Author: Folk_Friend

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DADGAD

Beginners’ Guide To Celtic DADGAD Accompaniment – part 2 – The Kesh Jig and another handy slide-able shape!

https://youtu.be/LHt7rVuDJsc

 

Welcome back to part 2 of the Folk Friend Beginner’s Guide to Celtic DADGAD Accompaniment! This video series will be covering some of the material from my latest book, which shows you everything you need to know to become a great Celtic DADGAD backing guitarist and is available at the link below. This week’s installment will cover how to pick chords by ear for a very popular Irish session tune in the key of G major, the Kesh Jig.

Click here to open my free Playalong video for the Kesh in a new tab.

Here are the root notes I mentioned in this clip:

DADGAD root notes

Click here to watch part 1

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DADGAD

Complete Beginner’s Irish DADGAD guitar accompaniment lessons part 1 – picking chords in D major

It’s nice to be back making videos at Folk Friend HQ! I’ve finally finished my latest book, The Beginner’s Guide To Celtic DADGAD Accompaniment, so to celebrate I’ll be making a free course of DADGAD Youtube tutorials for complete newcomers to this rewarding and easily accessible tuning! This week’s instalment covers how to pick chord by ear in major keys- we’ll be looking at a classic Irish reel called The Maid Behind The Bar.

Click here for the free Playalong video

GET THE NEW DADGAD BOOK

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Strumming patterns

The “Faith” funky reel strumming pattern

Welcome back to another Celtic guitar accompaniment tutorial from Folk Friend! This week I’ll be demonstrating the “Faith” strumming pattern which is mentioned in my first book, Backing Guitar Techniques For Traditional Celtic Music which you can buy here

Eagle eyed viewers will notice that my guitar is in DADGAD tuning- I’m currently working on a complete beginners guide book to accompanying folk music by ear using this tuning so watch this space ;).

The guitar I’m playing is an AWESOME Turner 75CE jumbo electro-acoustic with solid spruce top and rosewood back and sides… If you’re looking for an amazing sounding guitar for accompanying Irish music at only £550 brand new then I really can’t recommend this one enough! Find out more on the Finale Guitar online shop by clicking here.

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Protected: Irish session accompaniment workshop

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Celtic music theory Chord scales for modes

Inversions for Irish guitarists part 2: chords in A major for Ger The Rigger

Here’s another video from Folk Friend Celtic Guitar Tutorials, celebrating the release of my latest book (see below) with a guide to how to use inversion shapes for Irish and general Celtic guitar accompaniment in the key of A major / ionian! I’ll be using an Irish polka called Ger The Rigger which you can find in the Folk Friend tune playalongs pack with on-screen guitar chords and played on a loop at three different speeds- perfect for practicing your Irish guitar backing!

Guitarist’s Guide To Chord Inversions Book

Tune Playalongs

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Folky Fridays #55 – The wily mixolydian mode and its peculiarities

This week’s Folky Fridays free online guitar lesson live stream from Folk Friend will be all about the mixolydian mode. This mode has some peculiarities which can be exploited for lots of guitar accompaniment fun, so I’ll be running you through some fun things you can do in standard tuning (EADGBE), drop D (DADGBE) and DADGAD tuning.
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Folk Friend meets Frank Kilkelly, author of Accompanying Irish Music On Guitar

This week I was lucky enough to interview an absolute giant of the Irish guitar world, Frank Kilkelly! Known as a guitarist, singer and teacher, Frank has played with loads of amazing musicians from Brendan Power to Sharon Shannon, to Boys of The Lough. He is also the author of Accompanying Irish Music On Guitar, which presents a hands on “learn by playing” approach. In this clip we talk guitars, tunings, history and Tommy Peoples’ accordion lamps!

Huge thanks to Quentin for setting up this interview.

Get Frank’s book here: https://irishtradguitar.com/volume-1-2/

Here are Frank’s various social media:
Facebook Irish Guitar page.
Website
Video Courses
Patreon page
Youtube channel

Plus the accordion lamps

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Battle of the Irish guitar tunings: EADGBE (standard) VS Drop D VS DADGAD – Which is best?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWUclFN9nU

By popular demand on Folk Friend: IT’S THE BATTLE OF THE TUNINGS! Folky heavyweight DADGAD will be defending its Irish guitar title belt against versatile veteran EADGBE and plucky underdog drop D as we determine once and for all: what is the ultimate Irish trad guitar tuning?!

Watch my John Doyle series here for more drop D chord shapes and tricks.

I recently finished writing a complete Beginner’s Guide To Celtic DADGAD Accompaniment! You can find it here.

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Folky Fridays #54 – A very slow session with chord ideas to practice!

This week’s Folky Fridays free online guitar lesson live stream from Folk Friend will be something of an experiment- I’m going to play some tunes very slowly and suggest some chord ideas for you to try at home. Hopefully this will be a nice way to practice some new ideas in context and swap thoughts with other guitarists!

If you’re looking for loads of slow Irish tunes to practice along with, with on-screen guitar chords, chord diagrams and lots more then become a Folk Friend member to take advantage of the playalongs series by clicking here.

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Fingerstyle Folky Fridays

Folky Fridays #53 – The easiest way to write fingerstyle arrangements for tunes in G and E minor

This week’s Folky Fridays free online guitar lesson live stream from Folk Friend will be covering a very simple way that you can write your own fingerstyle arrangements of tunes in G major or E minor. This technique can also be used to incorporate little segments from melodies into your chordal accompaniment.

My full jazzy arrangement of Tell Her I Am can be found in my first collection of fingerstyle guitar pieces, available here:

Irish Tunes For Fingerstyle Guitar – E-book edition

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