Trad Guitar Accompaniment

Megane

Hi. I recently purchased a guitar & would love to know more about learning how to provide accompaniment/backing to trad music. I play some instruments (whistle, accordion...) & know some basic chords on guitar & would like to think that I can learn/pick things up pretty quickly.....:)

In an effort to teach myself, I started looking/searching the net, but I have come to a halt with the different types of tunings etc that can be used! (Drop D , DADGAD, etc).

Can anyone help me out by letting me know where I should start? I would appreciate any help/websites/tips etc you could provide....


Cheers

cue brute

a lot of guitarists go for dadgad and other open tunings as well as 'dropped d' which is standard tuning with the bass e string tuned down to d

there is good reason in theory for these tunings but i have always found standard tuning to be the most useful and versatile

i've been anchoring trad sessions for ten years or more and currently have two or three a week - you can hear some of my accompaniments on www.rapscallion.ie

hope this helps

tom

Strings.ie

Like Tom, I'm also a standard tuning backer. Dadgad is lovely but there is nothing limiting about playing in standard. Drop D is a nice compromise if you're looking for that lower drone.

Megane

Thanks for the input folks...

From both your replies, I think it might be best to stick with standard tuning & see how that goes before progressing! Although, I have tried messing about with Drop D using a few tabs/chords I found on the net... there is a nice sound to it, I admit! so I am tempted to go with it.......

For standard tuning, is it just a case of play what sounds good to accompany the tune or is there more to it than that......would you suggest lessons/books/online info, to be the best way forward or just good ole practice!!!

cue brute

the standard chords for trad are simple enough
G D A C Am Em Dm Bm

occasional useful chords for me are E F#m Cmaj7 Fmaj7 D9 Am7 Dm7

simple enough compared to jazz or classical except be prepared for changes at very odd points in the melody

a lot of guitarists return to the 'home' chord on beat 1 of the following eight bar sequence - i prefer to reach the home chord on the last beat of the last bar in the sequence bar which sounds early to a lot of ears but it is generally what the tune implies in 90% of cases

again listen to www.rapscallion.ie for examples

sorry if this sounds too complicated at this stage, but you may in that case find this advice useful later on

hth

tom

Strings.ie

Megane wrote: »

Thanks for the input folks...

From both your replies, I think it might be best to stick with standard tuning & see how that goes before progressing! Although, I have tried messing about with Drop D using a few tabs/chords I found on the net... there is a nice sound to it, I admit! so I am tempted to go with it.......

For standard tuning, is it just a case of play what sounds good to accompany the tune or is there more to it than that......would you suggest lessons/books/online info, to be the best way forward or just good ole practice!!!

The thing about accompaniment is everyone does it different. A Tune is a tune but the chords you place behind it can make all the difference. You just need to find your own style which takes a lot of time and experimenting.

It can be difficult in a session because on the one hand you want to try out different chords but if you keep going to ones that don't work it might not go down too well with the others. On the other hand there is only one way to find out what works and what does not work.
If you can, find a recording of solo tunes and try playing along or get a decent tune book with chords and when you are comfortable try changing the odd chord here and there.

Its a hard one to teach really. I just hear a sound in my head and I guess experience tells me what chord to play. Its not unlike cooking and knowing what ingredients go together.