Learning Trad Guitar

Sgm

Hi everyone,

I really want to learn some trad guitar tunes (to play at sessions and stuff for example), but have no idea where to start or what to listen to. I'd like to learn some tunes in DADGAD for accompanyment.

Can anyone give me the names of some popular trad song/artists that would be commonly known in the trad world????

Any links or help on where to start are greatly appreciated!

nuttz

Sgm wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I really want to learn some trad guitar tunes (to play at sessions and stuff for example), but have no idea where to start or what to listen to. I'd like to learn some tunes in DADGAD for accompanyment.

Can anyone give me the names of some popular trad song/artists that would be commonly known in the trad world????

Any links or help on where to start are greatly appreciated!

Have you checked out the lessons on the OAIM website?
http://oaim.ie/dadgad-guitar-accompaniment

All top musicians giving the classes, worth the 20 euro.

glord

where are you based ?I am offering lessons in the Kinnegad area .I mostly play drop D now.I also play the tunes on guitar also.Rate is reasonable.

padraig71

If you're dead set on using DADGAD, Sarah McQuaid's 'The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book' is not a bad place to start. Paul De Grae's 'Traditional Irish Guitar' is also pretty good, although the tab is for some other alternative tuning that he favours. I prefer standard tuning myself - more versatile and you don't have to keep retuning whenever you want to play a song in standard tuning.

If you read music, check out the tunes section of thesession.org, or download John Walsh's collection of well-known session tunes from ceolas.org/tunes. You can also find midi files for tunes online if you search for them, which might be useful.

Youtube is a useful resource - try searching for Arty McGlynn, Paul Brady, John Doyle, Micheal O Domhnaill, Steve Cooney, Tim Edey... It's also worth looking at some bluegrass flatpickers for technique.

A few albums I would recommend:

'McGlynn's Fancy' by Arty McGlynn, or any of his albums with Nollaig Casey.
The self-titled album by Paul Brady and Andy Irvine.
'Meitheal' by Seamus Begley and Steve Cooney.

On the off chance that you're based in Galway or Connemara, I give lessons.

endacl

padraig71 wrote: »

If you're dead set on using DADGAD, Sarah McQuaid's 'The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book' is not a bad place to start.

Agreed. It's not a bad place to start. It's a terrible place to start. A mine of misinformation...

Although it is useful to lean on if you're in the habit of writing letters on single sheets of paper. Good size.

If you're looking for a book recommendation OP, you could do worse than a copy of Frank Kilkelly' tutorial. Good variety of tunes and rhythms, and he demonstrates in various tunings. So you don't get trapped in the dadgad web. Chris Smith's book on 'Celtic Back-up' (I hate this phrase. Really gets me celtic back up...) is also well worth a read if you're interested in having the nuts and bolts of scales, modes and chords explained.

Graduate as soon as possible from the book to a friendly fiddler to throw you a wink when you do something good, and a sneaky kick in the shin when you do something bad. Listing to lots and play more. This stuff ain't hard.

Oh. And learn to play the tunes. Most important advice. You needn't play them at 2-in-the-morning-wild-session-at-a-festival speed, but It's good to know them, melody players won't have as much justification for looking down on you, and, well.... they really aren't that difficult.

;-)

P.S. Hope you caught this before wasting cash on the aforementioned letter-rest. An old phone book does the job just as well.

Sgm

Still looking for more music to keep me going if anyone knows any?

Oink

I don't have any other suggestions, but how did you get on in the last year and a half? Are you done with all the above ?

thekingatc1

go on youtube and search irish trad song listen to a few pick what ones you like try and learn them thats what i would do