Interestingly, most people visit the chord page here on the blog. Perhaps this great video by Matt Heaton gets a little lost in the shuffle. In this video, he shows chord shapes in the key of G major. Many chords are close together, making them easy to play. I posted the information on the video about four years ago. Perhaps you'd like to watch it again.
Matt has published several videos on chords and tunes on youtube. Just look for "Backer Corner Bouzouki" and you'll find lots of good instructional videos he made.
Matt and Shannon's session was great fun again. They played some well-known tunes as well as some lesser-known ones. Matt played his bouzouki on three sets. Today I tried to pick out his arrangement for the jig ‘The Black Rogue’. In the first run-through, he mainly uses an open A chord (x707) in the A section. He also accompanies with beautiful bass lines.
Since Covid, Matt and Shannon Heaton have been holding regular VirtualGuided Sessions (VGS) on YouTube. Unfortunately, they now only brighten up our day with their beautiful tunes once a month. Matt accompanies Shannon on the guitar and bouzouki. His playing is sensitive and precise.
In the past years I posted several Tabs I made of accompaniments from videos by Matt and Shannon Heaton. Here's a list of the tabs I made so far:
Several people have asked me how they can support my work and my blog. Well, now it's very easy: you can buy me a pint or a coffee. Just click on the beer on the right and you will be redirected to the ‘Buy me a coffee’ website. There you can enter the amount you wish to donate.
Alternatively, you can scan this QR code.
Many thanks in advance to everyone who would like to support me with a small donation.
It seems that many people are interested in converting a guitar into a bouzouki. This does not appear to be particularly difficult. To get around the problem of string suspension with the pins, you can, for example, attach a new tailpiece. Of course, two additional holes have to be drilled in the head of the guitar. You can either simply drill two holes at the top of the headstock. Or you can go to the trouble of filling in the six existing holes and drilling eight new ones, which certainly looks much better.
Then the bridge insert and saddle need to be converted to 8 strings. Particular care should be taken when working on the saddle.
In any case, it should be noted that the fingerboard is very wide compared to a bouzouki, which will certainly not appeal to everyone. Personally, I would find it too wide. I am also not a fan of the sound of the gizouki, or whatever you want to call it. But that is all a matter of taste.
Here's a website where a guy called Keith Hempsey shows his conversion of two guitars.
This is a lesson that many musicians have surely been waiting for. A classic Irish folk song. I think the most famous version is by Paul Brady. But there are many other fantastic recordings of the song.
In the first part, Robin introduces the song and shows the chords and a basic pattern for accompaniment.
In the second part, which you can buy on his website, he shows you the intro, interlude and a few more nice tricks.
If you like it, you might want to consider registering for a monthly subscription. This will give you access to all his workshops and support Robin in his work. I hope he will continue to offer more workshops for some time to come.
Just found this website. It might be of interest if you are looking for chords to accompany a tune. Sometimes you can find chords on thesession, but not too often. So this is a website where you can find chords to lots of tunes. Also you can contribute the chords you use to help others.
On this website you'll find the dots for the tunes, also a player which is able to play the tune with and without chords.
I cannot recommend Robin Jones' workshops highly enough. Over the past few months, he has created some fantastic workshops on mostly well-known tunes. His latest workshop covers the jig ‘The Cliffs of Moher’. He teaches the melody step by step and shows various embellishment options. But I particularly like the intro. This is also well explained. Similar intros can now be worked out with slight changes and used for other tunes. Take a look at the video. The second part is available to purchase on his website. You might also consider becoming a member, which would give you access to all the workshops produced so far.
Oh, and he has recently started offering tabs for each workshop. This means you can practise at any time without having to watch the video.
It's now a half year that Luke Ward started his Workshop series on Patreon. First he offered a course for beginners, I wrote about that some time ago. In January he startet his second Tiers for intermediate players. As I had a bit time lately I enrolled his second Tiers and am really impressed. So far I looked a 3 Workshops.
He starts with the Jig "Banished Misfortune". No explanation about Jig Rhythm here because it is explained in the first Series. He follows the melody of the tune with the chords. Not too difficult but sometimes a bit challenging.
The second Tune he offers is the reel "The Boys of Malin". This time a different technique, a plucking technique. This leads a bit in direction of Eoin O'Neil or even Alec Finn. It gives an easy start to learn this technique. I hope there will be more workshops to come to develop this technique.
