Does anyone have an online source for bouzouki tuning? Or chords?
I’ve searched and have found plenty who say GDAD, etc. but , not a lot else.
Also, any book recommendations as to tutors?
I got my brother one for his birthday and would like to have the strings stretched out and in tune when I give it to him.
Also, since I’m not much of a stringed instrument player, which tuning would you guitar players advise that he use?
Han Speek has some chord charts and other stuff here:
http://home.hccnet.nl/h.speek/bouzouki/index.html
Thanks rh
That site is most helpful. 
There is a book but it’s not really a tutor although it gives you chord shapes for GDAD and GDAE tunings. I can’t remember its name but I’ll post when I find it. If you’d prefer the GDAE tuning, it’s just the same as mandolin an octave down so any mandolin chord guide would work. I don’t think you’d want to use any other tuning for Irish music. Well, I don’t see why you would. You can add another course and get into cittern land of course.
There’s also an instructional video by Zan McLeod: Learn to play the Irish Bouzouki. I can’t tell you how good it is since my video player broke down before I got into it. From what I remember of it it was OK for beginners.
GDAD tends to work better for ITM IMHO. Unless you’d be playing primarily melody. It’s a bit more modal sounding. You can get the same effect with GDAE, but the fingerings seem easier. Of course I’m more of a fiddle player, so take it for what it’s worth.
I know a fellow who plays GDAE, and when he’s doing backup, it just doesn’t sound right somehow. He relies on G for the fundamental drone. Don’t care for it, myself.
Mmm..could be down to his playing as opposed to his tuning.
As a fiddle player,I love a low G…but it ain’t really a root /fundamental note…which takes us back to playing,
Ah well,
Slan,
D.
Actually, Dubhlinn, that’s exactly on the money. Moreover, he once declared the G to be complete and sufficient as a drone overall. But I bit my tongue. I think you’d understand that I don’t exactly seek him out for backup playing.
Slan,
D.
I use GDAD exclusively and just capo to get the drones I need if they aren’t available. The only reason I even mentioned GDAE is that Cowtime seemed to want a complete inventory of common tunings.
One reason why the latter tuning might not sound right on backup but would be OK for melody—almost everybody uses GDAE for mandolin—is the sympathetic resonance you get from open strings which you are not playing. It’s subtle, but you can usually recognise DADGD from other guitar tunings by the special resonance rather than the phrases being played. I think it enhances the chiming effect you get from having strings in courses.
Thanks for the suggestions folks.
If I’d gotten the bouzouki for ME I’d definately need the beginners book. But, since it’s for brother - who is an accomplished musician on all things stringed-fiddle, guitar in all forms,banjo,mandolin,etc.(the bouzouki is the only thing he DOESN’T already have) I was mainly needing a picture of the cords to give him with the zouk this weekend. I have no doubt that within 30 minutes of having it he will be able to play it- but not traditionally.
I’d like to have a tutor to suggest to him- or website-which rh suggested- to steer him toward ITM. You see I have an ulterior motive. He(like me) grew up with old time, and he plays blues, bluegrass etc too. - plays with several bands- BUT I want to get him into ITm so he and I can play that together like we do the old time- hence the gift of a bouzouki. The few times he’s played with me on whistle and him on guitar he seems intrested…
Han has an interesting analysis of Eoin O’Neill’s playing here. O’Neill basically tunes in ADAd and works off the drone:
Basically, simplicity rules. Since you already have a D chord without fretting any string, you could strum and drone behind any tune in D, and not sound out of place. Then, by simply adding any note in the D scale, you could colour this D chord to sound like something that will effectively do the job of any chord you’d want for the scale of D. This is what Eoin does most of the time: he knows his D scale in and out, up and down, and he just colours his droning D chord. He occasionally throws in a single note run, either following or countering the melody, but if you know your scales, that’s a piece of cake, of course.
For other keys he just uses a capo.
I’ve heard him on several recordings, and he’s a fine player.
I’ve heard Norman Blake play OT on a bouzouki and he sounded great… of course he always does 
If you get reruns of Austin City Limits on Public TV look for the show with Ralph Stanley – Norman’s on bouzouki on at least one song.
I think I have just the book for him (and you), Cowtime.
It’s a pretty advanced introduction to Celtic backup which isn’t instrument specific so it explains the principles of backing Celtic music in a way that can be applied to guitar, bouzouki or to any other rhythm instrument. It explains a very large number of techniques and devices for accompanying familiar session tunes and comes with a CD illustrating them. It explains different tunings and how to choose an appropriate tuning to create an interesting accompaniment to particular sets of tunes. In particular, it explains how to listen effectively, how to vary the accompaniment and so on and how to avoid clutter. The book is by Chris Smith and is called Celtic Back-Up for All Instrumentalists (Mel Bay).
I’ve not worked through it yet but it looks very good for someone who already knows his or her instrument but needs to learn the language of Celtic music.
Chris used to post hear under another name (coyotebanjo, from memory) but only on the ITM board I think. I haven’t seen any posts by him recently which is a pity because I think he has a lot to offer.
Thanks for the tip about the book. I’ll definately have to get that for him.
That’s pretty weird- him playing with Ralph Stanley. Ralph Stanley lives about 30 minutes from me.
i think it was the tour from the album Ralph Stanley put out after O Brother – Norman Blake played on that too. There were a couple of guys from the Nashville Bluegrass Band (Mike Compton, Stuart Duncan) with him as well. The Clinch Mtn Boys came on at the end, including that big fiddle player (James Price?) who used to play with him, so i think the show is several years old. Good stuff though, the other half of the show was Nickel Creek who i didn’t care too much for (even though Chris Thile is amazing).
I wish I lived that close to somebody of his stature.I would love to see him and his band live.One of my most dearly loved tracks is him and Bob Dylan singing “The Lonesome River”. Mighty stuff!
Slan,
D.
A neighboring county- Dickenson- just opened a museum in his honor recently. This county is deep in the heart of coal country and is very depressed economically so this might help them.
http://www.ralphstanleymuseum.com
We enjoy him playing live each year at our county fair. He’s done this job for many many years and I am sure he just does it as a “favor”- playing on an outdoor stage in our mountains next to the carnival rides, horse pulling contest and horse show, like in the old days of his career. Probably a trip down memory lane for him. He is becoming frail but he is still great to listen to. Unfortunately he now lets others do the majority of the performing. No one can match him at that “high lonesome” sound.
http://www.ralphstanleymuseum.com
Also check out the crooked road link. This winds all around me(although for some reason they bypassed my county(Russell)- which has just as many fine musicians- but I guess maybe not famous enough. Here’s the map.
http://www.thecrookedroad.org/map.html
I’m lucky to be surrounded by old time musicians everywhere I turn.
http://www.thecrookedroad.org
The bouzouki was a hit! I gave it to him today and as predicted, he took it in another room, adjusted my tuning, and within 15 minutes he came out and said I’ve got a song- then played Norweigan Wood perfectly. I can’t wait to see what he can do with it by next week