Hey y'all,
I'm new here, and also a new Irish Bouzouki player. I've been playing Guitar a good 6 years, and Mandolin for the better part of this one. I have real big hands, so Mandolin has become a pain at times. I've answered that with the Bouzouki! Been playing a Trinity College Zouk for a few days now, and it's just fine for me.
So here's where I get to questions and such. I hear that GDAD tuning is far more popular than any other, because of the ease of playing chords, and because GDAE requires too much stretching. Well, I find this hasn't been the case for me as of yet. While I primarily use GDAD, I find GDAE with Mandolin chords makes for far less stretching. I also hear that GDAD is full of 2-or-3-finger chords, which heavily utilize open strings (and capos). Well, the only real easy chords in GDAD I seem to find using a chord dictionary I found online (pdf from this page) are bar chords, which just aren't as pretty or clean to me as open chords, and I while I can make some realy pretty sounds with just two fingers, I can't seem to find many set chords which fit this description, that aren't some complex Am/Gb#madd11. That's not neccessarily a problem for solo Bouzouki, but accompanying other instruments I forsee as being largely restricted to basic chords.
What're your thoughts, experiences, in these areas? Can anyone recommend a real good chord dictionary? I'm also interested in books which'll teach me to read music for Bouzouki, and a real good book full of traditional Irish tunes for the instrument (either Irish or sheet music).
Hoping for some excellent responses, as I've seen for others,
Kenneth Sime
Trinity College TM-375 Irish Bouzouki | Locally-Made F-Style Mandolin
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