Irish Music for a Week
By Rick | September 25, 2008
I’ll be on holiday in County Kerry for a week from Saturday 27th, so there will be no posts during that time. I’ll be too busy meandering around lakes and mountains and joining in pub music sessions. We have some good friends in Killarney who play a regular spot several nights a week in one of the local pubs. They are kind and tolerant enough to let me bring my mandolin along and sit in. I am pretty crap, so I don’t tend to play any solo tunes or show off - in fact last year they had to nag me all week before I would even play a slow air by myself on mandolin, or a tune on tin whistle.
I’m not interested in being the centre of attention. For me the enjoyment comes from simply joining in with other musicians (and trying not to ruin everything with my mistakes).
There are several different kinds of sessions in Ireland. There are the proper trad sessions which often kick off pretty late in the evening. These are not always publicised, and they are often more for the enjoyment of the musicians than that of the tourists. I wouldn’t recommend trying to crash one of these to join in unless you know what you’re doing and you understand the etiquette a bit. Maybe best not to shout out requests either!
Then there are impromptu ballad sessions where participation is not only welcome, it can be hard to avoid!
Lastly there are ’sessions’ which aren’t really sessions in the usual sense. They are more performances by a set group of musicians in a pub. These are often for the benefit of tourists, and the selection of tunes and songs may reflect that. Authenticity is sometimes compromised in the interests of accessibility. Some of these welcome contributions from visitors, while some prefer to get on with their performance without interference.
If you’ve never been, I do recommend Ireland as a place to experience how live music - and DIY live music! - can be an essential part of the pub environment. You’ll never look at another jukebox again.
Topics: Acoustic, Amplified, Getting Started, Jams/Sessions, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Quick Tip: Online Gig Calendar
By Rick | September 18, 2008
In an earlier article on gigging, I mentioned the benefit of a gig/commitment diary: either a book which one band member undertakes to maintain by listing booked gigs and dates when the band is not available to take bookings (members away on holiday etc), or an online calendar which all members can refer to. At the time of that earlier post, I hadn’t realised how well an existing facility fits the bill for an online gig calendar.
Post supported by car registrations UK. The car registration club
Google’s calendar is a great free tool. It allows you to record events such as gigs, with details of location, time etc. It also ties in neatly with Google Maps, thus meaning that gig details and directions to the venue are easily found.
Topics: Getting Started, Gigging, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Choosing What Instrument to Learn #5: Violin/Fiddle (part 2)
By Rick | September 16, 2008
If you missed the first part of this article, click the following link for learning Fiddle/Violin part 1
The Good News!
Last time, when I wrote this post, it must have seemed that I was actually trying to convince you all that fiddle was a nightmare of an instrument and that you should avoid it at all costs. No no no! Not at all! It’s just that if the stuff I post here is going to be of the lightest use to anyone, then it has to be honest and as comprehensive as my limited knowledge and experience will permit. So I have to point out the rough as well as the smooth.
Fiddle is my current obsession. I’ve been “playing” mine for a couple of months and I can get a handful of semi-recognisable tunes out of it. Unlike guitar, ukulele, mandolin etc, it is likely to be a few months before a beginner can actually get an violin to make anything like a consistently nice sound. However, after just a couple of weeks one starts to hear intermittent hints of the cool music one might (with luck and a good tail-wind) be able to wrestle out of the instrument a few months down the line.
Topics: Acoustic, Amplified, Getting Started, Instruments, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Choosing What Instrument to Learn #5: Violin/Fiddle (part 1)
By Rick | September 11, 2008
First off: fiddle and violin are the same thing. Just different words for the same instrument.
So, as I may have mentioned, this is my new obsession. It’s also the hardest thing I’ve tried to play so far. That said, there are loads of reasons to learn to play fiddle…In my case, fiddle is appropriate because it is used in many of the musical styles I like: Celtic, bluegrass, old time, folk. It is a natural addition to my limited-competence armoury of guitar, tin whistle, mandolin, tenor banjo and bodhran.
