Originally Posted by
Paul Cowham
A slight word of caution though, inexperienced (and even experienced) guitarists can be unpopular at sessions as they don't always listen. If you can get to one, then you probably should. If you want to try and play, then do so extremely quietly as you feel your way around the tunes (what key are they in etc), i.e. don't contribute to the overall sound of the session until you feel more confident and/or are invited to.
If you already play tunes on the mando then it might be worth trying to understand things like the key on the mando before applying to a new instrument?
If I'm at a session and there is a tune being played that I don't know, there are a couple of things to establish before thinking about the chord changes and melody, firstly what sort of tune is it? Jig, reel, polka, slide, hornpipe, slipjig? I think that the rhythm is the most important thing to understand before anything else. If you already play the tunes on the mando, presumably you have some understanding of this? Then there is the key. Irish music tends to use 4 modes, I'd suggest that you need to be able to recognise by ear the difference between major tunes, minor tunes and mixolydian tunes (which I like to think of as Irish blues, Banish Misfortune is a great and commonly played jig which uses this mode).
Finally, DADGAD is used by many Irish guitar players, and can sound really good (as can any tuning in the right hands). I personally use standard and some drop D. Some of the best Irish players such as the great late Arty McGlynn and John Doyle use drop D. Inexperienced DADGAD players can use a capo to change key and just play the same shapes. This may be a useful thing for learners, but I don't think is the best way to play, every tune is different. Standard tuning is probably more tricky to pick up, but open strings can be used in a wider range of keys than with DADGAD. I tend to not use a capo, but capo on third fret for tunes in flat keys (such as Bb, Gm, Cm, Eb).
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