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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by alansheeran
Just to be controversial for a moment. Was Clapton a mod or not ?
He played with the Yardbirds, a classic mod band ( see those suits and ties ), and certainly dressed the part himself. Yet, he left and joined Mayall because the Yardbirds went too commercial , hence the Beano album.
So . . . was he or was he not a Mod ?
Upyer,
I'm a Bushmills man myself. Their original grant to distill was in 1603, so age and experience is on their side! Don't know if you've seen the most recent TV advert for it, rain, rain, rain - just like this summer !
Their water comes straight off the Antrim plateau which has peat galore, thank goodness they filter the bits !
Guitaardoc,
The folk Songs of Scotland and Ireland have real similarities with C&W - they're mostly based on pentatonic scales. Irish Trad music, on the other hand, is based on modes, rather than chords. It's the tune which is important and it can be very difficult to add simple harmony.
Something I always wondered about was where the rythm in Hillbilly music came from as it can be very sophisticated. Then I heard a drummer in a pipe ( bagpipe ) band, and he was fairly rattling away.
US Accent - I think its a mix of Northern Irish and Devonian (S England) - both of which actually sound their "r's" (Hope I'm not talking out of mine !)
Upyer,
Couldn't agree more. Unforunately, I have to say that the worst whisky ( without an "e" ) I ever tasted was Lagavulin - so peaty that it tastes of tar. It's so bad that I still have three quarters of a bottle left after 6 months. Can't even get nextdoor's dog to drink it, and he's a fair drouth.
GITAARDOCPHIL,
Actually there is a live and kicking C&W culture in Europe - in Ireland. We're right in the middle of a series of bluegrass and appalachian inspired festivals at the minute. There are strong links between the music of the celtic nations and hillbilly music. Indeed, many of the original european settlers of virginia, kentuckee and thereabouts came from Scotland and the north of Ireland.
Another strong link between Ireland and hillbilly music - with an emphasis on the STRONG - is whiskey ( note the inclusion of the "e" to denote Irish, rather than Scotch ). Please do us the honour of not polluting your whiskey with brown sugar water ! Ice or water are acceptable, anything else is an effete affectation.
If you really want to hit cheap then there is a £19 , 3/4 size classical style guitar at Argos which will let you start to finger the frets.
Farther up the scale - I recently got a "Freshman" semi-acoustic ( sitka top, mahogany b&s - with m.o.p. inlay and purfling !) for £ 175. The sound fairly bounces out when played acousticly and I am very pleased with the instrument..
The things I took longest to learn playing slide were :-
Play in an open tuning (Doh - but if you don't know it simply won't happen !).
Play directly above the frets and
Keep the slide moving all the time.
You can play slide guitar in normal position or go country style and lie it across your lap. Slide guitar can really sing when it's played right. The old blues stuff was all fingerpicked while later electric was flatpicked.
As far as I'm concerned, the finest ever slide guitarist is Tut Taylor. He played country style with a flatpick on a square-necked Dobro. Check out his album "Friar Tut" at http://webpages.charter.net/tutbro/tutfriar.html . There are audio snippets of most of the tracks. He is playing with Norman Blake and Sam Bush - the Trinity !!!
Blokes and sheilas
Na . . . in Ireland we have Bucks and Blades !
Or you could get yourself a largish, heavy pick, holding it as suggested by johncross21, but with pressure applied along the edge furthest away from the string ( ie the top not the tip ). Ease the pressure until the pick can "waggle" when you strum across the fingers of your fretting hand.
Then approach the guitar - show no fear or the beast will know - and strum. It takes time ( I have heard people talk in terms of weeks ! It was certainly at least 2 for me.) to get the waggle to turn into a strum rather than a parade of caught strings or dropped picks.
You can use a light pick to speed the process, but you will have less control. Using a light pick reminded me of when I was a kid and used to clothes peg cardboard onto the front forks of our bicycles so that it caught in the spokes and sounded like an engine.
The most difficult one was the very first chord i ever played. Don't know what it was, but I remember my fingers having to be lifted into proper position. It sounded awfull too !
I've been watching the 5 string zithers slowly creep up in value on ebay over the past few months !
