Curiousity

[GMan]

Hell-o all,

Just wondering if any of you play any other Celtic instrument outside of bagpipes?

I play the Celtic harp.

[HighlandPark]

There are a few here I expect. Harp is great. For my part, the Great Highland and Scottish smallpipes, and Trad fiddle, tenor banjo, mandolin, and guitar. As this is a kilt forum, I mostly wear my kilts while piping but really should wear them more often!

[Mel1721L]

Bodhran, badly.

[Finistere]

Short scale Irish tenor banjo played badly, so my wife says and I'm not arguing with the one that has to be obeyed. Kit

[MinusHD]

Having been a professional bassist in the past I decided I would explore Celtic music a little bit, so I bought an inexpensive Irish Whistle (Tin Whistle) some months ago and went through a handful of beginner lessons on YouTube. I can play 4 songs, but not very well... and I haven't worked on it lately. I did enjoy starting learning something new, but it's definitely not easy by any means.

[Blupiper]

I noodle around on the tin whistle (or is it penny whistle?) when I find spare time. Another mental and dexterity challenge, with the added bonus of being very easy to pack and carry around.

JMB

[HighlandPark]

Short scale Irish tenor banjo played badly, so my wife says and I'm not arguing with the one that has to be obeyed. Kit

My tenors are also short-scale -- lot's of fun and can cut through the din like nothing else, except maybe big pipes...

[Finistere]

My tenors are also short-scale -- lot's of fun and can cut through the din like nothing else, except maybe big pipes...

Hi highlandpark, do you tune your banjo to GDAE? I've been thinking of going to ADAE as Enda Scahill does, I know its an octave higher but sometimes that G string can sound bad, I've tried different gauges without success, what do you think? Kit

[HighlandPark]

Hi highlandpark, do you tune your banjo to GDAE? I've been thinking of going to ADAE as Enda Scahill does, I know its an octave higher but sometimes that G string can sound bad, I've tried different gauges without success, what do you think? Kit

Hey Kit,

The flabby G string can be an issue with tenors tuned GDAE. Enda tunes to ADAE because it was easier when he was a wee lad learning. He just never switched.

I say stick with GDAE tuning and find strings that work. I use 40-30-20-12 gauges on my three tenors, and two of them are vintage, one with the original skin head. What gauges are you using?

[Finistere]

Hey Kit,

The flabby G string can be an issue with tenors tuned GDAE. Enda tunes to ADAE because it was easier when he was a wee lad learning. He just never switched.

I say stick with GDAE tuning and find strings that work. I use 40-30-20-12 gauges on my three tenors, and two of them are vintage, one with the original skin head. What gauges are you using?

Hi Highland park, I've tried 44,34,22,12 and 40,30,20,11, I still get a bad sound, my banjo is a Oakwood 17 fret, perhaps it just me and my wife is right. Kit