How To Play Irish Music On The Acoustic Guitar

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Once you get bit by the bug of Irish music, or Celtic music in general, you soon start trying to learn how to play it on the acoustic guitar. Most people run into the same problem: there seem to be very few rules!

That is because there are very few rules, such as chord changes and just how to learn the difference between a jig, reel, strathspey, slip jig and slide. Irish music is all about sentiment, feel and playing creatively. If you are stuck in a mechanical rut, the music will sound boring and uninspired.

One of the best ways to begin is simply to listen to a lot of Irish music played on the guitar. One of the best players anywhere is John Doyle, from Dublin. He learned by trial and error and has developed into one of the finest to be heard anywhere.

His playing is a good example of playing from the heart, but at the same time, he is quite accomplished technically. One curious aspect is that he is left handed and this has caused him to learn in a rather unorthodox manner.

Because his first guitar was right handed, his down beat was actually an up beat for him. Once he got his own left handed guitar, he disovered that his up beat was very strong and he uses this to accent and puntuate phrases in his rhythm playing.

It is a good idea to begin with reels, since they are in 4/4 time and are easier to play than a jig, for example. Practice the strumming in a new way. That is, lighten up on the pick, a lot, almost until it falls out of your hand. Hold it differently also. Hold it with two fingers underneath and the thumb on top.

Strum with your forearm, not your entire arm or the wrist. Imagine your thumb to be one with your forearm and strum hard. You will discover that a softer pick works much better as well. Because you are holding the pick so lightly, the sould will not be harsh, even though you are strumming forcefully.

Try damping the strings as well with the heel of your hand. Vary the damping with open strumming to achieve a varied and ever-changing sound. The subleties are what make it so intriquing.

A favorite tuning of most Irish guitarists is drop D. This is great because it gives the ringing, drone sound to the playing, plus it opens up many new chord possiblities. Chord changes in Celtic music are not written in stone, which means that there can be many ways to play the same tune.

Very often the chords used are only partial chords, and only some of the six strings are strummed. This also adds a special flavor, such as a droning D string that is always ringing in the background.

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Jigs are usually more difficult, but also very interesting and fun to play. The 6/8 timimg causes many people headaches because the strumming is still comprised of down/up strums. There are numerous ways to handle this, but one common method is to play down/up/down/down/up/down/down/up/down/up. It is somewhat awkward to begin with, but with practice you will quickly see the advantages of this type of strumming.

Listen to fiddle tunes, guitar accompaniment, and even pipe tunes. There are many excellent traditional bands around that have awesome interpretations of great Irish, Scottish and other Cetic tunes.

A few good bands to listen to include: Altan, Clannad, Solas, Natalie MacMaster, Dervish, Cappercaillie, Silly Wizard, the and Battlefield Band.