However, a quick visit to Fiddleforum.com soon shows that there is plenty of scope for fiddling outside the genres I listed above. Jazz is another obvious niche (ever heard the late Stephane Grappelli play?), but violin turns up in rock and roll too. Electric violins are getting to be really popular. They add a whole new sonic dimension to any band - s well as a touch of novelty. That’s a mission you’ll notice here - I encourage people to learn more than just guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Everyone and his dog learns one of the standard rock band instruments. Learn a more obscure instrument and there will be fewer people better at it than you to make you look bad!
Thanks to Private Number Plates UK for supporting this item
Anyway, back to the fiddle. Shall we do the bad news first? OK, but promise you’ll read the positive stuff that follows the doom and gloom?
Topics: Acoustic, Amplified, Getting Started, Instruments, Uncategorized | No Comments »
New Instrument!
By Rick | August 26, 2008
Well, new to me, that is.I recently started learning fiddle. I figured that, as I have now spent several years sucking at guitar, bass, mandolin, bodhran and tin whistle, I might as well be useless at something really different and interesting. And it is really interesting. This is an instrument that manages to be fun and really frustrating at the same time.
To be honest, that’s one of the reasons for the hideously extended hiatus that you’ll have noticed between this post and the last one. I’ve been spending so much time learning and playing music that I’ve spent next to no time writing about it! But even though I totally need to practice for a couple of hours a day if I’m ever going to get competent on this violin thing, I hereby undertake to get a freakin’ grip and post regularly to this blog.
Since I last wrote I’ve had a rethink about a couple of things. The gig-guide thing, for example. With plenty of guides already existing (Lemonrock, for example) it seems a bit futile to reinvent the wheel. I’ll still be happy to post to publicise gigs, but I’m not going to bother pushing a structured guide.
On the other hand, the bluffers’ guide thing still appeals, so I’ll be putting together ones for mandolin and ukulele in the next few days.
Sorry about the lull. Please keep coming back!
Topics: Acoustic, Getting Started, Instruments, News and Announcements, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Guitar: Absolute Beginners’/Bluffers’ Lesson #1
By Rick | September 11, 2007
Ok, you want to play guitar. You want to play well - eventually - but for now you just want to be able to play a few songs and maybe jam a bit with other people. No problem!
One word of warning. Your early progress will be limited by how much you practice. Sorry, but even to bluff and fake it by learning this bare minimum, basic, essential stuff you will have to be able to play some chords, and it takes a while for your fingers to learn to make the right shapes and to change between the different shapes at a workable speed.
By the way, we’re not just going to teach you a handful of chords and then cut you adrift: we will be building on each step in the teaching process. However, we will be teaching these early lessons in a modular fashion, and each lesson will leave you with the raw material to play more songs or to add extra features, flourishes and flashy bits to the songs you already know.
Here’s a little secret that may encourage you. By learning just three or four chords you will be able to play along with literally hundreds of the most well known songs!
Let’s get started…
Topics: Getting Started, Lessons, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Coming Soon:Instrument Lessons/Bluffers Guides
By Rick | September 5, 2007
Yup, we’ll be introducing some tutorial and reference material for beginning instrument players. Eventually we hope to have whole, structured learning courses for a number of instruments, but these will obviously take a while to build up so we’ll do it in installments.
Some of the initial lesson articles will be in the form of quick-start or “bluffers’” guides aimed at teaching the basics that one needs to start playing songs as quickly as possible. These will be unashamedly superficial. They will teach things like the basic chords and progressions that are used in thousands of the most popular songs. In-depth tutorials on music theory and instrument technique will follow but, in keeping with the philosophy of the site, the stuff we’ll be producing most urgently will be the stuff that will cut through the crap and enable you to stand up with a bunch of other musicians and just play!
The first couple of articles will appear in the next few days and will be quick-start guides for guitar and mandolin.
Also on the way are more in our series concerning which instruments beginners may like to consider learning.
Topics: Lessons, News and Announcements, Uncategorized | No Comments »
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