Hans Eckert Luthier, Mühltal, Germany near Frankfurt

Today I visited a Luthier near Frankfurt in Germany. Hans Eckert is a relatively new Luthier in Germany. heckertguitars.de

I first met him by chance at a session 2 years ago. I did not know he was a luthier, then. Just heard about his profession a few weeks ago. As he lives not too far from my hometown I thought it would be a good idea to visit him at his workshop.

We met at his workshop in a little town called Mühltal where he lives. He builds stringed instruments for some years now. In 2015 he regularly worked with Heiner Dreizehnter at his workshop in Allgäu, Germany. Heiner is a famous German Luthier who made Guitars and Bouzoukis for many famous musicians. http://www.irish-bouzouki.de

Now Hans has got his own workshop where he builds Guitars, Mandolins, Bouzoukis and Banjos. He also repairs all kinds of stringed instruments. I brought an old Böhm Waldzither and he will restore it for me. He also will do some repair work on my Dreizehnter Guitar Bouzouki.

We talked a lot about his efforts in building instruments, the difficulties to get good tone wood and building techniques. He has a good knowledge of building instruments and I really think about ordering a 10 string bouzouki from him.

After a long conversation about the restoration of my Waldzither we sat together and played some tunes on Mandolin and Bouzouki. I really enjoyed the afternoon with him and hope to see him soon at a session somewhere.

Here are some more photos from his workshop

Michael Chapman and Rino Eriksen

Lovely playing here by Michael and Rino on Cittern and Flute. Old Maid of Galway and The Green Mountain. Hope you enjoy it.

Beginner Tutorial Position of the Left Hand Fingers

Duncan Ross Cameron shows some basics for playing the bouzouki in this video. A good starting point for beginners.

Irish Bouzouki Tutorial by Declan Plummer

Declan Plummer is a musical teacher of classical and irish music and an amateur website designer. You can find his website here:
http://www.declanplummer.net/
There you'll find some lessons for the bouzouki, chord charts and handouts.

Here are two videos from his youtube channel:

Wikibooks book about Irish Bouzouki in German

Some who calls himself soylent green (Remember the movie?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_jGOKYHxaQ
startet a wikibook about the Irish Bouzouki some time ago in German. I wonder who he can be. Do I know him?
Well, the last post dates about two years ago. Nevertheless there are some good hints to be found there. Maybe some other bouzouki players may contribute to this work? I wonder, how he made the chord charts etc.? What programs do you need to produce the pictures? If anyone can help, please comment.
Here's the link to the book:
https://de.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Irische_Bouzouki

Is there a project like this in Englisch existing, too?

Andy Irvine at Mighty Fine Guitars

Andy Irvine at Mighty Fine Guitars, Lafayette, CA, September 2012.
A Vortex Production, filmed and edited by Jeff Peach. A full concert. Many thanks to "ThreeTime Through" who posted the videos.

Andy Irvine performing at a house concert in Chico at the home of Steve & Cathy O'Bryan

Fantastic Videoshots of Andy performing on a house concert. A must-see!

Full Concert of Andy Irvine on youtube

A full Concert of Andy performed on June, 28, 2014 is to be found on youtube now. A must see for all bouzouki lovers. Nothing more to say about that.

Jens Wollschläger's ABC Transposer

This is a very useful tool if you have to transpose an abc-file from one key to another. Just paste in the abc and transpose it with the buttons on the right. And by the way look at the other pages of this website, too. It's the website of the Swiss band Sláinte and they are really worth listening. Many thanks to Jens for providing us with this tool.

You can find it here:
http://www.slainte.ch/abc.asp

Irish Bouzouki Method by Roger Landes

So here's a new Bouzouki Book which will help the beginner to get in touch with our beloved instrument. I ordered it via Amazon, it took some time but finally it arrived. The book has got 48 pages and no CD, therefore it's only 7,95€ which is a really fair price. But don't worry, the audio files which go along with the book can be heard and downloaded from the website of the publisher (halleonard.com/mylibrary). Just fill in the Enter Code from within the book and here you go.

