Tony Mcmanus Vol 2

In this second lesson on Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar, Tony McManus explores all the dance rhythms of Scottish music, with its pipe-marches, strathspeys, single and double jigs, slip jigs and reels. Three unusual tunings are presented: CGCGCD, CGDGCD and DAAEAE. These tunings are used to better maintain the integrity of the music and Tony has been notably successful in translating the complex music of the highland bagpipes to the guitar. The idea and playing of sets is presented as well as further exploration of ornamentation techniques.

Tony McManus is an adept master of Celtic fingerstyle guitar, both in terms of adapting Celtic music to the guitar, and in its performance - presenting all its intricacies, graces, and frills, yet at the same time maintaining the pace and drive which characterizes the style of this music. In this first lesson, Tony discusses in detail the importance of ornamentations and triplets in Celtic music and how this can be technically achieved. He illustrates these ideas with several melodies played in a Dropped D tuning. This is followed by a discussion of scales and fingerings and playing reels in the DADGAD tuning. This is a challenging lesson for the fingerstyle guitar student interested in learning Celtic music from one of the finest players of this idiom.

Never realised the breadth of the "Pop-Sike" genre until I heard Fading Yellow, a really fine compilation that hangs together beautifully as an album. That most of the tracks are obscure isn't surprising: everything is a little odd, a little ramshackle, with a strong melancholic undertow and not a little creepiness. Of course, this music is also specific to a particular time in Western pop music history so there's a strong nostalgic element, but the knowledge this music could never be exactly replicated is what also makes it so fascinating. Recommended, in a warm and loving 60s way.