I've always loved a mandolin family instrumental in the background. I've recently been exploring alternate tunings with my guitars and I've come to love the dichotomy of standard tunings displayed over (or even under) these alternates. I've looked at numerous vids trying to spell out what you just did in 5 simple minutes. Kudos to you sir, you've earned a subscriber at the same time as whetting my appetite to pursue this further. Now that preliminaries are out of the way...you are a gifted teacher. Thank you.
The octave mandolin is a mandolin that is tuned one octave below the standard mandolin (gdae) , whereas a mandocello is a mandola tuned one octave below standard mandola (cgda). Both have larger body and longer and heavier strings.
You have little choice. You may have to buy that mandolin and mandocello. I bought a Puerto Rican cuatro, and a Thai phin this year. We can't own every stringed instrument that captivates us, but we must try.
WOW!!! PERHAPS it's tome has come, to popularize these types of instruments, and open up a whole revolution in musical tastes!!??!!.... They all sound great!!! Thanks, for this demo!!
I fully agree. A friend of mine is convinced that mandolins are obscure even though it's used in a lot of folk, country, and whatever you'd call the Grateful Dead and similar bands
OK, I have what was sold to me as a Celtic bouzouki, tuned to GDAD, with the G and low D tuned to octaves, rather than unison (I like the sympathetic droning of the high G string, it gives it an almost sitar like sound). What am I playing? A Greek or Celtic bouzouki? Or doesn't it matter?
Does it have a round back or a flat back? The one is this video while tuned like a Greek one is built like an Irish one. The Greek one has a smaller body and a round back. Most of the time it also only has 3 courses although some have 4.
@@saoirsecameron Most modern Greek Bouzoukis are 4 courses and are tuned CFAD (though it can be tuned ADAD as I usually do). The 3 Course Bouzouki (the more traditional style) is usually tuned DAD (but there are many tunings for the Bouzouki). The CFAD turning is a fairly recent phenomenon. Irish tuning is usually GDAD and allows for a lot of creative chording (I play both a Greek and an Irish Bouzouki...being both Greek and Irish). The Irish Bouzouki is also really nice in Old Time Music. Then there's the Cittern which has 5 courses, but I'm not sure of the tuning, though it sounds nice.
I’m a fairly recent player of Irish Bouzouki myself- have played guitars, Mandolins, etc for quite a while. From what I can see so far, most common tuning for these in Irish music is GDAD, but GDAE is definitely out there also.
Informative and appreciated. I have been looking for a video like this for a good while. Thanks tons. I'm in NM and may pay you all a visit someday soon. :)
@@Sitiakogerapetritis Greek Dumbo? Didn't realise they did a version of that Disney movie, I must check it out, thanks for the recommendation, I wonder do they play bazooka's in it.
Great video, thanks for that! I still got a question: I've been playing the guitar for a few years now, and I want to get a new sound to my repertoire. I want to get myself either an irish bouzouki or an octave mandolin - I want to tune the instrument to ADAD with octaved strings on the two lower courses. I'm not sure which one to get because of the difference in the scale length: Is it possible to string up an octave mandolin with octaved irish bouzouki strings, tune it to ADAD and still have a decent amount of tension on the strings? Or would the be too floppy for that?
@@johnetone Try again. From a Mandola low C to a Mandolin low G is a perfect fifth. Mandola is tuned CGDA, if if were tuned a fourth lower than a mandolin it would be tuned DAEB. It’s NOT a fourth lower, it’s a fifth lower. Please do your research. C up to G is a fifth.
@@brentbreault7606 yeah, but an Octave mandolin is a 4th lower than a mandola. Because that's C to G. I thought he was talking about those. I just re-watched the video and realized that he was talking about the difference between the mandolin and the mandola. So my bad.
It's so sad that this is a video has no instrument with a round back like a Napolitan mandolin, the precursor to all those instruments. It's such a beautiful feature to be phased out.