The book itself is aimed to the absolute beginner. It starts with an introduction on the bouzouki, it's anatomy, playing position, left and right hand and tuning. A short introduction on music notation, tablature and time signatures. That's pages 1-12.

After that you'll find some open-string studies with different pickings and one page on the fretboard.

On page 18 you'll find an introduction to Double Jigs (6/8 time). Lots of exercises which bring the jig rhythm to the beginner, which isn't easy for them. But after all the studies you should understand the jig rhythm when finished page 21.

And off it goes with the first tune, a jig called "The Kinnegad Slashers". First you have the chance to learn to play the melody on your bouzouki. Then follows the accompaniment. I really like the way Roger develops the accompaniment. First he drones without chord changes. This gives a feeling for the melody and the changes in it. After four different sorts of Droning he starts to build up the rhythm, step by step, also only with droning. Really interesting! After you have tried 6 different rhythmic drones there comes an exercise with simple chords. And that's really simple chords. By the way - you won't learn many chords in this book. But that's ok.
Right after the chords follows the first introduction to counterpoints which leads to another simple chord progression. Two more counterpoint exercises and that's it for the first tune.

What I miss after that is a hint to other tunes which can be accompanied with the things just learned.

Second tune is a reel called "The sunny banks" and it is almost the same way of exercises.

Third tune is a slip Jig "Drops of brandy". This one is in the key of G. First without capo and then with capo on the 5th fret, now you can use everything you learned before.

The last tune is a reel in Em "Dunmore Lasses". Here only two chord exercises, that's all.

So for a very good price you get a well thought book for the absolute beginner. If you play the bouzouki for some time give it a try for the later exercises. I'm pretty sure you'll find some new thoughts on how to play the bouzouki.

All in all I really like the way Roger concentrates on the playing of the right hand. Most teachers concentrate on chords and on the left hand. If you want that buy another book or the fantastic DVD by Zan McLeod.

More information:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/news/publish/mandolins_001680.shtml

http://www.amazon.com/Hal-Leonard-Irish-Bouzouki-Method/dp/1423479637

JULIE FOWLIS & SPECIAL GUESTS Thatcher Set

Just got her fantastic new album. Here's a little live set from a concert at the Old  Fruitmarket, Glasgow on Jan. 22nd 2014. Eamon is playing his guitar-bouzouki. Nice set.

Aoife Scott - What you do with what you got

Fine backing for a wonderful song. Aoife Scott, born into the legendary Black Family, her mother is Frances Black, her aunt Mary. In spring she started working on her solo cd, in summer she became singer of the band "The Outside Track", a fantastic band, currently touring with the Irish Folk Festival 2013. Yesterday I saw them in Karlsruhe, fantastic show.

http://www.aoifescott.com
http://www.theoutsidetrack.com



  qrcg

James Fagan

James Fagan plays a guitar shaped bouzouki most of the time. On the first video he plays the bouzouki of Andy Clarke, which was made by Andy Manson. On the website of his Project "The James Brothers" you can find his bio, which I include here: (I hope you don't mind, James)
  http://www.thejamesbrothers.co.uk/bio_jamesfagan.php

 • Born Canberra 1972, son of Margaret and Bob Fagan. Younger sister is Kate Fagan. Together they are "The Fagans", one of Australia's best-known folk bands for 30 years.

 • Met Nancy Kerr in 1995 and formed a duo that has become on of the most popular and respected duos on the UK circuit, winners of BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Duo (2003 and 2011). Together they have toured in the UK, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

 • Main instruments - Vocals (Spiral Earth Male Vocalist of the Year in 2012). Bouzouki - James plays a Sobell guitar-shaped bouzouki.

 • Current projects: Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, The James Brothers, Melrose Quartet, Cara Dillon Band, The Fagans, Kerr Fagan Harbron, Glorystrokes

 • Record labels: Fellside (1997-2008) Navigator (2010-present) • Main musical interests: Singing, arrangement, composition, accompaniment

 • James is a sought-after session player and has appeared on albums by Martin Simpson, Eliza Carthy, Cara Dillon, Brian Finnegan, Spiers and Boden, Andy Irvine, John Kirkpatrick, Alistair Hulett. *

James teaches voice and bouzouki to undergraduate students on the Newcastle University Traditional Music Degree course.

