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Thread: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

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    Default Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    Please recommend a good book / CD for Irish/ Celtic tunes at an intermediate level.

    I've got one of somon mayors sets..... but he's well beyond where I'll be for some time.

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Registered User JoeK421's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    John, a book I like that has tab and standard notation is The Incomplete Celtic Mandolin by Dan Mozell. I've been working through some of the tunes with my teacher, and the arrangements are pretty nice, and relatively easy to play. It's got about 80 tunes. Should be some tunes and arrangements in there that would interest an intermediate player. No CD, though.

    Another book with some good tunes is Irish Music for Mandolin Made Easy by Philip John Berthoud. Twenty nine tunes with a CD that includes them all. The arrangements are fairly simple, but a good starting point for a beginner to learn the basics of the tunes.

    School of Mandolin, Irish Mandolin by Joe Carr and Michael B. Gregory is an instruction book with some good tunes, and a good place to start for someone just starting with Irish Music. It, too, comes with a CD of the tunes and instruction examples.

    Philip John Berthoud also has an instruction book that includes about 50 tunes, or more, that runs from beginner to intermediate. Irish Mandolin Playing, A Complete Guide, that Steve-O notes below, includes a CD, and could keep you busy for quite some time. Good book.

    Allan Alexander publishes a number of tune books of various types of music, including Celtic Music for Mandolin. His selection includes some tunes I've not seen elsewhere, and his arrangements are pretty easy, and include some nice variations. His book also comes with a nice CD of the tunes.

    All of the above are in tab and standard notation.

    If you can read standard notation, the Irish Reel Book by Patrick Steinbach has about 250 tunes of all types (not just reels). It comes with a CD that has only 18 of the tunes played at speed. It's not a mandolin book, but the arrangements work fine on the mandolin. No tab, though.

    Good luck. You can never have too many books, can you?

    Joe
    Last edited by JoeK421; Dec-12-2010 at 7:23pm. Reason: Seconding Steve-O's recommendation.

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    Registered User Steve-o's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    John,
    I really like this one. It says beginner to intermediate, but you can skip over the first few beginner pages. It has tab and notation and a useful CD of the tunes played on solo mandolin.
    Last edited by Steve-o; Dec-12-2010 at 7:00pm. Reason: I see Joe beat me to the punch.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    I like Allan Alexander's settings and arrangements of various kinds of music. He has a book titled "Celtic Music for Mandolin" with Jessica Walsh collaborating on the arrangements. It has a CD recorded by Angelina Galashenkova-Reed on mandolin, accompanied by Mr. Alexander on guitar. The playing on the CD has rather more tremolo than I might prefer but it sounds lovely, overall.

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    Registered User Jim MacDaniel's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    Dublin mandolinist Paul Kelly put together a book/CD set for Waltons.ie called 110 Irish Mandolin Tunes, and Paul himself plays all 110 tunes on the accompanying CDs. (Paul used to get a lot of coverage here in the forums for his excellent CD from several years ago, A Mandolin Album. It is getting harder and harder to find, but I linked it here if interested.)
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    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    The cafe's own Dagger Gordon put out a book that's gotten great reviews - "The Scottish Mandolin Tutor". I'll chip in a vote for Enda Scahill's Irish Banjo Tutor too (available from his website www.endascahill.com). Despite it being a tenor banjo tutor I found it very useful from a mandolin perspective as well.

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    Registered User Narayan Kersak's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    https://www.createspace.com/4223769

    Here's a new collection of tunes with tab, chords and standard notation.

    The Asheville Mandolin Collection
    Asheville Celtic Mandolin Blog and Tablature Resource.
    www.AshevilleMandolin.com
    The Asheville Celtic Mandolin Collection: Standard Notation, Tablature and Chords for the Celtic Mandolin https://a.co/d/2KaJwBq "] - Tablature, Standard Notation & Chords to 50 Celtic/Irish Tunes.
    Hurdy Gurdy Music - https://youtube.com/@TheHurdyGurdyWi...nCX2BHJY7jCVM4
    The Mud Larks - Hurdy Gurdy and Nyckelharpa - https://the-mudlarks.com/

  8. #8

    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    If you need mandolin tab; go here for free:
    http://mandolinsessions.com/?cat=8
    lot's of good stuff there for Irish mandolin.

    but...If you get away from tab and learn to read notation, and seek out some recordings to get the tunes in your ear, you can find Irish tunes to last you a lifetime, and mostly for free on the web.
    Here's a great site to learn Irish tunes: www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/‎ The BBC virtual session, or here: http://irishsession.net/index.php?op...id=4&Itemid=45 or a lot of other free sites on the web that show Irish Fiddle tunes....just not for specifically mandolin.
    You can also try Irish fiddle books, which are way more common then mandolin books. I've learned a lot of Irish tunes from fiddle books. Pete Coopers' book "Mel Bay's Complete Irish Fiddle" is one of them.
    Unfortunately, you need to get away from tab.

  9. #9
    Registered User Narayan Kersak's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good tab book/CD for Irish/Celtic tunes

    Great sites Mojohand40.

    Getting away from tab or not is a personal matter.

    Although, I agree, learning by ear and standard notation are all good too!

    What I've found most useful is getting the tunes in muscle memory from tab or notation, then when I've got it memorized, record it and then play along with the recording to cement the tune in mind.

    Works great!
    Last edited by Narayan Kersak; Jun-10-2013 at 5:35pm.
    Asheville Celtic Mandolin Blog and Tablature Resource.
    www.AshevilleMandolin.com
    The Asheville Celtic Mandolin Collection: Standard Notation, Tablature and Chords for the Celtic Mandolin https://a.co/d/2KaJwBq "] - Tablature, Standard Notation & Chords to 50 Celtic/Irish Tunes.
    Hurdy Gurdy Music - https://youtube.com/@TheHurdyGurdyWi...nCX2BHJY7jCVM4
    The Mud Larks - Hurdy Gurdy and Nyckelharpa - https://the-mudlarks.com/

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