I am a GDAD man on the bouzouki, it suits my style, but lately I'm noticing a serious amount of variations. It used to be GDAE vs GDAD, but ADAD seems to be getting very popular, and recently I met Joe Foley who plays ADAE, I also know a fella who plays GDGD. Does anyone else have any other tunings that they use?
Bass bouzouki? Is that a different instrument altogether? Like a blarge?
I've been using GDAD since seeing Andy Irvine a while ago, when a bouzouki epiphany occurred and I went for accompaniment only (I've got little fat hands which means struggle with the stretch when playing tunes in GDAD). I still twang out a couple of slower tunes, but am slowly learning the whistle to compensate.
However, since hearing Eoin O'Neill play on Mary Custy's album 'With a Lot of Help from my Friends' I've been thinking of retuning to ADAD to give that a try.
Sorry about this, Sugarfoot Jack, but I'm not Eoin O'Neill. Bass Bouzouki is bigger than a Blarge, Andy Irvine has a Davy Stuart Model, a feckin' monster of a thing, he looks like a hobbit playing the thing... Actually, come to thing of it, he has a kind of Bilbo Baggins look about him!
I chatted with Andy Irvine after a gig we went to see him at (which was brilliant). A really nice, approachable chap, happy to talk to a bouzouki nerd like myself - even down to which plectrum he played with.
He was playing his Sobell guitar bouzouki which seemed to be held together by gaffer-tape (although I think it's been back to Sobell for repairs since).
Didn't have a big zook with him, but a nice octave mandola. He did look a bit hobbit-like whatever he was playing, come to think of it (though I didn't look to see if he had hairy feet).
He's certainly filled out the space behind his bouzouki over the years! Andy "never gets tired of the road" it seems so will eventually be playing a small gig in a town near you and is very approachable.
How many 'zouk tunings do you need?!
There are eleven different tones (in the standard western tempered scale) and you have eight strings if you tuned the pairs differently and not in octaves or unison.
So there must be eighty eight basic combinations let alone blends of octaves and unisons for each course…and the order of the strings: standard (bass up to treble), re-entrant, and mixed.
The answer is hundreds and hundreds!!!
And then there would be untempered and quarter tones, microtones and so forth.millions of different possible tunings.
My 5 course is usually tuned CGDAD (so I can accompany, but still capo the 7th and get GDAEA for playing tunes). But it has often been in DGDAE and DGDAD. A fellow 5 course playing friend of mine used to tune his ADADA.
It has been suggested that the whole developement of the irish bouzouki was stimulated by the foreknowledge of enlarging abdomens in the celtic music community. Knowing that you couldn't have a bowl-bellied bouzouki played by a bowl-bellied musician in the years to come led to the creation of this new instrument - whilst Moynihan, Irvine, and Lunny were still young, hungry, and svelte it wasn't important, but as the waists thickened it became impossible to balance 'zouk steadily against navel.
Meanwhile, over on CBOM........there has been a whole discussion on how to tune, and more importantly, string, a short-scale 5-course ( ie a cittern ) into 5ths, provisionally CGDae; one suggestion was to acknowledge that you couldn't get a top E-string that would not break if you were at mandolin pitch from the top, or a bottom C-string with any tension or resonance if you were tuning below the usual bottom G of a 'zouk, on that short scale. Useful suggestions included tuning it as GDaeb, or FCGda.
This is a serious question. In GDAD is the G a fat string or a thin one? I will understand the answer better this way, rather than asking is it the top string or bottom, as I don't which which is the top or bottom of any stringed instrument.
Bouzouki tunings
Bouzouki tunings
I am a GDAD man on the bouzouki, it suits my style, but lately I'm noticing a serious amount of variations. It used to be GDAE vs GDAD, but ADAD seems to be getting very popular, and recently I met Joe Foley who plays ADAE, I also know a fella who plays GDGD. Does anyone else have any other tunings that they use?
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by eoinbouzouki
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Na Eoin I only do what I'm told.................
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Saint
Re: Bouzouki tunings
DAea..........................http://www.xs4all.nl/~hspeek/bouzouki/
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Saint
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Saint, you're sticking with GDAD, and that's that's, alright!!!
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by eoinbouzouki
Re: Bouzouki tunings
DAEA is a bass bouzouki tuning, same fingering as GDAD
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by eoinbouzouki
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Bass bouzouki? Is that a different instrument altogether? Like a blarge?
I've been using GDAD since seeing Andy Irvine a while ago, when a bouzouki epiphany occurred and I went for accompaniment only (I've got little fat hands which means struggle with the stretch when playing tunes in GDAD). I still twang out a couple of slower tunes, but am slowly learning the whistle to compensate.