 




One of his projects is the duo Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, where James sings and plays bouzouki and Nancy plays fiddle and sings, too. I post some of the many videos you can find on youtube.

 



http://kerrfagan.com

qr code

Andy Clarke - Bonny Irish Maid

I already posted a video from Andy some time ago (look here): http://irish-bouzouki.blogspot.de/2013/05/andy-clarke.html Now he wrote me an E-Mail in which he suggested to put up his new video. So it's a pleasure for me to have it here on my blog. Fine singing and playing. Love this song.

Celtic Fonts

The website with celtic fonts I linked to some years ago is no longer available. So here is another website with lots of celtic fonts for free. Have fun! http://www.fontspace.com/category/celtic

Build any chord, anywhere

This is an interesting concept by a man called Frank Geiger. Made for instruments tuned in fifth. He writes, that it doesnt require reading music, knowledge of key signatures or chord spellings. Looks interesting. If you try it please comment, if it is useful for players of bouzouki. http://www.calgaryuke.com/ukerichard/tenor/Chord%20Builder%20For%20Fifths%20Tuned%20Instruments.pdf

Bouzouki Chord Chart and Fretboard Poster GDAD Tuning on ebay

This is what I found on ebay today. A poster containing the fretboard of a bouzouki GDAD tuning and some chords for $6.95 or 5,26€. Maybe this could be helpful to someone? In my opinion the price is much too high. Of course it is a good idea to put the info on a poster, so you can have a look at it if in doubt, especially for the fretboard. I did this for myself years ago and it still hangs on my wall. But the few chords are of no great help. In my opinion no chordchart is of any help for the bouzouki, because you seldom play full chords on the bouzouki. You need to have several different shapes for each chord and try everytime which one fits best into the structure of the other chords you play. But decide for yourself.

Tim O'Brien On Mandolin Warmup Exercises

Tim O'Brien speaks about Mandolin Warmup Exercises. What works on mandolin must work on bouzouki also. So have a look at it and decide for yourselves. By the way, some years ago Tim produced a DVD where he explains some of his techniques on Mandolin and Bouzouki. If you don't know it already have a look at it. I bought it some time ago and I think it's great. http://www.amazon.com/VHS-The-Mandolin-Bouzouki-Tim-OBrien/dp/B00021TDRI Introduction to his DVD

Irish Bouzouki made by Lewis Santer, played by Brendan O'Regan

Brendan O'Regan worked with the Waterboys, Mary Black, De Dannan, Mairtin O'Connor and many others.In this video he plays a  bouzouki made by Lewis Santer, Kinvara, Ireland. The back and sides are California Black Acacia, the top is Sitka spruce, the scale length is 25.4". What a fantastic musician!

Andy Clarke

Andy's father was a folk singer way back in the 1960s. He took his son to many folk song clubs in his native Devon. Soon Andy discovered a passion for traditional song. Later he became involved in folk bands in and around Torbay.
In recent years Andy performs as a solo artist in clubs and on festivals all around the country. In addition to his solo work he collaborated with Jackie Oates & Steve Turner (The Eelgrinders) as the trio Wistmans Wood and he plays in the Mooncoin Ceilidh Band. He also plays as a Duo with Hurdy Gurdy player Steve Tyler.
Look at: http://www.myspace.com/stevetylerandyclarke
and http://www.myspace.com/andyclarke382 
and: http://www.flaxey-green.co.uk/AndyClarke.html 

I really love the way he plays his bouzouki.
article on his bouzouki: http://www.andymanson.co.uk/news/bouzouki_for_andy_clarke/

Here's a video together with Steve Tyler

Wreck off Scilly

Andy solo: Hunting the hare

Ruth & Andy Clarke - Da slocket light

John Doyle - The Arabic!

While looking for John Doyle I found  another video where he plays his irish bouzouki.

