Archive for the ‘Strings’ Category
My Daughter The Bass Player
My daughter is a musical genius. She can pick up any instrument and start playing. So when she wanted to start a band how could I say no? What I wasn’t prepared for was the new instrument that she wanted to pick up.
She decided that she was going to be the bass player in her band. Her band would practice everyday after school. They were quit entertaining with their song choices and costumes. She went through quit a few bass strings throughout the weeks. As she would say to me “ I am a hard core rocker.”
Harps have always had a strong presence in Irish society. Even today that is evidenced by the harp being present on the Irish Euro coins. Though the old Gaelic harp tradition has mostly died out, a new harp tradition has been carried through from the 19th century.
John Egan, a Dublin pedal harp maker, created an Irish harp with gut strings and semitone mechanisms like an orchestral pedal harp. The strings and soundbox were modern, though the overall shape mimicked that of its predecessor. These harps are referred to as clarsach in English, though in Ireland they are called Irish harp or clairseach. Scotland, too, experienced a revival in cultural Gaelic that resulted in a new harp design.
Let the familiar sounds of pennywhistles, fiddle strings, bodrans and Gaelic words bring you back to your Celtic roots even if it’s just in your imagination. Traditional Irish music will soothe your senses and evoke wonderful memories of growing up in, or maybe visiting your beloved Ireland. You have much to choose from with the varied artists of Celtic music.
Listen to the hauntingly beautiful voices of Enya and Loreena McKennitt. Jam with the wonderful sounds of the most popular Irish band made up of the Corrs siblings. Dance to the merry tunes of The Chieftains, and tap your feet to the popular Irish jigs courtesy of Lunasa. Irish music is a blend of wonderful melodies created by talented artists. You will be glad to bring home one or more albums to listen to.
Earl Scruggs learned to play the 5-string banjo on an instrument that belonged to his older brother Junie. The banjo did not always stay in tune well, and the young virtuoso found himself having to retune mid-song. Scruggs’s musical inventiveness took it from there, and he soon adapted that mid-song tuning sound into his developing style. After recording his first tuner instrumental Earl’s Breakdown in 1951, Scruggs decided a little mechanical help would make playing a lot easier. He installed a pair of cams onto his banjo peghead that raised and lowered the second and third strings to preset pitches. The most common settings are for the second string to lower from B to A and the third string to lower from G to F#, moving the banjo from G tuning to D tuning and giving the devices the common name “D-tuners”.
Scruggs’s new innovation was soon featured in such instrumentals as Flint Hill Special, Foggy Mountain Chimes, and Randy Lynn Rag. D-tuners soon became required equipment for any aspiring bluegrass banjoist. Melodic banjo pioneer Bill Keith took things the next step with a design that incorporated conventional second- and third-string tuners and the stop-setting mechanism in one unit, making it no longer necessary to drill extra holes in the peghead. Keith tuners became the standard in the banjo world with over 30,000 sold to date and are still manufactured by Bill Keith in Woodstock, New York. Players seeking the unique feel and sound of traditional cam-type tuners now have another option available in a new product called Cheat-A-Keys, which use the cam mechanism but are easily interchangeable between banjos and don’t require alteration of the peghead.
During my senior year of high school, I was required to complete a culminating Senior Project. The goal of the assignment was to develop a skill or passion of your choice, and then present a piece of original work to a group of your peers. I decided to combine two of my favorite activities-music and woodworking-and create my own guitar.
Like most kids in high school, I was a chronic procrastinator. A week before the project was due I still had nothing but a huge block of wood lying on my workstation. After spending several consecutive sleepless nights finishing the instrument, I finally put the last coat of finish on the morning it was due. After attaching the guitar strings, I rushed to school and arrived just minutes before my presentation was scheduled.
There are two distinct types of dulcimers in existence, but only one of them has a distinctly American history and sound. The hammered dulcimer is popular in many corners of the world including China, Southwest Asia and Central Europe. It’s seen somewhat of a revival in the domestic folk music scene in recent years. Unlike its worldly counterpart, the Appalachian dulcimer played a large part in the development of American roots music.
The instrument is picked in the manner of a guitar rather than hit with metal mallets like a hammered dulcimer. There may be as many as 12 dulcimer strings on a given instrument, and they are played in a variety of manners. Most players lay the dulcimer flat on their lap or place them on a table. One hand takes care of the fretwork while the other stays occupied with strumming.