She Moved Thro' the Fair
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Trad. Shepherd Mouthblown
Smallpipes in D. I bought these a couple of years ago on a
whim. Why try to emulate bagpipes on a guitar when I could just
buy a set and play the real thing? Unfortunately, my first attempt
playing sounded a lot like a flock of penguins choking to death (as it
turns out, pipes aren't generally shipped in tune). I put the pipes aside
immediately, and for the next two years they lay unused in my office,
always turning up underfoot, awkwardly splayed on top of
Very Important Papers, or just generally being in the way. I
finally resolved a couple of months ago that either I would learn how
to tune the pipes, or it was off to eBay with them. After a
little research, I managed and even learned a couple of tunes (sort
of). Here's one. [Play]
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She Moved Thro' the Fair (in A)
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Another take of the above,
pitch adjusted to 'A' electronically, just for fun. [Play]
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Lament for Limerick/It's Not Yet Day
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This short arrangement of Lament
For Limerick is based loosely on Duck Baker's version from the CD Irish
Jigs, Reels, Airs and Hornpipes (SHANACHIE 97011). The Arrangement
of It's Not Yet Day is completely my own. My debut arrangement
-- be gentle with me.
Played on the Papoose Travel Guitar in DGDGCD (low to high)
(Gsus4). [Play]
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Last Farewell to Stirling
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A very simple arrangement of a
very simple tune. Supposedly a Scottish transportation ballad which
comes by way of Australia. I heard this on the Battlefield Band
CD reissue of Stand Easy and Preview (Temple Records
COMD2052). This arrangement could still use a lot of work, especially
at the break in the middle.
Played on the Papoose Travel Guitar in DGDGCD (low to high)
(Gsus4). [Play]
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My Generous Lover/Donal Og
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A Papoosified version
of My Generous Lover/Donal Og From Martin Simpson's Acoustic
Guitar Instrumentals Video #3. I highly recommend this entire video
series (3 tapes in all) available through Homespun Tapes. Simpson is
really an incredible musician and teacher.
Played on the Papoose Travel Guitar in DGDGCD (low to high).
Actually, the Papoose is tuned 5 steps up from a regular guitar -- so
on a standard guitar, tune to DGDGCD (Gsus4) and Capo V to get this
same effect. [Play]
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Rosie Anderson
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The Rosie Anderson part
from the medely Rosie
Anderson/This Shearing's Not For You/Bogie's Bonnie Belle (see
below), recorded with the ATM-35. Sounds a lot nicer than just using
the Fishman Pickup.
DADGBE (Dropped-D) tuning, capoed at the fifth fret. [Play]
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Rosie Anderson (Papoose Version)
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The Rosie Anderson part
from the medely Rosie
Anderson/This Shearing's Not For You/Bogie's Bonnie Belle recorded
with the Papoose Travel Guitar.
Recorded on the Papoose in DADGBE (Dropped-D)
tuning. [Play]
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March of the King of Laoise
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An approximation of Duck
Baker's version of this stately tune from Mel Bay's Complete Celtic
Fingerstyle Guitar Book (by Stefan Grossman, Duck Baker and El
McMeen) available from Mel Bay
Publications. I find the rhythmic playing on this one somewhat
difficult, so I have cheated a bit in my playing. I also added
substantial echo effects to the track which fill things out a bit and
help mask the occasional playing error.
Dropped-D tuning: DADGBE, capoed at the third fret, which
makes some of the awkward finger stretches in this tune less so. This
is my first attempt at recording with an actual mike (Audio Technica
ATM-35), rather than simply going with the output from my Fishman
Acoustic Matrix, and the results are MUCH better than before. [Play]
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March of the king of Laoise (Papoose
Version)
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The March of the King of
Laoise (Papoose Version)
An approximation of Duck Baker's version of this stately tune from Mel
Bay's Complete Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar Book (by Stefan Grossman,
Duck Baker and El McMeen) available from Mel Bay Publications.
Dropped-D tuning: DADGBE. Played on the Papoose
travel guitar. [Play]
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Lament for Owen Roe O'Neil
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I learned this one from the John
Renbourn solo guitar cd The Hermit (SHANACHIE 97014). I
added a couple of shortcuts to the original arrangement, however. This
cd is a terrific showcase for Renbourn's talents and includes a tab
booklet for about half the songs on the cd. Tab for much of Renbourn's
work, as well as a set of three instructional videos (produced by Stefan
Grossman's Guitar Workshop), is available through Mel Bay Publications.
Recorded on a Lowden D-32 tuned to Gm (DGDGBbD). [Play]
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Lament for Owen Roe O'Neil (Papoose Version)
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As above, but played on the
Papoose.
This version is recorded on the Papoose Travel Guitar.
One of the few tunes recorded here which illustrates some shortcomings
of the Papoose. The high notes played against open bottom strings in
the variation on the A part of the tune sound a good bit off. This is
because the intonation of the guitar begins to get pretty dicey above
the 10th-12th fret. Moreover, I found that the shorter scale length and
stiffer action on the Papoose made playing the B part, which utilizes a
couple of very cramped barre chords, much harder than on a conventional
guitar. [Play]
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Blind Mary
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The O'Carolan tune "Blind
Mary", more or less as arranged by Duck Baker in The Mel Bay
Complete Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar Book (by Stefan Grossman, Duck
Baker and El McMeen) available from
Mel Bay Publications. The book also includes arrangements by Dave
Evans of traditional Celtic tunes. Another recommended buy, The
Complete Celtic Song Book also has an optional companion CD which
includes a subset of about 25 tunes from the book recorded by Baker,
McMeen and Evans.
Dropped-D tuning : DADGBE capoed at the fifth fret, which
makes for a nice, delicate sound. [Play]
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Miss Gordon's Reel
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Trad. from The Guitar of
Richard Thompson available from Homespun Tapes. Lots of
really nice not-too-hard fingerpicking stuff on this 3-cassete series.
The guitar is tuned to DADGAD, capoed at the third fret. I added a tiny
bit of echo to this track to fill things out a bit. [Play]
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Banish Misfortune
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Irish traditional, learned from
the excellent cassette series, The Guitar of Richard Thompson
available from Homespun Tapes.
I learned this more by ear than from the tab, so it's a bit different
than his version.
Played on a Lowden D-32, tuned to DADGAD. The guitar is
strung with those wacky new Elixir strings from Gore. These are
pretty new -- we'll see how they've held up in a future recording ... [Play]
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| Banish Misfortune (Papoose Version) |
As above, played on the Papoose Travel Guitar, tuned to
DADGAD. Got a bit of distortion in the recording and haven't yet
pinpointed the source (mic, cabling or soundcard). [Play]
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