I had the great pleasure of hearing Altan play on Friday night (well worth the 200 mile drive through a snow storm to get there!), and was interested to see that Ciaran Curran used a capo on his bouzouki on nearly every tune. I have used a capo occasionally on guitar, but never on my octave mandolin. I know the bouzouki has a longer scale; is that the reason to use one? Do any of you use capos on your bouzoukis or octave mandolins? Why or why not?
I use a sliding capo all the time on my octave mandola. I've taken to playing in GDAD and means I can move the chord positions up and down. Might sound lazy, but it gives me the opportunity to get the open strings resonating in different positions.
This is quite common for bouzouki and mandola players. Mc Donough from Dervish is at it, and Manus Lunny does it too.
Ciaran Curran's Capo
Ciaran Curran's Capo
I had the great pleasure of hearing Altan play on Friday night (well worth the 200 mile drive through a snow storm to get there!), and was interested to see that Ciaran Curran used a capo on his bouzouki on nearly every tune. I have used a capo occasionally on guitar, but never on my octave mandolin. I know the bouzouki has a longer scale; is that the reason to use one? Do any of you use capos on your bouzoukis or octave mandolins? Why or why not?
# Posted on March 6th 2007 by Jameson Stew
Re: Ciaran Curran's Capo
I use a sliding capo all the time on my octave mandola. I've taken to playing in GDAD and means I can move the chord positions up and down. Might sound lazy, but it gives me the opportunity to get the open strings resonating in different positions.
This is quite common for bouzouki and mandola players. Mc Donough from Dervish is at it, and Manus Lunny does it too.
# Posted on March 6th 2007 by Sinocal
Re: Ciaran Curran's Capo
I think most bouzouki players do this.
Look at Alec Finn, Andy Irvine.
It will maded your mandola sound alot sweeter in certain keys and not as low. Try it.
# Posted on March 6th 2007 by Hugo Chavez