However, since hearing Eoin O'Neill play on Mary Custy's album 'With a Lot of Help from my Friends' I've been thinking of retuning to ADAD to give that a try.
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Er, is that the Eoin?
I've just read your profile . . .
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Sorry about this, Sugarfoot Jack, but I'm not Eoin O'Neill. Bass Bouzouki is bigger than a Blarge, Andy Irvine has a Davy Stuart Model, a feckin' monster of a thing, he looks like a hobbit playing the thing... Actually, come to thing of it, he has a kind of Bilbo Baggins look about him!
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by eoinbouzouki
Re: Bouzouki tunings
But you give lessons . . .?
I chatted with Andy Irvine after a gig we went to see him at (which was brilliant). A really nice, approachable chap, happy to talk to a bouzouki nerd like myself - even down to which plectrum he played with.
He was playing his Sobell guitar bouzouki which seemed to be held together by gaffer-tape (although I think it's been back to Sobell for repairs since).
Didn't have a big zook with him, but a nice octave mandola. He did look a bit hobbit-like whatever he was playing, come to think of it (though I didn't look to see if he had hairy feet).
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Bouzouki tunings
He's certainly filled out the space behind his bouzouki over the years! Andy "never gets tired of the road" it seems so will eventually be playing a small gig in a town near you and is very approachable.
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Bren
Re: Bouzouki tunings
"He's certainly filled out the space behind his bouzouki over the years!"
Must be a problem with the instrument, as I seem to be doing the same . . . : )
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Bouzouki tunings
You need one of these:
http://www.acousticguitar.net/tonegard.html
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Bren
Re: Bouzouki tunings
How many 'zouk tunings do you need?!
There are eleven different tones (in the standard western tempered scale) and you have eight strings if you tuned the pairs differently and not in octaves or unison.
So there must be eighty eight basic combinations let alone blends of octaves and unisons for each course…and the order of the strings: standard (bass up to treble), re-entrant, and mixed.
The answer is hundreds and hundreds!!!
And then there would be untempered and quarter tones, microtones and so forth.millions of different possible tunings.
Personally, I stick to good old GDAE though.
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by yhaalhouse
Re: Bouzouki tunings
My 5 course is usually tuned CGDAD (so I can accompany, but still capo the 7th and get GDAEA for playing tunes). But it has often been in DGDAE and DGDAD. A fellow 5 course playing friend of mine used to tune his ADADA.
Pete
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Reverend
Re: Bouzouki tunings
It has been suggested that the whole developement of the irish bouzouki was stimulated by the foreknowledge of enlarging abdomens in the celtic music community. Knowing that you couldn't have a bowl-bellied bouzouki played by a bowl-bellied musician in the years to come led to the creation of this new instrument - whilst Moynihan, Irvine, and Lunny were still young, hungry, and svelte it wasn't important, but as the waists thickened it became impossible to balance 'zouk steadily against navel.
Meanwhile, over on CBOM........there has been a whole discussion on how to tune, and more importantly, string, a short-scale 5-course ( ie a cittern ) into 5ths, provisionally CGDae; one suggestion was to acknowledge that you couldn't get a top E-string that would not break if you were at mandolin pitch from the top, or a bottom C-string with any tension or resonance if you were tuning below the usual bottom G of a 'zouk, on that short scale. Useful suggestions included tuning it as GDaeb, or FCGda.
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Bren, I checked out that tone guard, what a pointless piece of equipment! Unless of course you have a belly coated in sandpaper!
# Posted on July 28th 2007 by eoinbouzouki
Re: Bouzouki tunings
This is a serious question. In GDAD is the G a fat string or a thin one? I will understand the answer better this way, rather than asking is it the top string or bottom, as I don't which which is the top or bottom of any stringed instrument.
# Posted on July 29th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Bouzouki tunings
The fat ones.
# Posted on July 29th 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Just to clear up any lingering confusion, the bottom strings are on top and the top strings are on the bottom.
# Posted on July 29th 2007 by Steve L
Re: Bouzouki tunings
Thank you, Sugarfoot. But if it turns out you are winding me up.......
# Posted on July 29th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Bouzouki tunings
. . . then I've been tuning my bouzouki wrongly all this time : )
# Posted on July 30th 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Bouzouki tunings
I've discovered another new one, a cittern player that I met in Edinburgh tuned his ADGAD, there is no end to my search!!!
# Posted on August 6th 2007 by eoinbouzouki
Re: Bouzouki tunings
For God sake, yhaalhouse, lighten up, it's only a bloody discussion about bouzouki tunings!
# Posted on August 14th 2007 by eoinbouzouki