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Consider the instruments used by your favorite celtic group Bolton Veterinary Hospital certainly, there’s Usb Audio Adapter fiddle … Ladies Undressed there may be a tinwhistle and perhaps some bagpipes. There’s 000 1 4gb Ipod Ipod Nano Nano Song a guitar and a bodhran (a sort of handheld drum) — but what about those other stringed instruments?

You may find a mandolin or a mandola in the group — and perhaps a bouzouki. In fact, a bouzouki may take the place of the guitar. What makes these instruments useful in celtic folk music?

First off, you’re probably familiar Espaces Vectoriels a mandolin. It’s a small (pretty much violin-sized) strummed or plucked instrument — you can finger chords Hotel In San Jose California it and strum it, or you can pluck individual strings to play a melody. Mandolin’s are common to most types of folk or country music. They have essentially the same Piano Bar Los Angeles length as a violin (the strings are about the same length) — in fact, it’s normally tuned exactly like a violin — GDAE! This makes it very easy to learn both instruments.

The mandolin has a high, ringing tone. When playing Bicycle Fitness Training chords, the mandolin’s high pitch and sharp attach have Bed Liner Review Spray Truck almost percussive effect … making it an excellent rhythm instrument. Since the mandolin isn’t loud when individual notes are plucked, most solo playing requires a fast and repeated picking technique.

The mandola is a little larger than the mandolin — giving it a lower pitch. Some tune it a fifth down from a mandolin — CGDA. Some folks even tune an entire octave lower — although the scale length isn’t really long enough for proper intonation. The lower tones alter the effect of strummed chords — instead of a sharp and ringing attack (like a mandolin), the effect is much closer to a guitar where the chords flow naturally to the background. Sharp and bright chords jump to the forefront of a song — sometimes this is good, but usually you want your rhythym instruments to be complimentary, not a featured solo instrument.

If lower is better for chord playing, then why not go all the way to an octave mandolin? Tuned like a mandolin to GDAE … except an octave lower … the octave mandolin also has a scale length close to a guitar. And here’s where we start running into problems!

How far can your fingers stretch? Most chords Flip Phone Verizon Wireless a guitar span 4 frets at the most — with 3 being the most common maximum stretch. Mandolin chords often span 4 frets — with some having a 5 fret span. When played on a short scale mandolin, this Laughlin Hotel Rooms isn’t a problem. When the scale length approaches 2 feet or so (about a guitar’s scale length), the required fret stretch is simply too much for most players.

A bouzouki has this same problem — originally used for Greek folk music, a bouzouki is tuned like an octave mandolin. This lower tuning makes it ideal for a Celtic rhythm instrument — except for the required fret stretch.

Because of this, you often see bouzoukis or octave mandolins tuned differently for celtic music — GDAD. Chord fretting in this tuning is much easier and the longer scale length (a few inches longer than an octave mandolin) results in deep, long sustaining chords — making a bouzouki a perfect rhythm instrument for Celtic music!

Joey Robichaux operates Celtic Sheet Music at http://www.celtic-sheet-music.com , where mandolin players can freely download over 3,000 Celtic fiddle tunes!