This songs called The Arabic



And another song: Bound for Botany Bay

John Doyle on WTJU - 12 December 2012

John Doyle is usually known as guitarist with Solas. Here's a longer interview and a song he plays on his irish bouzouki made by Kevin Muiderman (pronounced like “Spiderman”)
http://www.muidermanguitars.com/guizouki.htm

He plays I know my love on bouzouki and Cold haily windy night and Silky on guitar

GDAD Chord Chart by Michael Eskin

Michael Eskin has made a list of Bouzouki Chord Patterns in the keys of  D, G, D Dorian (E Dorian with Capo 2) and G Dorian (A Dorian with Capo 2). This could be of great help for beginners.

Michael is the producer of many iPhone/iPad virtual instruments like bagpipes, flutes and accordions. I haven't tried them, because these are not my kind of instruments but they may be worth a try.
You can find information at: www.tradlessons.com




The chordchart is to be found at:

http://www.tradlessons.com/GDAD.pdf

Fretmaster - iPad app - Freeware

Fretmaster can help to lern the notes on the fretboard. It's Easy to use and it's free.

To use it for bouzouki select mandolin and then click on the tune fork icon and alter the tuning to GDAD.

Then click on the play button. You will hear a note and see where it is on the fretboard. Now you have to tip on the correct note name on bottom of the page.

Fretter, another chordfinder for iPhone

This might be just another chord finder for iOS. It costs 1,79€ which I think is ok. To get chords for bouzouki just select mandolin and tuning custom. Then click on top right button custom and select your tuning. 

In Normal mode you can define chords and the app shows them to you. In reverse mode you can define chords on the fretboard and fretter gives you the name for the chord. This does not funktion always. For example 2400 gives you no name.

There is a free version available, so just try it. They say the free version is only limited in chord recognition, so bouzouki must be available.

information: http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/04/fretter-takes-guesswork-chords

developer site: http://fretterapp.com

Chord Circle - iPhone App for free

This is just a simple app to help understanding music and the chord cycle. It also helps you to transpose chords. As it is free just give it a try.
Information: http://www.osirisguitar.com/clever-app-keys-and-transitions/

Reverse Chord Finder Pro - iPhone/iPad App

This is an interesting app for bouzouki players. In the settings you can define Irish Bouzouki GDAD tuning.  For GDAE just select Mandolin or Plectrum Banjo 3. If you use ADAD I think you have to write a message to the writers of the app. I did when I bought the app more than a year ago and the added the GDAD bouzouki really soon afterwards.

We often play two finger chords somewhere on the fingerboard, but what are they called? RevChordPro helps. Just open the app, tip the chord you are playing and it gives the name. This can be helpful sometimes. Often one fingering can give different chords which is really interesting. Unfotunately the app isn't cheap at all. 8,99€ is a lot. But if you wait, maybe one day it'll getting cheaper. Consult AppTicker or AppZapPro.

Information: http://www.reversechord.com

Chordpro buddy

Some time ago I bought this program for MAC on the app store. I was looking for a program to edit my songs with chords and a way to transmit them to the iPad.

This is what the developer's say:

ChordPro Buddy is an easy to use and elegant song editor for the Apple Mac OS-X operating system. With it you will easy edit, format, transpose, play and print lyrics, chords and tabs. It is an ideal and elegant tool for guitar players or other musicians. The storage format is the widely used, very simple and easy understandible "ChordPro" text format.

And I think, it is worth the money. If you find songs with chords above on the internet just copy them and import them to ChordPro Buddy. It will automatically transform the chords to brackets whithin the song text. This will give you the benefit to transpose the songs later, if you open them on the iPad. 

But how do you transmit them? That's really easy. Just send them to dropbox. You should create a new folder in your dropbox, in which you store all of your songs. You can even create subfolders. 

On your iPad you should use the app "Songbook". This app can connect to your dropbox account. Everytime you open it it updates from your Dropbox account, so you're up to date with your songs. 

