| The Evolution of Irish Backup Guitar |
The Evolution of Irish Backup Guitar
Flynn talks about the evolution of guitar in traditional music and demonstrates the styles of some of its pioneering practitioners. The guitar was first used by guitarists Paul Brady, Mícheál Ó Dhomhnaill, and Dáithí Sproule, in Irishfolk bands in the late 1960s and ’70s. Paul Brady’s style, as heard on recordings with Irish instrumental stars like Tommy Peoples, Matt Molloy, and others in the 1970s, as well as his own solo recordings, was very influential. He usually played in dropped-D tuning and used a muted right-hand strum with small chord voicings up the neck and often imitated the sound of the regulators on the Uilleann pipes. Mícheál Ó Dhomhnaill and Dáithí Sproule both played in DADGAD tuning, and that tuning became very popular among Irish backup guitarists. Mícheál is known for his playing with the Bothy Band and others, including some influential recordings with fiddler Kevin Burke. While they both play in DADGAD, Dáithí’s and Mícheál’s styles are very different, but they both influenced the way guitar is played in Irish music seisiúns today.
