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Guitar Basics (Accompaniment)

Learn How to Accompany Irish Traditional Music on Guitar

GUITAR BASICS ACCOMPANIMENT - USING STANDARD TUNING

The guitar has well earned its place as a favoured accompaniment instrument for Irish music. In many ways this has opened the doors of the tradition to musicians of other genres to join in the fun that is an Irish traditional music session.

This course is for beginner guitarists who are new to Irish traditional music and would like to learn how to accompany it as well as established musicians who want to get an insight into this music. It will also be a great help to guitarists who have good experience of Irish music accompaniment and wish to go further in the development of their style.

By the end of the course you will have a repertoire of eleven popular Irish session tunes that you will be able to accompany in style. You will have learned chords, structure and rhythms of some of the most typical tunes types and keys in Irish music, such as reels, jigs, slip jigs, hornpipes and waltzes.  The course has 15 lessons in total which are broken into 3 to 4 tutorials per lesson.

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  • 18 lessons teaching how to play 13 very popular Irish tunes
  • PDF sheet music & mp3’s to download & keep for each tune
  • Progress at your own pace, pause & repeat videos
  • Access to 14 instruments, 60+ courses, 1000+ tutorials
  • Access on all your devices
  • 14-day free trial. Cancel anytime
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BONUS!

  • Access our Entire Course Catalogue for Every Instrument
  • Library of over 150 popular Irish tunes to practice along with
  • Virtual Reality Sessions for the unique Irish Pub Session experience – a real treat for the Irish music lover
  • Community Forum of students and teachers, all friends with a love of Irish music

Your Tutor

Jean Damei
Jean Damei was born on 7th March 1989 in Grenoble, France and started to play the guitar at the age of 16. After meeting a number of Irish musicians touring and teaching music in the Alps he discovered a passion for this music. At the age of 18, he left Ardeche, his childhood home, to study guitar and flute in the Irish Music and Dance degree course at the University of Limerick. On his return to France, to Lyon in 2011, he decided to explore jazz and funk. He has found much inspiration from these two musical universes, allowing him…
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Jean Damei Online Academy of Irish Music

Course Structure

First you will learn how to tune a guitar and how to read chord charts. Then you will move into a progressive study of techniques that focus on how to play accompaniment using simple chords, simple 4/4, 6/8, 3/4 or 9/8 rhythms, as well as syncopated rhythms and more complex chords. The tutor uses a broad selection of well-known tunes to demonstrate the skills taught. Mp3 files of each tune are included for download in the course content as are pdf’s of the chords, in both standard and ABC notation.

Here’s a list of the tunes taught in this course:

  • The Mountain Road
  • The Bag Of Spuds
  • Gallagher’s Frolics
  • Out On The Ocean
  • The Kid On The Mountain
  • Give Us A Drink Of Water
  • The Rights Of Man
  • The Reel Of Sceachog
  • Fanny Power
  • The Hag At The Churn
  • The Man Of The House
Sample Sheet Music
Download Download The Mountain Road Chord Chart. Download Download The Mountain Road Standard Notation Sheet Music.

Advice Starting Out with Guitar Accompaniment

Enjoy the journey. It is highly recommended to be familiar with any tune you are learning before learning how to play accompaniment, so download the mp3 file and listen to it frequently first before picking up the guitar to learn to play accompaniment.

The Play Along Backing Tracks feature for paying members is an accompanist’s dream. In it are over 150 tunes that have the option of being played back at three different speeds 50/75/100%. You can choose to play back only the melody so that you can play your own accompaniment, or you can also select to play back both melody and accompaniment so that you can join in and feel part of the session and learn as you go. All tracks come with the guitar chords for accompaniment, that alone is worth the membership fee!

The Mountain Road
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Guitar Basics (Accompaniment) Lessons

1
Basic
How To Tune The Guitar

How to Tune the Guitar / Hand and Instrument Positioning

Accompaniment
Focus on Technique
2
Basic
How To Read Chord Charts

How to Read Chord Charts / Instrument Maintenance

Accompaniment
Focus on Technique
3
Basic
The Mountain Road

Accompaniment of a Simple Reel in D Major – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
D Major
Reel
4
Basic
The Bag of Spuds

Accompaniment of a Simple Jig in A Minor – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
A Minor
Jig
5
Basic
Gallagher’s Frolics

How to Accompany a Simple Jig in E Minor – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
E Minor
Jig
6
Basic
Out on the Ocean

How to Accompany a Jig in G Major -Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
G Major
Jig
7
Basic
The Kid on the Mountain

How to Accompany a Slip Jig in E Minor – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
E Minor
Slip Jig
8
Basic
Give Us A Drink of Water

How to Accompany a Slip Jig in G Major – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
G Major
Slip Jig
9
Basic
The Rights of Man

How to Accompany a Hornpipe in G Major – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
G Major
Hornpipe
10
Basic
The Reel of Sceachog

How to Accompany a Reel in A Major – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
A Major
Reel
11
Basic
Fanny Power

How to Accompany a Waltz in G Major – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
G Major
Waltz
12
Basic
The Hag at the Churn (1)

Introduction to the Flat Picking Technique

Accompaniment
D Mixolydian
Jig
13
Basic
The Hag at the Churn (2)

How to Accompany a Jig in D Mixolydian – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
D Mixolydian
Jig
14
Basic
The Man of the House (1)

Flat Picking the Melody / Plectrum Motion

Accompaniment
E Minor
Reel
15
Basic
The Man of the House (2)

How to Accompany a Reel in E Minor – Chordal Structures and Strumming Patterns

Accompaniment
E Minor
Reel
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