Here's a video tutorial

And here's the product page:
http://www.gfapps.com/chordprobuddy/

And this is a tutorial for SongBook ChordPro



I will write a post for this iPhone/iPad app later.

New Lessons by Duncan Cameron

Duncan Cameron, I mentioned him before, has made two more lessons for players of the bouzouki.
His website: www.duncancameron.com

Picking for reels

Picking for Jigs

2 short lessons on rhythm

Jeff Ksiazek provides us with two short videos on how to backup Reels and Jigs. Nice work. I hope to see more videos in the near future.

Basic bouzouki picking pattern for Reels:


Jig strumming pattern:

Chord Scale Generator

Chord Scale Generator is a program for MAC, Windows and Linux which helps you to find Chord Shapes and Scales on many fretted instruments. You can create alternative fingerings for more than 80 chords. You can translate between musical notation, tablatures and chord charts. It even provides a reverse chord finder. A demo version is available on the website. Also you can find screenshot and video-tutorials. Please comment, if you try it. Price is 21,95 €. Well, I would love to have it on my iPad so I can take it with me wherever I go.

http://www.pluck-n-play.com/en/index.html

Information for player in GDAE

Terry Bell created a website with lots of information for beginners who want to use GDAE tuning. Have a look, you'll find some useful things there.
http://www.angelfire.com/mi3/drumhilla/bouzouki_chords.html

This year the "1st Paddy Keenan Uilleann Pipe Gathering" will take place during the Summer School. There will be lots of interesting Workshops (Uilleann Pipes, Flute, Fiddle, Tin Whistle, Gitarre, Bodhrán, Banjo, Mandoline, Concertina), Concerts and Sessions from August 5th until August 11th 2012 at the Naturfreundehaus in Elmstein.

More information at: http://www.irishmusicschool-elmstein.de/index.php/en/

Here is the promotional video:

The Ruby Sessions

I don't know exactly what the Ruby Sessions are, but they can be found at facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/therubysessions


Here are some videos in which Donal Lunny plays his lovely bouzouki:


The Factory Girl - Philip King and Donal Lunny:

Donal Lunny - Tribute To Peadar O'Donnell

Maria Doyle Kennedy with Donal Lunny and Kieran Kennedy

This is the youtube-channel of the Ruby Sessions:

http://www.youtube.com/user/RubySessions?feature=watch

Donal Lunny - Solo on Guitar Shaped Bouzouki

This is a video of Donal playing a solo on a guitar shaped bouzouki. Recorded in Smock Alley Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin.

Fiddlefreak Folk Music Blog

Fiddlefreak is a blog on which you can find information about new recordings in the folk genre. Oftentimes with links to youtube videos or soundclips. A good way to inform about new music. You can find it here: http://fiddlefreak.com/

Litha (2Duos)

Litha is the new name of the quartett formerly known as 2Duos. Aaron Jones, Claire Mann, Gudrun Walters and Jürgen Treyz just released their second CD, which they sold on their last tour in Germany.

My friend Peter known as barnacles posted a video from this tour on youtube. Have a look, it's fantastic!




More information:

http://www.myspace.com/2duos

http://www.2duos.de/


Herr Olof, Live in Ettlingen near Karlsruhe, 2011

Waltzes, Live Ettlingen 2011

Dónal Lunny

I found some new videos by Dónal Lunny on youtube which are really worth looking at:

Cúnla - Trio Dónal Lunny, Pádraig Rynne, Sylvain Barou


Siobhán Ní Dhuibhir - Trio Dónal Lunny, Pádraig Rynne, Sylvain Barou

Behind the haystack

This is one of my favourit jigs. I already posted several videos by Kyle25rs. This is his interpretation of this tune he learned from a video of Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny here on youtube. Infortunately I wasn't able to find it here. Maybe someone can post the link to it?

Foxhunters and Bucks of Oranmore

Kyle Borley (Irish concert flute) and D'Arcy Stearns (Irish bouzouki), from Winnipeg, Canada. website: http://www.borleyandstearns.ca

Yellow Wattle and another Jig in G (Paidin O Raifeartaigh?)

