In this course we will build on your previous knowledge of the Mandolin, developing your understanding of rhythms and techniques, by learning and playing Irish music. Traditional Irish Music is very varied offering us the chance to advance with our speed, eg. for jigs, but also allowing us to look at emotive playing for slower ballads.
I’ve aimed this course a little above beginner so if you have a basic knowledge of tab you will be fine. I go into lots of detail in my videos and you will see my fingers close up so please don’t be put off if the word ‘intermediate’ scares you. I’ve picked fairly well-known, friendly – and I think – pretty songs which I think you will love to play.
In this course we will:
•Briefly recap how to read tab – I didn’t want to focus too much on this as I have a beginner’s mandolin course already which covers it but I felt it might help those who may perhaps feel a bit rusty to have a basic reminder of how to read tab. Resources are available for download.
•Learn five Irish Songs – This is my main focus for this course and accompaniment is provided towards the end of each video lecture so that you may practice playing along to chords. Pdfs for the tabs and MIDI mp3s are also provided for you to download so that you may print sheets out, listen to the songs in isolation and learn at your own leisure.
•Use our knowledge of chords to consider how we might play accompaniment and melody at the same time. I touch on this at the end of the course – and I’m thinking about doing a separate, more focused, course on it in the future – but I felt it was worth including in this course as it can add so much to a song, just putting in a few notes from the chord in the accompaniment.
It is my hope that you will pour all you’ve learned so far on the mandolin into the songs in this course so that you can get the most out of them and use what you learn here on future pieces.
