This free Irish guitar lesson from Folk Friend is the last in my series on easy to play chord scales for Irish guitarists and Celtic backing enthusiasts! I’ll be showing you my absolute favourite chords for my absolute favourite mode in all of Celtic music- A ionian (or A major). These chords will also fit with tunes in the common Celtic mode of B dorian. These are jazzier than the chords which I demonstrated in the first two videos in this series (linked below) but they are easy shapes to play and very quick and easy to change between by just sliding up and down the fretboard!
Last week I had the pleasure of talking to Duncan Cameron, a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist and Youtuber from Ontario, Canada. We had a long chat about such wide-ranging subjects as tunings used for Irish and Celtic backing guitar, the styles of classic guitarists like John Doyle, Paul Brady and even Django Reinhardt, the differences between the various styles of folk music prevalent in Canada, how to accompany Irish songs and loads loads more!
Here are some links to Duncan Cameron’s social media and music:
Here are Amazon links where you can buy all of the music we mentioned in this video. These are affiliate links- if you buy through any of them I receive a small commission which enables me to continue to run this channel. Please make sure that you click the correct one for your country otherwise I won’t receive any commission- thank you in advance for supporting Folk Friend!
Barde:
UK: https://amzn.to/3nKI8tf
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USA: https://amzn.to/3lF58HW
La Bottine Souriante
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USA: https://amzn.to/3nNYfWG
Pete Seeger:
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Canada: https://amzn.to/33WAvrN
USA: https://amzn.to/3iZ0piy
Tony Mc Manus
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Canada: https://amzn.to/34UCCeW
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Martin Hayes and Denis Cahill
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Canada: https://amzn.to/3lQtMpr
USA: https://amzn.to/2ItKmNn
Paul Brady and Andy Irvine:
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USA: https://amzn.to/2ItOlJQ
Ewan McColl
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USA: https://amzn.to/33WYxTl
Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger (only available in UK)
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The Dubliners
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Liz Carroll and John Doyle
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Finally, here is a clip from the work of Dr Aindrias Hirt which gives further information on his theory on the “natural scale”.
Dr Aindrias Hirt: https://otago.academia.edu/AindriasHirt
(Extract from “The European Folk MUsic Scale- A New Theory”, paper by Dr. A Hirt available at the link above):
“What I found is the following. If a trained art musician hears a natural trumpet playing in the lower range (see Figure 15: G3, C4, E4, G4, A4, C5), that musician will classify the tune as tetratonic (four notes per octave; that is, four notes ascending including and starting on C4, and then the octave, C5). If the tune happens to rise to D5, the diatonically trained musician will then assume that D4 is in existence (a note an octave lower)25 and declare that the tune is pentatonic (missing F4 and B4, but having five notes per octave; that is, five notes starting at C4 and then the octave, C5); this implies that the pitches present are G3, C4, D4, E4, G4, A4, C5, D5, when in fact D4 does not appear in the tune at all. A similar erroneous assumption may occur again on a different note (F5) as a shepherd’s trumpet ascends in pitch. A tune that would be classified as pentatonic (missing all Fs and Bs), is declared to be hexatonic once F5 is found; this is because the trained art musician will assume that the lower octave F4 is in existence. To explain this last point in more detail, examine a tune which scholars have classified as pentatonic (having C4, (D4), E4, G4, A4, C5, D5, E5) until the tune ascends to an existing F5/F♯5. Once the tune includes F5/F♯5, scholars will assume that the lower octave F4 exists, and the tune is then declared to be hexatonic (missing B4, but not F4), resulting in a scale of: C4, (D4), E4, (F4), G4, A4, C5, D5, E5, F5, etc. This classification occurs even though both D4 and F4 do not exist. Simply put, because diatonically trained musicians think in terms of seven notes per octave and “octave equivalency,” it has never occurred to them that they were dealing with a system that was not octave-based.”
This free Irish guitar lesson from Folk Friend covers one of the most popular tunings out there; drop D. This is a great tuning for beginner folk guitarists as it has the nice low, booming bass notes of a tuning like DADGAD but without the need to learn loads of new chord shapes!
If you are interested in finding out more about the amazing guitarists Tim Edey, John Doyle, Arty McGlynn or Paul Brady who I mentioned in the intro then please consider buying their music through the links below. These are affiliate links so I receive a small commission if you buy through them, which enable me to continue to make free Youtube content for you! Please note that you will need to click the link for your country otherwise they WILL NOT WORK.
Tim Edey: UK: https://amzn.to/2TlMzwg
USA: https://amzn.to/3klj75K
Canada: Not available- sorry!
Arty McGlynn:
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Canada: https://amzn.to/2HvuGZf
Paul Brady:
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Canada: https://amzn.to/3okRzj0
John Doyle:
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USA: https://amzn.to/3klux9q
Canada: https://amzn.to/2TiKwcI
You can also buy a full DVD of John Doyle teaching Drop D guitar here:
In this week’s free Scottish and Irish guitar lesson from Folk Friend, I’ll be looking at the playing of the amazing folk / gypsy jazz fusion artist Peerie Willy Johnson, a fantastic traditional guitar player from the Shetland Isles. In the first part of this video I’ll be showing you a set of guitar chords he used together often and some of the principles behind his chord choices. I’ll also be showing you how you can emulate his “La Pompe” strumming pattern (as borrowed from Django Reinhardt and other gypsy jazz guitarists). In the second part, I’ll be looking at his recording of the classic, traditional hornpipes Harvest Home and Ragtime Jane, taken from the amazing Willy’s World album, and showing you how he applies jazz theory to come up with outstandingly original chord progressions for folk music and how you can take his chord choice techniques and apply them to your own guitar playing!
This free Irish guitar lesson from Folk Friend covers one of the first topics I ever made videos about- strumming along with jigs! These are probably the most common type of tune in Irish and Scottish folk music. They are in the compound time signature 6/8 , with six quavers (8th beats for American viewers) in every bar. They have a very distinctive sound- if a tune goes “diddly diddly” or “da-da-diddly” then the chances are that it’s a jig!
There are two main patterns used by Irish and Scottish backing guitarists, and in this video I’m going to show you both of them. You can find more ideas for rhythmic variations in my more in-depth jig video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-kdVnVQpQ8
And the top secret “upside down” jig pattern (more difficult, but seriously cool) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj7JjiDWXlk
This free Irish guitar lesson from Folk Friend covers the music theory behind the amazing chord progressions of the amazing Shetland jazz / folk guitarist “Peerie” Willie Johnson. I’ll be analysing the chord progression he played on the track “Harvest Home, Ragtime Jane” from the Willie’s World album.