Frances and Sean Conningham from Whistletutor.com playing two traditional Jigs on bouzouki and flute. Awesome!


Hammy Hamiltons / Unknown Slip Jig


Launching the Boat and Lad O'Beirne's


Maids of Mitchellstown/With Her Long Dark Hair Flowing Down Her Back


The Old Favorite and the Maid at the Well

An Dorian

An Dorian are based in the southern part of Germany. They play a lively mix of trad tunes and songs. These videos were recorded at the Bobenheim Folkmeeting, September 2011. An Dorian are: Janna Kirchhof - voice, fiddle Christian Roch - whistle, voice Ulf Bangert - Irish bouzouki Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/andorianirishfolk The Lily of the west


Billy Taylor


Swallow's tail / Old Dudeen / Long drop (reels)

Michael McGoldrick and Paddy Kerr

What a combination. Michael on flute and Paddy on bouzouki perform Michael's compositions "Farewell to Whalley Range" and "The Honesty Bar" jig during a concert filmed at the Sligo Summer School in July 2011. Michael spent time as a youngster at the Summer School, where he studied under great local tutors. This year he returned 25 years on to impart some of his extensive knowledge to students at this year's Summer School. This concert was webcast on www.LiveTrad.com.



Here's another video from this set:




And another one

Online Academy Of Irish Music

Did you ever thought of learning your instrument with an online teacher? Here's the possibility. The Online Academy Of Irish Music offers several courses for instruments used in Irish Folk Music. Look here: http://oaim.ie

These are the offered courses and tutors:

* Bodhrán Tutor: Brian Flemming
* Bouzouki Tutor: Billy Mag Fhloinn, Alan Reid
* Concertina Tutor: Ernestine Healy
* Fiddle Tutor: Majella Bartley
* Flute Tutors: Kirsten Allstaff, Majella Bartley,Niall Keegan
* Song Tutor: Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh
* Tin Whistle Tutor: Thomas Johnston
* Uilleann Pipes Tutor: Mikie Smyth
* Piano Tutor: Stephen Markham

Here is the chance to watch some free lessons:
http://oaim.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=56



I did not subscribe but watched the free lessons and think they are great. If you subscribe please leave a comment if you think it's a good offer or not.

Dervish - Traditional Irish Music from LiveTrad.com

Here is supergroup Dervish playing an intimate session at Hargadon's Bar in the centre of Sligo, Ireland. The entire session was broadcast live worldwide over the internet.



More videos of this session here:
http://www.livetrad.com/Videos/dervishlive/

O'Connor's Pub OAIM Launch Clip 4 - Traditional Irish Music from LiveTrad.com

A live performance from O'Connor's bar in Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland, during the launch of the Online Academy of Irish Music in April 2011. This session was webcast on www.LiveTrad.com.

A lovely song, does anyone know the name of it?

Donal Lunny solo

No description available on youtube. But a stunning solo performance of Donal on his 10 string blarge.

Paddy Glackin and Donal Lunny

Paddy and Donal at the Steeple sessionsat the Unitarian Church on St. Stephens Green in Dublin on Tuesday 24th of May 2011. What a performance!



Here's another video from "solidarity with Japan gig"

Ale Carr - Solo Cittern

Just discovered this video. What a player. What a groove. What a joy to listen to this music and to see this man play. He is 19!

Here you can visit his myspace site:
http://www.myspace.com/alecarr
and here, too:
http://www.myspace.com/alecarrsolo



Here are two more videos of Ale och Elna, who were former winners at Swedens largest music competition for youngsters.
The first tune, "Lieman (... och Lärkan)" is originally a tune called "Ängstunden" composed by Bill McChesney. The second tune "Jigen" is composed by Ale Carr.



Another Tune called "Ales Engelska"


And here's something really special:
Dreamers Circus - Mozart

Andy Irvine - Come to the bower and more

An old song Andy used to sing in the late 70s. On his new tour he's playing it again. Andy is playing a Drifter Promotions show at the Prince Albert, Brighton, 27/06/11.




The Braes Of Moneymore


Arthur McBride