Joe McKenna has a very nice guitar accompaniment on his version of Mary Bergen’s “Gan Ainm” on his “Irish Low Whistle” album. I wonder if anyone could suggest how I might get the chords or the tablature for that?
Regardless of whether anyone has a suggestion, I must add that I never cease to be impressed by the generosity of C&F members’ advice and response to posts on all the topics (though I’m a guitarist, I usually look at the whistle and flute topics, because those are the instruments I’m currently learning)! It’s really a remarkable community. Thank you.
Jaydoc
Mary Bergin’s / John Naughton’s: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2622
Sure, that’s John Doyle playing dropped-D capo 3 in A position, for C Mixolydian with the F whistle. In a nutshell, he’s basically playing a movable chord scale in AMix mostly over open A bass, which acts as a drone. Here’s the 1st repetition:
A Part:
A/A - - - |- Asus/A - - |A/A - - G/A |- - - - |
A/A - - - |G/A - - - |D - - - |G/A - - - ||
A/A - - - |- G/A - - |A/A - - Asus/A |- - - - |
A/A - - - |G/A - - - |D - - G/A |- - - - |]
B Part:
F#m/A - - - |G/A - - - |F#m/A - - - |Em/A - - - |
F#m/A - - - |G5 - - - |G5 - - - |G5 - - - ||
A/A - - - |G/A - - - |A/A - - Asus/A |- - - - |
A/A - F#m/A - |G/A - - - |D5 - - - |- D5/G - - |]
A/A: xo765x
Asus/A: xo775x
G/A: xo543x
D: oo423x
F#m/A: xo422x (= A6)
Em/A: xo2oox
G5: 5x503x
D5: o5o23x
D5/G: 55023x (= Gadd9)
Maybe a few details are off, and it’s hard to hear the guitar’s bottom because of the bass. But this is the basic idea, anyway. 
Thank you Mr. Guru–there you go–this community in action. I’ll have to print that out when at my work computer (no printer on the home one) and give it a go. When you say droning “A” I assume you mean droning C (dropped D tuning capo on 3d fret) in concert pitch? Anyway, no need to respond–I’ll play with it and make sense of it I’m sure. Very nice guitar playing on that recording, imho.
As long as I’m taking folks’ time, perhaps I could ask another, that may have been discussed previously–if so just shoot me, or direct me to the past thread? I’m historically a blues and rock/funk player, but have also played acoustic for more years than I’d like to count, and though I’m in lust/love with the wooden flute and Irish whistle these days, I’m also thinking of trying to develop some ITM accompaniment chops (I doubt I’ll ever play whistle well enough for a session, but I’m a damned good rythym guitar player, so maybe I could contribute/participate in that way somewhere someday). There are many books, Book/cds, dvd’s out there, many of which look good. But does anyone have any particular recommendations? I’m not a beginning player, but mostly self taught over numerous decades.
Many thanks, and good wishes to you Mr. Guru and any other C&F ers seeing this for the holidays and the new year,
Jay
My recommendation is that the best thing you can do is listen to and study what the go-to backup recording artists are doing. They are called upon for good reason: they use good taste and provide traditional-friendly sounds and rhythms; certainly melody players seek them out time and time again, so that should say something. Ged Foley, Dáithí Sproule, Arty McGlynn, and the late Mícheál Ó Domhnaill come to mind, for starters.
Thanks Nano. Of course listening to great players is key (and I’d welcome any particular recordings you recommend). I generally learn guitar parts by ear on music I’m familiar with, but since they often play in open tunings I’m less familiar with it can be harder for me to suss what they’re playing. Also, it seems like the guitar is often understandably very low in the “mix” (of course players always think their own instrument is too low in the mix…). Hence my request for recommendations of best teaching aids.
But again, that’s good advice, and I thank you.
Jay
There you go. 
I’m not exactly sure which direction you’re pointing at, here, so I’ll tackle the two I can think of.
- As to just plain what-chord-is-it stuff: throw out the issue of tuning - and even the key - and this becomes less of a problem. Basic backup chordal relations to what’s going on in a melody are the same whatever tuning or key you use, so even if you play standard-tuned guitar but you’re listening to GDAD-tuned 'zouk, piano, or harmonica backup for that matter, hearing chord realms rooted in tonic, fourth, fifth, minor sixth or flattened seventh, and relative key changes as well, should be all equally recognisable for what they are. In other words go with the relativity of it, not specifics. This is actually far more solid ground than I may make it sound.
Or:
2) If it’s actual specifics and details you’re after, it may be better to just kick back and take in the general feel of a particular player’s style and flavors. Doing certain licks or chord structures in one tuning may be harder or even inadvisable in another, so, instead, emulating a particular “feel” may be the way to go, and do your own take on the idea. Still, some people want to replicate exactly what they hear and so learn thereby, and I understand the rationale behind that. I don’t think it’s necessary, though. It’s good to be free to go either way.
But I’ve always been a bootstraps go-with-my-ear sort of guy; I find manuals more confusing than relevatory. There are a few manuals out there dedicated to this sort of thing that have been recommended by Chiffers, and I believe our own Mike Eskin has in fact written one such. Perhaps some of our members could be so kind as to point you better in this direction.
As to recommending particular recordings, it’s hard for me to do that specifically for you (I assume you play standard tuning) as the guitar players I like generally do DADGAD, and if that remains an issue for you, Arty McGlynn might suit you best for listening as he plays drop-D, if I remember correctly, so that wouldn’t be a big stretch for you. I only have one recording I know of with him in it, and he doesn’t play thoughout : the Music At Matt Molloy’s CD. I know I’ve heard him elsewhere, though, and I’ve always liked his style very much.
BTW, just a note based strictly on my personal taste: in ITM, in the main go for open or open-sounding chords, and let the melody provide the context of whether something’s major or minor. Also pursue the idea - if you haven’t already done so - that sounding only two or three strings may be better at times than sounding all six every time. Again, that’s just me. 