I recently pulled out the video camera and stayed up late last weekend shooting a few guitar videos. It is something I plan to do more regularly once I get setup in my own music room. Easier to leave the mics, lights, and camera setup that way.
My basic setup is a cheap $200 JVC video camera, and my Peluso CEMC6 mics going into the Presonus Mobile and Logic Pro. I capture the audio and video separately and sync them up afterwards in iMovie. This allows me to EQ the audio a bit, and solves the problem of the mics having to be very close to the guitar, and the camera farther away. Next on my list are some real studio lights and a backdrop cloth.
This first tune is an unusual setting of the irish session standard the Morning Dew. Its a tune I play regularly on flute, but the melody is quite different here. I heard this version played by guitarist John Doyle on his first album, Evening Comes Early. He does it in a different key but I liked the melody and arranged it here in G minor in the Orkney Tuning.
The next tune is a different one for me. For starters its in DADGAD, a tuning I do not play in much. A student sent me an mp3 of the late Tony Cuffe playing it and said he wanted to learn it. Not having any sheet music to go by I listened to the arrangement alot and tried to approximate it as best I could. The recording is in F, and the arrangement Tony was playing seemed to lay out pretty well in DADGAD with a capo at the 3rd fret. I am using the open sixth string as my root, which puts me in F.
I hope you enjoy the videos. I am going to strive and record new ones more often.
Comments 2
Kate Dalrymple sounds beautiful. Is a lot of Celtic music played in altered tunings (specifically DADGAD) for ease of playing (although I find it a difficult concept) or for a more ‘celtic’ sound?
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Hi Alan. I think ideally the player should determine the sound of the music, and not be overly influenced by patterns dictated by a particular tuning. That being said tunings like DADGAD and Drop D work well due to the prevalence of D notes in celtic music and pleasing sound of open strings ringing. So if I have a tune in D I have the 6th and 4th strings that can ring open while I play a melody on the higher strings. If I am playing in G I could base my root around the 6th string 5th fret, and also still have the open 3rd string to use. If playing in a key like Em or Bm you might use a capo or choose to finger that tune totally differently and not have as many open strings. I know Pierre Bensusan came to distrust the “prepackaged beauty” of DADGAD.
To me it is more for an ease of playing. Certain tunings allow me to easier grab bass notes while keeping a melody going.