Singing And The OM

  1. Japhy
    Japhy
    I've noticed that I don't see many people singing while playing the octave mandolin. Being a singer myself I would like to see more of it. I've also considered stringing my OM in octaves similar to the bouzouki to perhaps accompany vocals even better. I'm primarily a solo musician and trying to work up a whole set on the OM. Opinions?? Thanks.
  2. sloanypal
    sloanypal
    Here's Tim O'Brien with his octave. Also look for Sarah Jarosz or Darrell Scott with octave...

  3. Ray(T)
    Ray(T)
    Does T.O. always string it that way? Looks to me like he has the G in octaves and only one D string - sounds good though!
  4. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Hi Japhy, interesting thread this. I play with a small group of friends (The Old Bores) and although we play mainly instrumental music for dancing (Scottish and Irish predominantly) we also do a fair bit of singing at different venues and we often use the octave and bouzouki to accompany our songs; both are tuned in unison GDAE and not in octaves. Have not really tried it with music which is not Scottish/Irish/folk but see not reason why it should not be useful on many songs. What is your repertoire?
  5. Eddie Sheehy
    Beth sings and plays bouzouki...

  6. Japhy
    Japhy
    My repertoire consists of a lot of folk ballads. Lately I've been trying to learn a lot of Planxty and Andy Irvine stuff. Especially the ballads. I also do a lot of original songs. I'll switch between guitar, OM, mandolin and even banjo sometimes. Still trying to figure it all out. (Above) A pretty girl playing Iron Maiden on the bouzouki! Does it get much better than that?
  7. lucho
    lucho
    After discovering OM/bouzoukis with John Saunders (Silent Lion) and Seamus Egan (Solas) in Ohio at the Kent folk festival in the mid 90s, I looked after to get some CBOMs to sing along, so for most of the past 15 years besides playing woodwinds I have played strings and sung with a church choir alternating every weekend citterns (spanish lauds), zouks and OMs....also laud and guitarra de fado with a galician folk band. On ocassion when no amplified or in the open I use tenor banjo too.... when playing solo I do prefere to play laud or OM for mass, OM/zouk for sea shanties and mandolin/tenor banjo for ITM sessions.
  8. Mandobart
    Mandobart
    When I play and sing, its always with either an OM or mandocello to accompany. I don't really like the sound of a solo mandolin to accompany my vocals. Regarding the octave pair strining; I've done it on several instruments. Didn't really like it on mandolin. I really do like it on mandocello and OM. Here are a couple vids of these, which I have posted before but I know most folks don't use the "search" feature:


    (OM)



    (mandocello)
  9. GKWilson
    GKWilson
    Here's one with Sarah.
  10. Ray(T)
    Ray(T)
    Puzzled! Is there a current trend to play with only one "D" string? Sarah does it and Tim o'B is doing it in the first video posted.

    What exactly is going on??
  11. GKWilson
    GKWilson
    Hey Ray. Iwas thinking the same thing so I checked closer.
    Both Sarah and Tim have their G and D strings tuned in octaves.
    Go to Tim's video at about 1:25 and Sarahs at :16. Enlarge the
    videos to full screen and you will see the elusive strings.
    It's just weird lighting. Half the time it looks like they don't even
    have E strings. Glad I didn't rip a D string off my GOM to see how it sounded.
    Gary
  12. Ray(T)
    Ray(T)
    Thanks for that Gary - I was viewing them on my iPad! I was thinking of trying it out next time I changed strings.
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