Because the search facility at The Mandolin Cafe doesn't seem to work properly, I've created a spreadsheet in Excel which contains links to individual tunes in the Mandolin Players In Ireland Social...
Because the search facility at The Mandolin Cafe doesn't seem to work properly, I've created a spreadsheet in Excel which contains links to individual tunes in the Mandolin Players In Ireland Social...
I love the way Paddy Fahy often plays around with the modality of his tunes, typically by messing with the 3rd and 7th scale degrees. (The 7th, in the case of this particular tune.)
Thanks for...
Fergal is a great fiddler, but this mandolin video he did is just fantastic. It needs to be shared, so here it is:
https://youtu.be/ZPDpZUkR0CA
David
And another one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-FC7ml8oKw
This is great. It's a tribute to the late Dennis Cahill.
https://youtu.be/S4ZPRJrupfI
I am doing an event at the Oxford Human Rights Festival next month, using Irish and Scottish traditional music to tell the story of migration, mainly to North America. It will be shown in Oxford on...
The Irish Mandolin comes up regularly on my Youtube feed. Although I can't remember how that started, it's certainly an awesome resourse, which I only very occassionally use, but which could easily...
I just wanted to give a shout out about a course that I finished on Peghead Nation. The course was "Playing By Ear" with a section on Picking Up Tunes on the Fly. It is taught by the violinist Lissa...
I don't stretch when playing my 23" scale GDAE tuned tenor guitar, I shift my hand slightly instead and it makes all the difference. The big lightbulb moment for me was to not approach playing it...
I refer folks to this Kevin Burke video about developing speed - even though he's playing the fiddle, and irish trad music I think his advice is probably applicable no matter the genre or stringed...
Learning the tunes beforehand makes it way easier to jump in, 'twould be way less nerve racking than trying to keep up with other players if ye don't know the tune well yet. The website below is a...
It's coming up for a year since my dear pal Ali Beag MacLeod left us, and such a duller place without his wonderful wit, presence, knowledge and Gaelic musicality. A few waltzes for his memory, with...
Hi Maxr. I see this video was originally posted by Ian Anderson, an internet friend of mine and whose son Paul is, along with Duncan Chisholm, one of Scotland's top traditional fiddlers.
For what...
From time I like to have a browse through the recent additions to the catalogue of tunes which have been posted to https://thesession.org And now and again I come upon a tune which is new to me and...
A quick update ... a sort of "almost the end of year" stocktake.
I'm really pleased that my humble efforts to evangelise the cause of Irish music played on mandolin seem to be appreciated by many...
I have finally got round to getting my old recordings on Bandcamp. You can hear/buy my albums Highland Mandolin and The Frozen River, plus my CD with my son Colin - Like Father/ Like Son.
I'm...
And something similar relating to my website.
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Volume 2 of the Irish Mandolin Tunebook is now complete...
A lot of my efforts in recent days - as well as the usual focus on traditional Irish tunes - have been on original compositions.
I've been delighted to be able to share four polkas written by...
A while ago, in another thread, I recommended Jon Antonsson's website which is aimed at Irish flute players but which contains a number of tools such as drones in a variety of keys and a "bodhrán...
Just got this lovely Frank Tate tenor guitar from Cafe member gortnamona/Lawrence the other day - it's an absolute beauty! This is one of my favourite jigs (written by Seán Ryan), and always the...
Jill McAuley has very graciously allowed me to use one of the tunes she's played on her excellent YouTube channel (from which I get much inspiration!) to enable she and I to play a "virtual duet". ...
Just thought IÂ’d share my thoughts on the Pono.
I have been curious about these GBOMs and particularly what the difference in tone and playability I could tell between the 21.5 and 23 inch scale...
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The Celtic mandolin is coming along nicely. It seems so little compared to my old Celtic mandolins, but it's not- it's a regular Sobell size.
The fretboard went on today, so...
I've added a new page to the site.
Those who follow my Twitter feed (a mere handful, tbh) which kicked off in November 2020 will know that now I've got rhythm going there, most days I post a link...