Has anyone here heard of this: “Irish Rhythm Guitar: Accompanying Celtic Tunes taught by John Doyle - video”
(which I found on the Ossian website)
I have played guitar for about 14 years and have been building up my Irish guitar for about a year and a half. John Doyle is probably my favourite guitar player in this realm and I am considering getting it. Any ideas if it’s good?
thanks,
It’s in our local music store, Music Folk. I haven’t
watched it, but I would bet it’s helpful, knowing
John Doyle’s playing. No reason for his doing a
bad job, and if he does a half way decent one,
it’ll be more than worth it.
John Doyle may be a competent player but he tends to thrash his instrument. He drives the tune and the soloist way too hard for my tastes. I much prefer Dennis Cahill or Arty McGlynn. Less ego with the latter. John Doyle – like so mnay guitar and bodhran players – doesn’t seem to realize that it isn’t about the accompanist.
I do like Artie and Dennis, just wanted to know what people thought though. Even if he does ‘go off’ I still like John’s work, sound, and style
I’ve got it and its a great starting point for anyone who wants to learn drop-D backup. He has some great demos of his right hand heel damping as well as strumming style. I highly recommmend it.
If you’ve ever had John “back you up” you’ll understand why some of the best trad players out there like to play with him. It’s a wild, wild ride - no matter how “trad” you are - and I’m a lieutenant in the trad police. Yeah, he’s playing rock and roll. But play a tune with him and suddenly you’ll realize, “Rock and roll is fun!” Before I got to know him and play with him I was all trad snobby about his playing too, but he really knows what he’s doing. He’s a blast and a swell guy.
That being said, when I play guitar I play Drop D, but I don’t play anything like his style.
John is driving a freight train. But he has the skill and experience to control it. What gets bad is when people who don’t have that skill slavishly copy his playing and cause a train wreck.
John’s also quite an amazing banjo player, a melody player on guitar, and an aspiring fiddle player, so he understands the place of the melody. I’ve also heard him tone it down plenty of times for a quieter player. John doesn’t always play that rock and roll stuff; listen to his solo album. He just tends to be featured by melody players who like to rock it out anyway.
So, I think watching the video is fine. It’s a good introduction to the tuning and a taste of John’s style. But don’t think you have to play like him. Truth is, you probably won’t be able to. He’s an amazing musician.
I was amazed by his work with Solas and I like
his album.