What tuning are you using on your Irish bouzouki when you play the Greek music? Also, what tuning are you using when you play Irish music on your Greek bouzouki? I decided to buy two Irish bouzoukis (or is that bouzoukii?). I have one of then strung with unison tuning for the doubled strings and the instrument is tuned to GDAE, like a mandolin, but an octave lower. That's what I plan to use for Irish style music and related styles. That way I can transfer any mandolin tabs and music to Irish bouzouki with minimum fuss. For the other one, I re-slotted the nut for and strung it with Greek-style strings using octave tuning for the doubled strings on the two lowest courses, and tuned it to CFAD like a Greek bouzouki. I plan to use this one for learning Greek-style music. I call that my quasi-Greek bouzouki. Maybe it's not as authentic as a bowl-back Greek bouzouki, but I figure it's probably close enough for what I want to do at this stage, and it was a lot less expensive than buying a real Greek bouzouki. I bought both Irish bouzoukis from Thomann, and they are made by Hora. One is in natural wood finish and the other is black, so I can tell the two instruments apart easily. They were not very expensive, and they sound good to me.
Awesome idea. IMO - anyone who goes into a guitar store (say, Guitar Center) and asks "what does a guitar sound like," would be shown the 100s of different guitars available. Add different strings and tunings and you would come to the conclusion that there really is no simple answer to the question. It's no different with the bouzoukiis :-), be they Irish/Celtic or Greek style. As the video demonstrates, the octave tuning in the Greek bouzouki lends itself to the droning strokes that fits certain songs -- but there are 1000s of Greek bouzouki tunes that don't utilize the drone, and a unison tuning makes more sense, even for Greek songs. Lastly, the Greek bouzouki was "invented" in the 1920s when ethnically Greek people immigrated to mainland Greece from Turkey (long story), and they wanted instruments that reflected the sounds of their former homeland. At the time, the Italian-style, bowl-back mandolin was popular, so luthiers borrowed mandolin parts and created the first bouzoukis -- maybe from octave mandolins, but with only 3 courses of strings (tuned DAD). Around 1950 or so, the 4 course bouzouki was invented, which facilitated play by musicians familiar with the guitar (usually via a CFAD or DGBE tuning). Point is, in its heart, the bouzouki has an Italian mandolin. And when you look at all these stringed instruments (mandolin, mandola, octave mandolin) and (baglama, tsoura, bouzouki) and celtic bouzouki, you find tremendous similarities. It's quite fascinating to see the migration of instruments but also sounds as they traverse the world.
@@doreengumas9240ahem incorrect. First off all Asia Minor has a long history that includes it's soundscapes and the fact it was full of Greek colony settlements allready by classical Greek period and called Ionia. There is a Greek instrument from antiquity using a turtle or wooden soundbox but with a long string arm called πανδούρα which seen several evolutions in Greece and was played in it's latest even during Ottoman occupation when Greece was part of Ottoman empire and was even favored by one of the Greek generals (Macrygiamnis) fighting in our independence war and that is derived from that ancient instrument but has a soundbox that looks like a baglama /bouzouki type and is called Ταμπουράς (yes name seen some shifting of syllables during evolution while time passed). And there was also another similar soundbox shaped instrument with different arm length called Τζουράς ( or also Tsouras). Therefore i would say claiming Italian heritage because mandolin has similarities is wrong as it could well be ionians had pandouras that changed in tambouras in Asia Minor too and also probably affected some other local there instruments but received likely influences in turn from oud too and those together with the ones preexisting in Greece may arived with the refuges in 1922 and combined gave birth to bouzouki.
One great similarity is that both (or three since the greek bouzouki consists of two types), through the years, are being tuned around D as the most common tonality. This is so because D is the natural Dorian/ shepherd/ traditional music tonality (same as the irish tin whistle etc). Another fact is that the greek bouzouki is the biggest in size in its family of greek double stringed instruments (tzouras, baghlamas etc). Most common tunings: greek 6 stringed: DAd, greek 8 stringed: CFAd, Irish GDAd (celtic tuning, a very popular tuning for many greek instruments too, including the bouzouki).
But, older Bouzouki tunings (which were similar to the Saz tunings) were not like that. Older Bouzouki players like Keromitis, Vamvakaris came up with this DAD tuning. The other tunings have the second string as the main one.
I always thought the Greek bouzouki had more resonance and a kind of natural reverb because of the bowl shape. But I can't hear it as much here, maybe it depends on mic placement?
It's true. The greek bouzouki has more resonance and reverb. It is also true as said that greek bouzoukis can get REALLY expensive instruments, and are manufactured on demand, with diverse techniques, to what the buyer needs, so their timbre (and outlook) palette varies a lot from instrument to instrument, too! Love from Greece!
It's the same instrument! I'm not sure if the Greek one sounds OK on the Irish tune, but the Irish one sure does on the Greek tune! The only difference, apart the tuning, is the body shape. The irish is a little bigger, to compensate for the loss of volume, because of the flat back..
It's a difference in degrees; sure the Irish and Greek bouzoukia are similar to each other compared to other stringed instruments. However, to me--a player of both--they are quite different. First, the Greek bouzouki is typically a bit longer--by about an inch. This gives it more than two full octaves of play. Second, the traditional trichordo Greek bouzouki (the REAL bouzouki) has a much thinner neck because it has three course (6 strings). This design lends itself to up-down fretboard play. The Irish bouzouki has a thicker neck in width and depth to support the extra tension of two more strings. This slows down play up and down the fretboard, and makes it better for across the fretboard play. The Irish bouzouki is probably more resilient--most have truss rods. Greek bouzoukia do not typically have truss roads, and seem more fragile to me. Irish bouzoukia are more common as a supporting instruments, and Greek bouzoukia are always feature instruments (almost never play chords).
@@slimwillywilliamsWell said. I'd add one more point - that no two instruments have quite the same tone. I'd bet that there are Greek bouzoukia that have a sound more similar to the Irish one you played in the video, and Irish bouzoukia that have a sound more similar to the Greek one. Anyone who has gone to a guitar store and played several side by side will quickly notice a very wide wide variety of sounds even from instruments that are virtually the same shape. The same applies to bouzoukia.
Irish bouzouki looks similar to Greek bouzouki but it's completely different instrument. The tuning of greek bouzouki is D A F C (from bottom to the top) and it has a different sound than irish bouzouki. This isn't a Greek bouzouki, this sounds like a banjo. To play Greek bouzouki you should use a different playing technique to make the right sound.
@@Tungdil_01 there are two basic types of greek bouzouki, the six stringed tuned DAd, and the eight stringed tuned CFAd ( with exceptions). The most common Irish bouzouki tuning is the celtic tuning ( it is also a very popular tuning in Greece on other instruments) . But you may tune an stringed instrument however you like in the end of the day. Moreover, you can play any genre and any tonality with any tuning ( this stands for all instruments except diatonic ones like the diatonic harmonica). Of course tunings like the DAd tuning are very appropriate for drones, the DADGAd for modal music and CFAD for minor/ major music. But there are no limitations really as long as you are well qualified.
