Irish Guitar Podcast

This tune is played in D Minor. This is an ideal tune for music teachers to teach their students as it is uncomplicated, and from an accompaniment viewpoint, is very basic - only two chords, D Minor and C. File size is 2.43MB. Duration is 7 minutes 4 seconds.

This lesson is one of Tony's own compositions.On his regular trips to Ireland Tony spends time in the North Leitrim region, which is the ancestral home of the O'Rourkes. Manorhamilton is part of that region.File size is 5MB.Duration is 10 minutes 21 seconds.

This reel is normally played in D, but Tony's arrangement is in C, with a capo on the second fret.File size is 3.61MB.Duration is 10 minutes 32 seconds.

Joe Bane was a tin whistle and flute player from the Magherabaun area near Feakle in East Clare. Musicians such as Mary McNamara and Martin Hayes picked up a lot of tunes from him.This is a hornpipe, and Tony plays it in the key of F.File size is 3.49MB.Duration is 10 minutes 10 seconds.

Another 16-bar reel, the first part is in B Minor, and the second in D Major.File size is 2.7MB.Duration is 7 minutes 53 seconds.

This tune is a 16 bar reel, normally played in the Key of G.Tony's arrangement is played in an Open D tuning, so to play in G you'll need to capo the 5th fret.Details on the tuning, and on chord shapes for Open D, are provided in the booklet (Book 3). The tuning is D A D F# A  D, from the lowest pitched string to the highest.File size is 3.43MB.Duration is 10 minutes.

The Fisherman's Jig is in fact a slip jig.Slip jigs comprise only a small percentage of the Irish Music repertoire and you can attend session after session and not hear them at all. Tony often plays this with Na Ceannabhain Bhána (which we had in Lesson 16 in Book 1).File size is 2.54MB.Duration is 7 minutes 25 seconds.

We return to our 'normal' program with a slide.

This is a bonus lesson, since it's not within the genre that we're studying. Rather, it's Tony's arrangement of Danny Boy, also know as The Londonderry Air.It may be a bit daunting for the newcomer. Sheet music and tab notation are provided in Book 3.File size is 3.79MB.Duration is 11 minutes 3 seconds.

Tony picked this tune up from the late Billy Moran. Billy was a button accordionist from Galway who migrated to Australia in the late 1940's and made an enormous contribution to the musical heritage of Australia. The A, or first, part is played using the D Mixolydian Mode and the B or second part uses a D Ionian (or Major) mode.File size is 4.88MB.Duration is 14 minutes 13 seconds.

This week we have a lovely jig.Tony talks about the use of overtones to enhance your playing, and which can be used to good effect in this tune.File size is 4.01MB.Duration is 11 minutes 41 seconds.

This week we have another piece by the famous blind harper, Turlough O'Carolan.(Note that we've migrated the web content for the podcast to www.irishguitarpod.com; there you'll find more extensive content.)File size is 2.89 MB.Duration is 8 minutes 25 seconds.

Caisleán an Óir is a hornpipe.This arrangement is in D Dorian, a type of D Minor, but without a Bb in the key signature.The D Dorian has the same notes as the C Major Scale.File size is 2.27MB.Duration is 8 minutes 8 seconds.

Technically not too demanding, this is a lovely tune, quite typical of the beautiful music that emanates from the hills and valleys of North Leitrim.The recording on this podcast episode is from Tony's CD "The Maid At The Well". (You can purchase this CD, or individual tracks from it, on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody, and other online music outlets. But don't purchase "Bernie Cunnion's", because it's free on the podcast!)A couple of announcements:1. Tony's CD "An Sliabh Glas", is also now available online. Visit www.irishguitarpod.com for track listing and sleeve notes, and links to purchase.2. Tony's also put together a Guitar Chord Dictionary - a comprehensive book with over 2,100 chord shapes. It's available to download from www.irishguitarpod.com for a very reasonable US $20.File size of this episode is 4.45MB.Duration is 12 minutes 59 seconds.

This is a short reel, with 16 bars. It's in the key of E Minor, with two sharps in the key signature, which means it's in the E Dorian mode.Tony sometimes refers to this as the "Irish Minor", and many Irish minor tunes use a Dorian mode.Sunday, 1 March 2009File size is 4.79MB.Duration is 13 minutes 57 seconds.

Not to be confused with "Andy McGann's Jig" (which we had in Lesson 19), this is a completely different tune.It's one of the many compositions of the late New York fiddler Andy McGann. It is in the key of D, but on guitar Tony plays it in C, with the capo on the second fret.This is the first tune in Book 3.File size is 2.91MB.Duration is 8 minutes 29 seconds.

This tune is a composition of the late Paddy O'Brien from Nenagh in Co. Tipperary.Paddy O'Brien’s tunes are often very challenging, but are also very musical. You will need to move your left hand into the third position when you reach the 11th bar. You can use the gap provided by the open E at the beginning of the bar to move into the third position, and then move back to open position for the last two bars.This, incidentally, is the last tune in Book 2.File size is 2.93MB.Duration is 12 minutes 50 seconds.

This reel is in D, so there are no notes that are played on the first fret. Also the highest note in the tune is the F# on the 1st string, 2nd fret, so you won’t have to move your left hand.The tune does require picking on all six strings. Keeping your left hand 'square' to the fretboard will help. In the accompaniment, there area a few  B Minor chords placed at strategic points in the second part of the tune, which add a touch of melancholia.File size is 1.74MB.Duration is 7 minutes 37 seconds.

A 16-bar reel consisting of two four-bar sections, each repeated once.File size is 1.3MB.Duration is 5 minutes 41 seconds.

Originally in A minor, this tune is sometimes played in G minor - for example by both Martin Hayes and Kathleen Collins have recorded in G minor.Martin pointed out to Tony that many A minor tunes are played in G minor in his native East Clare.Tony's version here however is in the original A minor.File size is 1.8MB.Duration is 7 minutes 52 seconds.