Acoustic

  • I recently recorded a cover version of Long Time Gone by Darrell Scott. Here’s a close-up of the guitar part. No transcription for this one! If you’re playing tunes at this level, you should be well able to figure it out by ear, like I had to! YouTube’s playback speed adjuster is really handy for…

  • Originally by Darrell Scott but you might be more familiar with the version by The Dixie Chicks, or indeed Sligo’s own Sharon Conway, who used to perform with her band Ruby Ridge in Hargadon’s. Sharon’s version was the first one that I heard, and now it’s my turn to record a version. I hope I’ve…

  • I recently published my version of Hard Times Come Again No More, which I recorded in Luke’s studio in Grange. Here’s a video featuring a close-up of the acoustic guitar, for anyone who would like to delve a bit deeper into it. It’s in drop-D tuning, and played with a fingerpicking technique that’s based on…

  • ‘…many days you have lingered around my cabin door, oh, hard times, come again no more…’ Everybody else has done their take on this classic song by Stephen Foster, and now here’s mine. I based this recording on the version that appears on the fabulous album Appalachian Journey by Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O’Connor and Edgar…

  • (This is another one of the singalong videos I’ve been making for the Ballagh Choir of Ages, which features a short guitar lesson at the end of the song.) Fittingly, since it’s the first of July tomorrow, here’s the classic Irish summer anthem July by Mundy. The trickiest thing about this is probably getting used…

  • Part 6 of the Sweet and Lockdown series of videos. The last video in the series, and the last song I tackled in the 100 Day Challenge. This is far from the hardest, or fastest, song in the movie, but it’s the hardest one I worked on, and it forced me to really stretch myself.…

  • Part 5 of the Sweet and Lockdown series of videos. This one was featured in the trailer for Sweet and Lowdown – it’s called I’ll See You In My Dreams. As with all the performances in this series, there are some slight differences between the transcription – either for aesthetic or practical reasons. (Some phrases…

  • Part 4 of the Sweet and Lockdown series of videos. Almost a ballad – I think it’s a bit too fast to really be considered a ballad – here’s Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams. As with all the performances in this series, there are some slight differences between the transcription – either for aesthetic or…

  • Part 3 of the Sweet and Lockdown series of videos. 12th Street Rag, as played by Emmet Ray/Howard Alden. As with all the performances in this series, there are some slight differences between the transcription – either for aesthetic or practical reasons. (Some phrases were too fast for me to play so I occasionally had…

  • Part 2 of the Sweet and Lockdown series of videos. This is a fairly straightforward 12-bar jazz/blues in Bb. It’s just two choruses from a much longer track. As with all the performances in this series, there are some slight differences between the transcription – either for aesthetic or practical reasons. (Some phrases were too…

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