In another Video he talks about "Relative Pitch" and offers some exercises to bring chords to a scale. A very basic technique which helps a lot find good chords for accompanying tunes.
Now I'm curious what else is to come.
If you want to learn to play the bouzouki better try these lessons by Luke. At the moment there seems to be an offering for half the prize in the first month, so better try soon.
Piaras Ó Lorcáin is a 22 year old bouzouki player and sean nos singer and farm worker. I just recently discovered him. What a voice he has! He did not make any recordings as far as I know but there are some videos on youtube and instagram.
I once met Tijn at a workshop weekend in Texel, Netherlands. He's a fine bouzouki player and teacher. A few weeks ago he started posting some videos of tunes which he plays through, but without any explanation. So you have to figure out everything by yourself. This might be useful for advanced players.
Tbh I prefer instructional videos like those by Robin Jones where he teaches the tune bit by bit and then gives tips for ornamentation. But it might help to slow down the videos and watch them bit by bit to learn the tunes.
Recently Daoiri gave a live concert on Facebook. One of the songs he played that evening was Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore. I tried to tab the Intro and first verse of his arrangement. Capo 1st fret.
Here's the video:
This is what the tab looks like. If you like the whole tab as pdf or .tef-file just write me an email.
{t:Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore}
{st:Daoiri Farrell}
From [D]Derry quay we sailed a[G]way [D]on
the [C]twenty-[G/B]third of [D]May
We were [G]taken on [Am]board by a [D]pleasant crew,
bound [Am]for A[G]meri[C]kay
Fresh [G]water [Am]there we did [D]take on,
five [C]thou[G]sa[D]nd [G]gal[D]lons or [C]more
In [D]case we’d run short going to New [G]York
[D]far a[C]way from the [G]shamrock [D]shore.
So fare thee well sweet Liza dear and likewise to Derry town, And twice farewell to me comrade boys who dwell on that sainted ground If fortune it ever should favour me or I to have money in store I’ll come back and I’ll wed the wee lassie I left on Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore
Well we sailed three days and we were all seasick, not a man on board was free We were all confined unto our bunks with no one to pity poor me No father dear nor mother kind to hold up me head when t’was sore, Which made me think more on the lassie I left on Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore
Well we safely reached the other side in three and twenty days We were taken as passengers by a man and led round in six different ways, We each of us drank a parting glass in case we might never meet more, And we drank a health to Old Ireland and Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore
Brent Matusik tries to compare both instruments. This is a discussion which is often heard. And what is the difference between Octave Mandolin and Short Scale Bouzouki? Well ...
Look at the video and maybe afterwards you might be a little bit more confused? In my opinion it is all about the tuning you use. Call it whatever you want.
Luke Ward, bouzouki player from Belfast just released a beginner's course on Patreon. It consists of 12 individual lessons where he covers first chords, some easy accompanyment ideas for the different modes (D, Dmix, Dm). After that he shows basic strumming patters to accompany reels, jigs and hornpipes. He finishes with 3 videos where he shows accompaniment ideas for each of the three tune types. Whereas the reel (Mountain Road) and jig (Humours of Glendart) accompanyments are very rudimental the hornpipe (Off to California) pattern has got an easy bass line and some more chords in it.
If you are a beginner to the Irish Bouzouki you might consider taking a months membership for 16$ (without VAT). That's a fair price. It's easy to unsubscribe at any time. If you exercise every day you might be able to finish the course in around 4 weeks.
I hope Luke will consider to make a more advanced course like this in the near future.
The Roadie Tuner is an automatic tuner for stringed instruments. I was curious if it would work with the bouzouki. As it was a lot cheaper on Black Friday I bought it via Amazon to give it a try.
There's an app that goes with it where you can specify your preferred tunings. For GDAD you have to build a new instrument which only takes a few minutes. You even can take a photo of your instrument if you like.
I first tested it on my guitar tuned DADGAD and it worked fine. Tuning went fast with no problems. So I really was impressed at first time.
But then I tried my Foley ... and my Fylde and another Foley and another bouzouki. What should I say, tuning with a standard digital tuner is much faster and more accurate. I tried it several times and never got a correct tuning. So I can't recommend it for Bouzouki, although I think the idea is good. But 139€ is a lot of money for a device that screws your pegs just like your fingers can.
The video I did is not very professional and I did not edit the process of tuning to show how long it takes and how strange the device sometimes works.
As a result I'll definitely send it back. Maybe I'll give Roadie 6 a second chance ;-)
