Chords and at least 12 other things you can do …

OK, now that we’ve got you to stop going ker plunk, ker plunk (Please read part I!), we can talk about the left hand. Most of us started learning guitar by learning a few simple chords. Nothing wrong with that. However, to accompany Irish music there are a lot of other things you can do and should try. In his terrific book on accompanying Irish music, (Prof) Chris Smith lists about 15! That is a good book to have if you are serious about improvisational accompaniment.

First, the basics. The simplest things to do are what I call the two and three chord tricks. For a major key, these are the I – IV – V chords that we all know and love (in the key of D they are D, G and A, for example). You should be able to hear where they fit or at least not clash with the melody. There is another mode common to Irish and Scottish music called Mixolydian (you can impress your friends with that one. I wanted it on a vanity license plate but it does not fit). This has a flatted seventh, and is the common key you hear with bagpipe tunes. In the key of D mix, the chords are D and C MAJOR (think Old Joe Clark, G and A chords). Then there are those minor modal keys, same as mountain modal in American music (Cluck, old hen). So for the key of D minor-modal, we use D minor and C major. Use the root minor chord and the flat seventh MAJOR.

Variations: minor/major substitutions. Common chord additions and substitutions for the major key involve the minor third (Heart and Soul on kid piano – I VIminor, IV, V). So now we can add a B minor chord and substitute it for the D chord sometimes. The II minor can substitute for the IV chord. So now we have added an E minor instead of G for the key of D. I also use a I, VIm, IIm, V progression a lot. Remember the year 1625. Something important probably happened then. Then there is the common walk up, I, II minor, III minor, IV, V. Fits in a lot of places. For the minor-modal, you can also substitute the VI major where the I chord goes, but do not overdo it, or it will become a musical cliché. You can also walk down. There is a part of Julia Delaney where I go D minor, C, B-flat (there is your VI major chord), A then G minor (in the B part). And I walk back up. I would be happy to show you this any time. Chord substitutions is a big topic and you will have to trust your ear for what sounds OK.  More later, stay tuned. [ See also chord substitutions for contra dance accompaniment ]

Other stuff you can do. Here is the fun part, where it gets interesting.

1. You do not need the third note of the scale. A lot of this music will sound fine with just the first and fifth note of the chord. It’s not like Ragtime where the thirds and flat sevens are real important to the chords. This gives it an open modal sound that fits this genre. DADAD for the D chord for example. No F#.

2. You can play other notes in the bass. So-called slash chords are great. So for the second appearance of a G chord, you play B/G which means put a B in the bass instead of a G. This will work nicely if you are doing the boom-chuck approach (see below).

3. High drones. Drones are the notes of the key usually, the tonic or root or first note of the scale. So the note D for D major, minor modal or mixolydian. There is a reason why bagpipes sound they way they do, and it is very much a matter of having those pipes droning along on the same note. For high drones, these notes are in the treble. You WILL NOT play all the strings, maybe just one, two or three. This is where your right hand becomes very important, because you are not playing either the chords or melody. You are now immersed in the essential primitive rhythm of the dance music. If you don’t know what to do with the right hand, listen to a syncopated drummer like Scott Whitham. Or just follow the rhythm of the melody line to be safe. Be creative!

4. Low drones. This is the same action but on just your bass string or the lowest two.

5. “Home and away.” Pick the root note and just one other. Move back and forth. This is a great exercise to get you out of strumming chords.

6. Running bass lines – just like a bass player.

7. Counter melody – just like a bass player only up higher. Don’t forget you can hammer-on, too.

8. Running dyads or triads – moving lines of two or three strings. I do this a lot walking up and down. A moving mini-chord. Try to pick the individual strings instead of strumming.

9. Moving dyads or triads against drones. This is a lot easier if you are in an open tuning. My tuning (DGdad) allows me to move on the middle three strings while I leave the two D’s on the outside untouched. Often I move on the G and A strings and leave all three D’s untouched. Very bouzouk-ish. Once again, picking is better than strumming.

10. Play the melody. If you listen to Gail Blake she is very good at this on the second repeat. If you put this in the middle repeat, you can build up to some power chords for the final repeat, assuming the usual session progression of three repeats of any tune. For example, I like this mix: high drones on the first time through, then melody, then moving dyads and/or power chords for the final repeat. Switching to the melody for a time can be especially effective if you are playing in a small group where only a few melody players are present.

11. Pick noise. Yup. Dampen the strings and scratch away! You will need to get your right hand to do something interesting. You are using your strings like a drum. Not too loud, please.

12. Silence. You do not have to play all the time. On some tunes I sit out on the second repeat and come back in droning at the end, then blast away for the third repeat of the tune. Great dramatic effect!

So drone away. Try droning on one note though one entire repeat. You will get some strange looks, but what you do next will release the incredible stress that has built up and command attention. Drones can also include the fifth note of the scale (so D and A for the D chord). Drones will sound better if you double up a note on two strings. So I drone on the fifth fret of my A string, and leave the high D open. That gives four strings ringing the same note (or almost, the “chorus” effect). When I play the A string on fret 5 and the G string on fret 7, I’ve got 10 D notes! Remember I am tuned DGdad. So now we have Ddddd., in three octaves. Very powerful.

