Lap-slide - Celtic?

Subject: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 07:07 AM

I play a bit of lapslide guitar and it's great for slow airs. Dobro great Jerry Douglas plays a beautiful slow air called " A Tribute to Peador O'Donnell" which is a Donal Lunny composition. Are there many players out there using lapslide for Celtic music?

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: GUEST,HiHo_Silver
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 10:22 AM

Just a little triva. In my area where we played old time fiddle music and celtic music for dances years back - late 30 through forties - many, including myself played slide guitar, commonly referred to as Hawaiian in this area. tuned to open A Major. and played a straight chord accompaniment. The advantage at that time was the lack of electronic amplification and the generally low quality of the instruments. You could achieve great volume by the high string set up which projected well through noisy crowds. Also the string action on many of the quitars around this area at the time made it almost impossible to play a spanish style guitar; especially for any extended period of time.

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: GUEST,bentnote
Date: 25 Dec 12 - 01:58 PM

I found this thread in then archives.
Has anyone out there got anything to add?
Here's a link to the jerry Douglas piece mentioned by Tunesmith ( see above)

Jerry plays Irish air.

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Dec 12 - 06:31 PM

The Scottish fiddler Addie Harper (from the north-east of Scotland and about as un-Celtic as you can get without speaking Norwegian) recorded a few tracks using Hawaiian guitar. I think they sound horrible, but full marks for trying.

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: GUEST,Guest TF
Date: 25 Dec 12 - 08:17 PM

Jerry Douglas has often used slide guitar to accompany Scottish songs on "The Transatlantic Sessions". Unfortunately not always to the betterment of the arrangement. As he's the MD there doesn't seem to be anyone else on the programme who will say "maybe not on this one Jerry".

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: GUEST,fogie
Date: 26 Dec 12 - 07:51 AM

I've got a guitar that converts to a lap-top but I don't know how best to tune it. What advice? do you need tape wound strings? do you need a special set of strings?

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 26 Dec 12 - 11:23 AM

I can play a passable-but-nothing-to brag-about version of "Mrs. McLeod's Reel" on Dobro, but that's pretty much it. Maybe if I were a complete Dobroholic I'd work out a few more standard reels and hornpipes, but I already play them better on other instruments than I could ever hope to on Dobro given my current skill and interest levels.

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: GUEST,Dean
Date: 26 Dec 12 - 01:36 PM

Irish musician Frankie Lane is the best example of someone playing dobro arrangements Irish trad tunes. He brought out and album called dobro which contains all trad tunes played on the dobro. There's a good youtube video of him and Paul Kelly playing 'poll h'penny' sitting on a rock in inisboffin.

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: Harmonium Hero
Date: 26 Dec 12 - 02:18 PM

In the interests of accuracy, what Jerry Douglas is playing in the clip above is not a Dobro, as some of the comments on Youtube see to assume. it's a Weissenborn. This form of Hawaiian/lap steel guitar predates Nationals and Dobros. Its inventor, Herman Weissenborn, died in 1937. You can get modern copies of these instruments. Luvvem!
JK

Subject: RE: Lap-slide - Celtic?
From: GUEST,bentnote
Date: 27 Dec 12 - 11:05 AM

Here's a nice version of a Irish classic on lap slide guitar.

Youtube Link