Fingerstyle Airs: “Donal Og,” Part 1

This lesson is part of the course Celtic Guitar with Tony McManus.

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Learn to play reels, jigs, airs, and other traditional forms, both fingerstyle and with a flatpick. Celtic guitar master Tony McManus walks you through melodies and shows you how to bring tunes to life with the ornamentation that defines Irish and Scottish traditional music.

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DADGAD Tuning

DADGAD tuning is associated with Celtic guitar more than any other tuning. In this lesson, Tony talks about how the tuning originated, how to get into DADGAD, and what you can do with it. Tony uses DADGAD to play jigs, reels, airs, etc., and he demonstrates how the whole step between the second string A and third string G makes it easy to play melodies across the strings, for a harp-like sound. He shows you a D major scale played in such a way that no string is played twice in a row: every note of the scale rings into the next note. He even shows you how you can play a Bb major scale in the same way.

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The Celtic Guitar Subscription Includes:

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In-depth instruction in flatpicking, fingerstyle, and Celtic rhythm guitar
14 complete tunes to play
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Fingerstyle Airs: “Donal Og”

Fingerstyle Airs: “Donal Og,” Part 1

Fingerstyle Airs: “Donal Og,” Part 2

Fingerstyle Airs: “Donal Og,” Part 1

This fingerstyle version of the beautiful air “Donal Og” comes from Donegal, in the north of Ireland, from the singing of Mairead Ni Dhomhnaill, sister of Triona Ni Dhomhnaill of the Bothy Band. Tony starts by breaking down the melody, line by line, without any accompaniment, but with ornamentation, including, grace notes, trills, hammer-ons, and vibrato.

"Donal Og," Part 1: Melody (Available to subscribers)

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