Andy Irvine mandolin style

[chinatogalway]

Hi ALL,

My first post to the site.
There seems to be alot of very experienced players here and I was wondering if some one could shed a little bit of light on the stlye of Andy Irvine's mandolin ( planxty days )playing.

I have set up a new website on Andy Irvine http://www.chinatogalway.com/
and would really appreciate any technical, theory or as you have found.........to understanding this style of playing mandolin, mandola or even bouzouki. You seem the best people to ask ! Thanks

Kieron[I]
My Webpage (http://www.chinatogalway.com)

[Dolamon]

Interesting idea ... In Simon Mayor's book, "New Celtic Mandolin", there's a pretty good interview of his approach to playing and the type of instruments he likes. I don't have it immediately handy but, I'll try to scan parts of the article for inclusion - if no one does it first. Bill Hamilton stocks this at Mid Continent Music. (http://www.midcontinentmusic.com/detail.cfm?Catalogid=1341)

[Dolamon]

Rather than scan in a three page article, the pertinent points in this seem to be - his early influences, Woody Guthrie and Johnny Moynihan, his chosen type of instrument / maker - Stefan Sobell.

The more lyrical approach to his playing comes from not attacking a mandolin like a banjo, and the idea of playing almost exclusively in GDad tuning. This tuning "was motivated by listening to a lot of Old Timey music and from Appalachian fiddle tunes. - also liked the open top D string because it had resonances of the 5 string banjo."

From Simon Mayor "New Celtic Mandolin" - Andy Irvine Interview, pgs 49-51

[chinatogalway]

Thanks for all the help,
I guess no one plays Andy's material much, and it is mostly jigs and reels people are playing. Must admit for such a famous mandolin/ bouzouki player I thought there would be alot more of his tunes flying around.........
China to Galway (http://www.chinatogalway.com/)