The Golden Castle

[Kathy Barwick]

I added another video....

[ganon]

Hi Kathy, another great one - and not too difficult. Can you talk a little about playing it capo'ed? I've been finding it without capo (and help from the notation for the 'hornpipe' version at www.thesessions.org). There it is listed as in G-dorian (Fmaj scale notes, but starting with G). I think all notes, except the natural B in the triplets and one Ab near the start of the B part, fall on the G-dorian (Fmaj) notes. I'm pretty sure you are playing (for the most part) the same notes - just wondering if playing it capo'ed has particular advantages . . .

Also a great place to learn a little Gaelic: Caislea'n An Oir = Castle of Gold.

Thanks for posting - invigorating and I don't even feel completely hopeless ;-) .

-ganon

[Kathy Barwick]

yes, it's a nice one, not too hard, and not too fast! I'll think about why I decided to capo. I also went to the thesession and initially read through the dots there.... I often try things in different places (capo positions) to see how they lay out. You're reminding me to go back to the open position and try there again, just for fun.

One consideration is, if I was playing rhythm, I would rather be in Em than in Gm any day. I should remedy that but so far, I haven't. I have a bunch of great Gm tunes too... I play them all capo 3. I suppose there are cool things in the open position that I am missing.....

So, to answer your question, playing it capoed has advantages for me, I'm stronger in Em than in Gm. That may be more about my limitations than anything else.

[ganon]

Oops - old eyes. No Ab - it is a high Bb that is unnecessarily marked as flat (already indicated in the key signature). So all Fmaj notes except for the B in the middle of the triplets.

[ganon]

So, I've put up a version (audio on my page player) that is played without capo. It's pretty much the notation above - except that on Kathy's recommendation the B natural in the triplets is changed back into Bb, and thus the entire thing is out of the F maj scale. The backup is done capo'd 3 (Em, D, G) - as Kathy suggests the open chords (Gm, F, Bb) would not be much fun; and, the different 'spaces' are kinda nice.

[Kathy Barwick]

very nice Ganon! nice swing in the right hand. I like the backup choices too. Nice work!

[ganon]

Thanks, Kathy! And Thanks - its been a fun one.

[Dane Hyde]

Very nice Kathy.... I like playing half-fast too. Ha.. Just kidding.  Keep the instruction vid's coming please and thanks.

Dane