Bodhran method for a beginner

[peter20p]

Hello,

I bought a second hand Brendan White bodhran some time ago and want to give it a play from time to time. I'm looking for a good method to get started with it. I look for a book with CD or a DVD.

Can you give me some advice?

thanks

[Padre]

you can start with Steafan Hannigan
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Steafan-Hannigan- ... 5d2c8eb44b

you can watch Tommy Hayes - rather listen to the rhythms that he's playing there, as he shows his own style of playing

if you'll be lucky - very lucky - you can find tutorial by Mel Mercier - which is my favourite.

but before you'll go for a session with the drum make sure that:
- you know the rythms
- you can play in time - metronome got to be your best friend
- you don't mix dynamics of playing with wacking the skin loudest you can
- you got to know the tunes you're going to play - so listen, listen, listen to as much tunes as you can. if you have session in your area start going there and listening to musicians playing there to learn their repertuar of tunes.

these should help you a little bit.

[Anyanka]

I'll second the Steafan Hannigan suggestion, but I use his book & CD combo rather than the DVD.

[RedDrums'R'Us]

A good way to learn the beats are to have some excercises to follow. for example these are some that i used:

U- down stroke
n- up stroke
n or U- Strong or starter strike

Reel:
UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn

Jig:
UnU nUn UnU nUn UnU nUn

Obviously you'll want to repeat the patterns for more than shown to get them down, once you get the straight patterns down try off beats

Reel:
UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn

Jig:
UnU nUn UnU nUn UnU

You can also do another excercise where you throw in a triplet every once in a while

I hope that this helps at all

[Jäger]

Reel:
UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn

A reel in 5/4 time?

[RedDrums'R'Us]

my bad, i meant to put it in 4/8

[talasiga]

Reel:
UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn

A reel in 5/4 time?

IMO your retort is pedantic.
If I may also be pedantic, in the absence of staff notation, insistence on
time signature is meaningless.
What the guy was showing was simple exercise patterns for the different rhythm types.

[Jäger]

Reel:
UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn UnUn

A reel in 5/4 time?

IMO your retort is pedantic.
If I may also be pedantic, in the absence of staff notation, insistence on
time signature is meaningless.
What the guy was showing was simple exercise patterns for the different rhythm types.

I was merely pointing out the fact that it may not be the best idea to give a beginner an exercise that runs in cycles of 5. One might also say that your need for staff notation to identify a time signature is overly pedantic, as most people on this board are quite in agreement on how read the above rhythms, and most, I'm quite certain, would read it as 5/4, rendering such an exercise quite unhelpful, as playing in such time signatures early on might impede one's ability to just play straight rhythms from the start. I know, I had a hell of a time trying to break my tenacity towards playing in 7/8 when I started playing the drums as a kid.

[talasiga]

I already said that my correcttive to you was as pedantic as your retort.
FWIW one can be a perfectly good percussionist without knowing staff notation or the names of time signature.

I found the post that you crticised to be very clear, helpful and encouraging of hands on "lets give it a try that way".
This is what a beginner needs IMO. Any begiinner who played allong to a reel would feel it correctly if they played the pattern as in the advice you nit picked.

[Azalin]

I already said that my correcttive to you was as pedantic as your retort.
FWIW one can be a perfectly good percussionist without knowing staff notation or the names of time signature.

I found the post that you crticised to be very clear, helpful and encouraging of hands on "lets give it a try that way".
This is what a beginner needs IMO. Any begiinner who played allong to a reel would feel it correctly if they played the pattern as in the advice you nit picked.

My goodness Tala, never seen you make so many spelling mistakes in such a short post!

[peter20p]

Thanks for your advice.

[talasiga]

......
My goodness Tala, never seen you make so many spelling mistakes in such a short post!

Well Azal it goes like this - my PC is being repaired and I was borrowing someone else's laptop in poor lighting to give you an opportunity to make yet another snipe at me as one of your first interactions with with me after many years ........

[highland-piper]

Can you give me some advice?

Join the forum here:
http://www.bodojo.com/

and read through the archives. It can take a little while for the admin to approve you, but there are some really serious players there who have put a lot of time into writing up exercises, theory, and so forth. There are a lot of cool videos too.