Celtic Music — Mandolin, Mandola, Bouzouki
Consider the instruments used by your favorite celtic group — certainly, there’s a fiddle … and there may be a tinwhistle and perhaps some bagpipes. There’s probably a guitar and a bodhran (a sort of handheld drum) — but what about those other stringed instruments?
You may find a mandolin or a mandola in the group — and perhaps a bouzouki. In fact, a bouzouki may take the place of the guitar. What makes these instruments useful in celtic folk music?
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First off, you’re probably familiar with a mandolin. It’s a small (pretty much violin-sized) strummed or plucked instrument — you can finger chords on it and strum it, or you can pluck individual strings to play a melody. Mandolin’s are common to most types of folk or country music. They have essentially the same scale length as a violin (the strings are about the same length) — in fact, it’s normally tuned exactly like a violin — GDAE! This makes it very easy to learn both instruments.
The mandolin has a high, ringing tone. When playing accompanying chords, the mandolin’s high pitch and sharp attach have an almost percussive effect … making it an excellent rhythm instrument. Since the mandolin isn’t loud when individual notes are plucked, most solo playing requires a fast and repeated picking technique.
The mandola is a little larger than the mandolin — giving it a lower pitch. Some tune it a fifth down from a mandolin — CGDA. Some folks even tune an entire octave lower — although the scale length isn’t really long enough for proper intonation. The lower tones alter the effect of strummed chords — instead of a sharp and ringing attack (like a mandolin), the effect is much closer to a guitar where the chords flow naturally to the background. Sharp and bright chords jump to the forefront of a song — sometimes this is good, but usually you want your rhythym instruments to be complimentary, not a featured solo instrument.
If lower is better for chord playing, then why not go all the way to an octave mandolin? Tuned like a mandolin to GDAE … except an octave lower … the octave mandolin also has a scale length close to a guitar. And here’s where we start running into problems!
How far can your fingers stretch? Most chords on a guitar span 4 frets at the most — with 3 being the most common maximum stretch. Mandolin chords often span 4 frets — with some having a 5 fret span. When played on a short scale mandolin, this stretch isn’t a problem. When the scale length approaches 2 feet or so (about a guitar’s scale length), the required fret stretch is simply too much for most players.
A bouzouki has this same problem — originally used for Greek folk music, a bouzouki is tuned like an octave mandolin. This lower tuning makes it ideal for a celtic rhythm instrument — except for the required fret stretch.
Because of this, you often see bouzoukis or octave mandolins tuned differently for celtic music — GDAD. Chord fretting in this tuning is much easier and the longer scale length (a few inches longer than an octave mandolin) results in deep, long sustaining chords — making a bouzouki a perfect rhythm instrument for celtic music!
Joey Robichaux operates Celtic Sheet Music, where mandolin players can freely download over 3,000 celtic fiddle tunes!