Obviously, playing moving lines against drone strings is easier if you are in an open tuning like DADGAD. Some people like drop-D or even double drop D (both E strings down a whole tone). There is nothing wrong with traditional Spanish tuning (EADGBE), and there are a lot of good Irish guitarists who use regular tuning. But you can have a lot of fun and the idea of moving against the drones, and this is simply easier in an open or semi open tuning like DADGAD. To those who are too shy to try it, I will let you in on a secret: Your brain can learn all those new chords and in fact you (yes YOU!) can play in lots of different tunings. It is not hard! Do not underestimate yourself.

Another note on rhythm: I talked a lot about jigs in the last blog article but not much about reels. The simplest and dullest thing to do is down-up down-up. Guitarists like John Doyle do this effectively because it is very crisp, never sloppy. It tends to sound like a sewing machine to me but if you keep it crisp and never behind the beat it will do. Other guitarists like Paul DeGrae are fond of the boom-chuck approach, where you play a specific bass note followed by some part of the rest of the chord. This of course can lead to purposeful picking of specific strings, which should be your long term goal. Lose that strum!

A few guidelines for playing in Irish sessions for newcomers. The Irish drum and playing guitar, part 1.

So you’ve heard an Irish session and you think it soundls like great fun. It is. You will probably want to sit in and bring out the old guitar or maybe you figure that drumming stuff doesn’t look that hard so you might buy a bodhran and join in. Here’s some advice:

Irish drum (bodhran, from the Gaelic meaning “to deafen”): My advice — forget the drum. It is not as easy as it looks. If you get one, take some lessons so you know what the rhythms are. Buy an instructional CD, go to a workshop at some place like Catskills Irish Week, or at least get someone to show you how to do it. There are established techniques. You will be very unwelcome if you just start banging along.

1a. Remember there is a general “one-drum-at-a-time” rule. So if someone else is drumming, perhaps the regular drummer, you should sit out. You will probably end up doing this a lot. So why drum at all?

Guitar – part I: Your right hand is very important!

Guitars can be great with Irish music, but it is a very different style than you use for folk or bluegrass. Irish dance tunes emphasize the downbeats. Most other American folk and country styles have strong backbeats. um- CHUCK, um-CHUCK. Rule 1: Don’t ever do this in an Irish session.

Following rule 1 will change your strumming style. Don’t forget that jigs are in 6/8 and reels in 4/4. Jigs at full speed may sound like there are two beats (there are) like two sets of triplets, but that doesn’t mean you do two strums (up and down) per beat. This will sound like garbage and worse, it will make you tend to speed up, a big NO-NO.

The jig rhythm has six beats so you should be able to play six strums per measure:

with 1 2 3 / 4 5 6 the usual strum is D U D / D U D, where D is a down and U is an up stroke. Note that the strong beats, 1 and 4 have down strokes (stronger) and there are two downs in a row at 3 & 4. This is not easy! It can sound choppy and you will be tempted to forget about is and just do down – up, down – up on beats 1 and 3, then 4 and 6. ker-plunk, ker-plunk. Rule 2: Please don’t.

That being said, I admit that when I play with the Ithaca session or perform with Traonach, they go so fast that I have worked out a pattern that is D U D / U D U, but I have found a way to do a very strong upstroke on beat 4. I do the alternate up and down because it is smoother for me at top speed that DUD DUD. But in any slower occasion I will slip back to DUD DUD. Also, I am playing bouzouki which has much less strumming and more picking. And I still have six motions, not four! (This applies to drummers, too. There is nothing more annoying than a drummer going ker-plunk, ker-plunk to a jig).

Finesse: the length of the six beats are not equal. You make the 1 and 4 a little longer and steal some time from the 2 and 5. This makes a swingy rhythm that sounds like this:

5 6 - 1 / 2 3 - 4, like a horse trotting sound — ta-da-dump , ta-da-dump, (where does the lone ranger or William Tell take his garbage? ta-da-dump , ta-da-dump, ta-da-dump dump dump).

Notice that I have not said anything about chords! That is because most new guitar players are so worried about getting the “right” chords (there are none!) that they don’t worry about their RIGHT hand, which they must.

When not to play: There is a general rule of one accompanist at a time, like the one-drummer rule. So if there is someone already playing a guitar, you should probably sit out unless you can play something complementary — like the melody, a bass line, a countermelody, or something that sounds like a bouzouki (drones). But two people strumming different chords is not acceptable.

When not to play, #2: If you do not know the tune, do not be plunking along trying to figure out what chords to play. Sit off to the side where no one can hear you and play as quietly as you can. You will not help if you are doing something strange (out loud) that does not fit. Some tunes are predictable, some are not. There will be no chord charts to help you at a real session. You can, however, ask someone to write out the chords they use (mine change at each repeat, so I would be little help) but you should probably buy them a few beers for doing that. You can ask and write down the names of the tunes and get a book like O’Neil’s to check on the possible chords at home later.

If I encounter a tune that I do not know, I generally sit out for one whole A part and the first repeat of the B part before I try anything. 24 - 32 bars! Get a feel for the tune and where it is going before you just try random chords. By sitting out you can make the next repeat more dramatic and build intensity, generally a good thing.

In conclusion,

Sorry if most of this sounds negative, like a list of Don’t’s. But there can be a lot of frustration and ill feelings in a session if you don’t fit, and Irish sessioneers are notoriously picky about how the music should sound. Please email me at htl1@cornell.edu if you’d like more info or have any questions at all about what I’ve said here.

Next blog: Guitar part II. Chords and 10 other things you can do.

FORUM thread for Ithaca Irish Session - always check with venue if traveling a distance.