Welcome to Folk Friend, your one stop shop for Celtic backing guitar tutorials!
I teach guitar full time via Skype, Zoom and WhatsApp so drop me a message for a free trial lesson or visit the Folk Friend website. That's also the place to find all my free videos, Irish tune playalongs with on-screen guitar chords, books, accessories, strings and loads more.
As well as running this channel, I own Finale Guitar, Sheffield's friendliest guitar shop. Our online shop is now open for instruments and accessories and you can visit the Finale Guitar website to find out loads more about what we do here.
There is one physical advantage of DADGAD tuning. Since its a lower tune, the pressure of the strings on the board is lower. Its better for the strings and the instrument time life.
Thankyou! Please have a look at the Free Playalongs section on the videos page at Https://folkfriend.co.uk/videos/ There are several tunes there you can practice with for free (Maid Behind The Bar is in D) and lots more with on-screen chords and explanations for all the substitutions if you sign up for the full pack by clicking "Playalongs" on the top menu bar :)
what a great arrangement!! very exciting and fresh. I am definitely stealing some of those elements to impress my session friends ;p especially the fast chord changes in calliope house are driving it in a really nice way.
Generally the easiest way to solo is using the minor pentatonic shapes. If you search for them online then you'll want shape 1 to start from the root note to go with a minor key and shape 2 to start from the root note to go with a major key. For example to solo over a song/tune in A minor (dorian, aeolian or phrygian) take shape 1 and start from fret 5 on the bottom E string. For a song in C major (ionian, lydian or mixolydian), use shape 2 starting from fret 8. I hope that helps!
?? Why not just play the correct chords? Em ? F#m ? G? Not that hard in DADGAD, and you get a movable chord shape from them. Why not help guitarists be better guitarists, instead of lazy guitarists?
OK. We know all the chord shapes. We've practiced various rhythms over and over and NOW. I want to have some tips on how to weave melodies and chords together to produce pieces that could entertain my friends. For example, they won't be impressed with me strumming the backing to a fiddle tune that isn't there! And, simply playing the melody of a fiddle tune -without an accompaniment -sounds very "thin". So, when playing a fiddle tune, how, where and when do we insert chords, or bits of chords?
A very good question. I have made a few videos on how to write fingerstyle arrangements- you can find them all at folkfriend.co.uk/videos This one is probably the most comprehensive overview: folkfriend.co.uk/how-to-write-celtic-fingerstyle-guitar-arrangements-and-arrangement-competition-folk-friend/ It's on my to do list to make a full video course on the subject which will probably be some time next year (I have a complete DADGAD backing course in the pipeline before then). Thanks!
@@folkfriendThanks for that but It's really with the pick that I'm interested in. Where you can get an attacking. driving thing going. And, of course there's lots of Celtic fingering style stuff already out there.
Thanks for this. Good to see your fingers and what they're doing later on in the video. Please don't put loud noises as transitions between chapters, really hurts when you're listening on headphones and get assaulted with a high-pitched, piercing sound louder than the video. PS it would help people to find this if you had 'Teaching the Kerfunken in DADGAD' in the title! I stumbled across it purely by accident.
Hi, I bought your beginner book (transaction ref : 20N62415B2279281), but for some reason, I couldn't get the downloading link... can you help please ?
Man thanks a MILLION for these 4 parts videos! So useful, I learned so much from it. You're such a great teacher! Simple efficient way to teach, thank you so much! ☀️🎶 Wish you the best
Really really wish the moment you say something that is teaching something musical, you demonstrate it. The whole tappy foot thing in this or that beat to resolve is nonsensical to me. You are asking the verbal parts of the brain to "imagine" the musical bound rhythm of something you are not hearing. For me, I am instantly lost in the sauce.
That's a good point, I'm not sure why I didn't put more audio demos into the first few minutes of this video really. I usually do, perhaps I felt it was too long. If you'd like to drop me an email at info@folkfriend.co.uk then I'll be happy to give you half an hour on Zoom to run through it properly.
Verbal, auditory, and musical processing areas of the brain utilize different neural networks simultaneously. All you musical teachers have wonderful good stuff -- you feel your craft -- and the better-educated amongst you "know" your craft as well. Unfortunately, all of us, irrespective of our fields, rely on verbal explanations. And that is where communication in music fails and stalls: You are literally using words to explain colors and the relationships between colors to the proverbial blind man. Verbal analytics can explain a theory, but they can neither convey feeling nor the resonant auditory experience of rhythmic "resolution." I am sorry my earleir frustration bubbled over -- I understood your words and "felt" there was deep meaning in them, but they were perpetually out of my grasp. Apologies
No problem, glad it was helpful! You can find a more complete guide in Backing Guitar Techniques for Traditional Celtic Music too- you'll have to work out your own chord shapes but all the theory is the same :)
