bouzouki. It sounds better if the bouzouki is played different from a guitar.

The Heaton's youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2jJahEPFofYItznRtMNCaQ

And don't forget to tune in to the Heaton's slow session on youtube every Saturday, and maybe donate some money to them if you have something spare:  PayPal button -- https://tinyurl.com/wqofe4b

Accompanying in A: Matt & Shannon Heaton - Haunted House

At the last Slow Session Matt and Shannon played the warmup jig first in G and then in A.  It's a nice idea to change the key during a tune. Works very well for the Haunted House. 

 So far I avoided playing in A. I always used the capo on 2nd fret and played G-shapes. So I found it very interesting how Matt manages playing in A.

Here's the video: Jig starts at 2:45, Jig in A starts at 4:54.

Btw. if you like what they are doing or if you like my tabs please consider to donate any amount you like to the Heatons virtual tip jar:      PayPal button -- https://tinyurl.com/wqofe4b

 

This is the tab I made for the first round through the tune: Hope it is nearly correct. If you find any mistakes please let me know.

In the last bars of the tune (2nd round through) Matt uses a nice chord progression:

A, Bm, F#m, D, E, A

A: 2240

Bm: 4450

F#m: 6670

D: 7790

E: 99110

A: 2202

Matt & Shannon Heaton - Jig in G - Haunted House

 A new Slow Session from the Heatons last Sunday. The warmup Jig played on bouzouki. First in G, then in A. It's a nice idea to change the key during a tune. Works very well for the Haunted House. Here's the video: Jig starts at 2:45

Btw. if you like what they are doing or if you like my tabs please consider to donate any amount you like to the Heatons virtual tip jar:      PayPal button -- https://tinyurl.com/wqofe4b

 

This is the tab I made for the first round through the tune: Hope it is nearly correct. If you find any mistakes please let me know. I will post a tab in A later.

Well, as Matt uses some interesting chords and rhythmic variations in the third round through I made a tab for it also. So here it is:

Trials of Cato

 For all lovers of odd rhythms and modern Folk here's a relatively new band from Finland. Alex, a reader of my blog reminded me of them, many thanks for that. I once listened to their album when it came out but forgot about them. So I gave it another try. Fantastic musicians. 

Here's their website: https://www.thetrialsofcato.com

And here are some live videos. Some songs of the EP are on youtube as well.

Lord Mayo - March in Am - some ideas for Accompanyment

 Today I tried to find out different variations to accompany the march Lord Mayo. Starting point was the video by Matt & Shannon Heaton. Matt plays Gm-Chords with Capo on 2nd fret. Then I found the version of the Floating Crowbars. They play Dm-Shapes with Capo on 7th fret. So I had 2 different approaches. Then I thought, how it would sound with Am-shapes without capo and tried different chords. 

So at first here are some possibilities without capo, maybe you'll find some more:

Not every attempt sounds good to everyone, so you have to decide what suits you.

Here are some chords that might be useful in Am:

 

 

Now lets look at Gm-shapes with capo on 2nd fret. First here's the video of Matt & Shannon Heaton. Lord Mayo starts at 42:20.

Now let's look at the recording of the Floating Crowbars. They use Dm-shapes with capo on 7th fret:

 

I really like the intro and groove of this accompanyment. Here's a tab for it:

And possible chords:

The Wren - An Dro - (Em) - Arrangement by Matt & Shannon Heaton (Capo 2)

 Another lovely slow session by Matt and Shannon Heaton. This times two sets with bouzouki. One of them a beautiful An Dro called the Wren. I know it for many years as a song by Tri Yann from France. They called it Kerfank 1870 and it is on their Album "Urba". If you don't know it give it a listen. This is the album where they began to change their style to be more electric.

The melody can be found at thesession:

https://thesession.org/tunes/2828

So here's the video. The Wren starts at  41.15

I made a tab file of the first round through the tune. Here it is:

Accompanying in G - Ger The Rigger (Polka) - Matt & Shannon Heaton

 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.

You'll find lots more tabs for tunes and songs on this blog here:
https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search/label/Tabs%20for%20GDAD

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

Accompanying in G - Jig The Haunted House - Matt & Shannon Heaton

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.

The Heatons on the web: 

https://mattandshannonheaton.com/

https://shannonheatonmusic.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2jJahEPFofYItznRtMNCaQ

Btw: Shannon has published some very enjoying books for Flute-players and of course they made some wonderful CDs as well. Check them out here:

https://shannonheatonmusic.com/store/

 

 

 

This is the tab I made for the first time round:

You'll find lots more tabs for tunes and songs on this blog here:
https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search/label/Tabs%20for%20GDAD

Accompanying in G: Matt & Shannon Heaton: Sean South of Garryowen (March)

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:

You'll find lots more tabs for tunes and songs on this blog here:
https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search/label/Tabs%20for%20GDAD

Sean Reid's Reel - Alec Finn Accompaniment

From the classic album Mary Bergin and Alec Finn: Feadoga Stain this is a wonderful reel.

I tried to write down the accompaniment of Alec for the first round through the tune just to get to know a bit what he is doing. I'm not always sure what his right hand is doing as he sometimes breaks through the up and downs. Updated Aug 21st 2020, added chord shapes and corrected mistake in measure 6.

You'll find lots more tabs for tunes and songs on this blog here:
https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search/label/Tabs%20for%20GDAD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And here is the tab for the melody (GDAD). I made it with the program tabledit on the MAC out of a setting that appears on thesession.org in the comments: 

 

 

And here's the melody played with capo 5th fret:

 

 

Playing in E-Minor without Capo - Ships are sailing - Matt Heaton Style

Another video of the Heaton Sessions. This time from August, 8th, 2020. The tune is Ships are Sailing and it starts at 25:38. Chords are mostly Em, D and sometimes G.

Here is my chord sheet. I noted where the bass is accented because this is important for the rhythm. There are also some Hammering-Ons. Blue chord names: this is a Bass-line.

 

Below the tab is a list of used chords. Tuning GDAD. So 9,9,10,0 means for example: G string 9th fret, D string 9th fret, A string 10th fret, D string rings open.

These are the chords for the first time through. Beware, there might be some mistakes in it. If you find one, let me know, please. I think, to understand the writing you have to watch the video and compare. Otherwise it might be a little confusing. 

If you want to know more about Matt's approach to Em-Tunes you can watch his Guitar related video to tunes in Em. I included it below.