I don't play a banjo myself, but there's a lot of good bluegrass tab for banjo at http://www.alltabs.com/bluegrass_tabs.php?id=A
You need to down load TEFedit software to use the links, but it gives you tab and stave together. There is also a graphic of the banjo neck on which you can see the notes to hit as the piece is played. You can also slow down the tempo of the piece to learn it.
Here's the ragtime video I mentioned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C88o2lHeGw
It's entitled Dennis Pash and Meredith Axelrod play Tickled To Death
Well then - Congratulations on the new arrival !
As we say in Belfast - "More power till yer elbow !"
This is a link to an ebay picture of a zither mando-banjo. Not the same, but very similar to my own. I'm not selling the one in the picture by the way -
I have had a mandolin banjo for years - rarely touching it up until the past few months. It has led me towards wanting a straight mandolin. It is an anonymous "zither banjo" which really rings out - much louder than a mainstream mando and slightly less sustain. The top two strings sound like a mandolin, the bottom two strings kick in like a banjo so it's a limited sound.
Apparently, the mandolin banjo is different from a Banjolin. The mando-banjo has the 8 strings, whereas the banjolin has only 4 strings, but tuned GDAE too. The Banjolin is often prefered to the mando-banjo as its less likely to go out of tune ( skin, humidity and heat make a big difference). There are also banjoleles which seem to be banjolin's tuned as per ukes.
There are a couple of excellent YouTube videos of a banjolin playing rag-time backed by guitar.
And as Mr Casals says it can go the other way too.
Took a trip to London a few weeks ago - no guitar - and when I return - suddenly I'm missing the A string.
Hi,
Just a couple of thoughts.
1. Learning to play guitar without being able to accompany songs is boring. Even if it's only a simple song, you can generally learn them pretty quickly and then footer with the strumming etc. It also helps get your ear into the chord changes.
2. If you are having problems with 6 string chords - then try playing 4 string chords on D,G,B & E strings ( Just miss the two bass strings out). That will get you playing songs - particularly when you need to play "F" chords. You will need to add the two lower strings in time, but it will get you started.
3. You can start with two chord songs like Jambalaya - see -
<a href="http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetsome.org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fw%2Fwilliams_hank%2Fjambalaya.pro&songbook=source&transpose=0" target="_blank"> http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url= … 2Fgetsome. org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fw%2Fwilliams_hank%2Fjambalaya.p ro&songbook=source&transpose=0</a>
Then move on to three chords. There are a number of songbooks with these on Chordie.
Try The Lion Sleeps tonight
<a href="http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetsome.org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fr%2Frem%2Fthe_lion_sleeps_tonight.crd&songbook=source&transpose=0" target="_blank"> http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url= … 2Fgetsome. org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fr%2Frem%2Fthe_lion_sleeps_tonig ht.crd&songbook=source&transpose=0</a>
Not as cool as Stiff Little Fingers, but they'll get you motoring.
4. And just keep going - or, as we say in Belfast, "Keep Her Lit".
You guys are great.
A few comments.
By "modern" I mean what some of us might call the cheesey pop stuff that is around for young teens now, like Blount, Busted, Girls Aloud etc. A lot of the girl plus guitar stuff around at the moment seems quite complicated. (And I'm just wondering if my parents thought the great songs of the '70's were cheesey too.)
I suppose I'm trying to avoid repeating the same problem I experienced with the old guitar tutor books that included songs like Tom Dooley, Banks of the Ohio and Red River that I being brought up on the Beatles and Stones had never heard before
I'm going to have to check out some of the songs you mention - John Prine for instance who I have missed along the way from Ji.
I love House of the rising sun, but I don't want my 10 year old sining it!
Thanks too for the 2-3-4 Songbook - a great idea.
Does anyone else have problems with the google adds extending over the Forum Reply box when you are typing?
I'm putting together a number of songs for my youngest daughter who is interested in playing guitar.
I am starting with G, C, D, and Em chords, moving on then then to Am and (horrors!)F. I am looking for suggestions for songs that are modern ( she's 10 )and fit into this pattern.
I am starting with the "Lion sleeps tonight" as that seems to to fit well. Others are Fields of gold, Here comes the sun etc.
Can you help? Can you suggest others, or altern=ative approaches to learning? She's just beginning to move between the chords more smoothly - do you remember how that felt yourself?
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by alansheeran
