Chordfinder app for iOS - Chord Library

This is a really cheap little which provides lots of chords for newbies, so maybe worth to have a look at. It's only 0,99€ so it's cheaper than the chordbook which is available, and it's more handy, because you can have access everywhere on your mobile phone.

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/chordfinder-for-bouzouki/id507236609

The Black Haired Lass - The Bag Of Spuds - McCormick & Vanorny with Brian Miller

I recently discovered the album In the Tap Room by McCormick & Vanorny with Brian Miller. 

Brian plays some fine bouzouki backings there. Now I tried to transcribe the first two reels of the Set "The Black Haired Lass / Bag of Spuds".

 

Here's the link to the track on bandcamp:

 

The Black Haired Lass/Bag of Spuds

 

 

Underneath you'll find my tabs. There might be some mistakes in there, but If you listen to the tracks you'll hopefully get along with them.

Otter's Holt - Accompanyment by Matt Heaton

 On August, 8th 2020 Matt and Shannon Heaton played a Set they started with the Reel "Otter's Holt", this is one of my all time favourite tunes. So I tried to write down the accompaniment of the first round through the tune. 

 

Here you can find the video of the session with deep links to the sets:

http://www.vgsdb.com/sessions/2020/8/8

It is Set No. 8

Darren Lynch - Go To Sea No More

Darren plays the sea song Go To Sea No More on his Greek Bouzouki. He writes as comment:

Origins of this song have been traced back to the English Merchant Navy. It's thought to have been brought back from San Francisco and changed in England. Reasons being that Liverpool had no whaling industry and there was a known crimper in San Francisoco called Shanghai Brown. Shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence.

He also made some tutorials for Irish Bouzouki. You'll find them here:

https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search?q=darren+lynch  

 

Darren Lynch - Sam Hall

Darren Lynch presents the classic Sam Hall on his 6-string Greek Bouzouki. Also check his bouzouki tutorials.

https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/search?q=darren+lynch

 

These are the chords I play it:

Sam Hall

NoCapo

[D]  [G]  [D]
Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep, chimney [A]sweep
Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep

Oh, me [G]name it is Sam Hall,
and I've [D]robbed both great and [A]small
And me [Bm]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die, when I [A]die
And me [Bm]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die

I have [D]twenty [F#m]pounds in [Bm]store,
[D]that's not [G]all, that's not [A]all
I have [D]twenty [F#m]pounds in [Bm]store,
that's not [G]all

I have [Em]twenty pounds in [G]store,
and I'd [D]rob for [F#m]twenty [A]more
For the [D]rich must [F#m]help the [Bm]poor,
[D]so must [G]I, so must [A]I
For the [D]rich must [F#m]help the [Bm]poor,
so must [G]I

Oh, they [D]took me to Coot[G]hill,
in a [D]cart, in a [A]cart
Oh, they [D]took me to Coot[G]hill,
in a [D]cart

Oh, they [G]took me to Coothill,
where I [D]stopped to make my [A]will
For the [D]best of friends must [G]part,
so must [D]I, so must [A]I
For the [D]best of friends must [G]part,
so must [D]I

Up the [D]ladder I did [G]grope,
that's no [D]joke, that's no [A]joke
Up the [D]ladder I did [G]grope,
that's no [D]joke

Up the [G]ladder I did grope,
and the [D]hangman he pulled his [A]rope
But [D]ne'ar a word I [G]spoke,
tumbling [D]down, tumbling [A]down
But [D]ne'ar a word I [G]spoke,
tumbling [D]down

Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep, chimney [A]sweep
Oh, me [D]name it is Sam [G]Hall,
chimney [D]sweep

Oh, me [G]name it is Sam Hall,
and I've [D]robbed both great and [A]small
And me [D]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die, when I [A]die
And me [D]neck will pay for [G]all,
when I [D]die

Marty Smith

Marty Smith, a fine bouzouki player and Singer. Unfortunately I did not find lots of information about him. It seems he owns a lot of bouzoukis ;-)

McShane

The Close Shave

 

The Shepherd Lad 

The Mickey Dam

 

The Spanish Lady

  

Farewell To The Gold

 

The Foxy Devil

  

Clasped To The Pig

 

Some Reels

 

Some Jigs

Lucy Farr's Barndance

Daoiri Farrell and Donal Lunny - The Creggan White Hare

 Daoiri and Donal together. What a great version of this classic.

Andy Irvine - Live stream from Cyprus Avenue

 On Jan, 24th Andy played this live gig at Cyprus Avenue Cork. 

The Road To Drumleman - Eoin O'Neill backing

 

While searching for songs which are backed by Eoin O'Neill on bouzouki I came across this lovely CD by singer Noirin Lynch.

https://nirinlynch.bandcamp.com/track/the-road-to-drumleman

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to tab the backing for the first verse to study Eoin's playing. Here is my humble attempt. It is for the tuning of ADAD. But as the A-string is rarely used it is also possible for GDAD with the exception of 2 notes in bars 13 and 16, it has to be 2nd fret on G-string which gives the needed A.

 

 

Down By The Sally Gardens - Eoin O'Neill Backing

Last October I took part in an online workshop with Eoin O'Neill. 9 video lessons, each around 20-30 minutes long he produced for the O'Flaherty retreat 2020. What an inspiration. Since then I play bouzouki in ADAD most of the times. It's much fun to back tunes in ADAD. But when singing I still use GDAD.

During that workshop he backed the singer Clara Buteler when singing "Down by the sally gardens". Now I tried to tab the accompaniment of the first verse. So here it is. Unfortunately I can't post the video here.

The Tab is for ADAD, but if you use GDAD it is nearly the same. Only one note is played on the low string, so you just have to play this D-Note on the 7th fret instead of the 5th fret which is notated for ADAD.

 

Matt Heaton - Playing Counter Melodies

 A new tutorial from Matt Heaton. A very in deep tutorial how to play counter melodies. Basic rule to this: you have to know the tune you're accompanying very well. Otherwise it might clash with the melody.

Daoiri Farrell - Live Online Concert for Festival of Oulu

 Daoiri did lots of online concerts during the pandemic in the last months. Here is one he did for the Festival of Oulu which took place Nov. 19th - 21

I think, I don't have to say anything about Daoiri, I first met him in 2011 in Germany and and within these years he has achieved a well deserved success. Alway great to see him. 

Matt Heaton - Accompanying Tunes in Am with Capo 2 (Gm-Shapes)

So Matt did it again. Another great tutorial for bouzouki. He explains how to accompany tunes in Am. He uses the capo at 2nd fret and plays Gm shapes.

If you watched this you might be interested in my posts about accompanying in Gm. Here they are:

https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/2020/05/accompanying-tunes-in-am-with-gm-chords.html

https://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.com/2020/01/chord-shapes-in-g-minor-also-usable.html

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 ;-)