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  • semplicemente...fantastico !

    Claudio

  • This is deeply moving. I know I've said this before, but your sense of music is magical.

  • Beautiful tune, and you play it so well. GREAT work on a little & cute guitar, Lady!

  • 5555+

    

  • Brilliant, Great piece actually. Embarassingly, it has made me get a GL-1 and Hinchcliff'es book. The sound quality is astonishing. Well played!

  • Beautiful playing for a beautiful tune ! 

  • Helen,

    You're a wonderful musician. Very musical. I think you've convinced me to buy one of these guitar ukes. Here's some advice: Above the fourth fret vibrato should be achieved by rocking the left hand fingers from side to side. The up and down works on the first four frets. Try it and let me know what you think.

  • very nice!!

  • Comment removed

  • Comment removed

  • I heard your version of this the other day when I was suffering from heat exhaustion. I must have thought I was dying and going to heaven.

  • nice arrangement one of the best guitalele pieces on youtube

  • You are gifted.

  • You play beautifully, and have pretty much convinced me to get one of these little instruments so I can have a decent little guitar with me anywhere I go! Thanks so much for posting this and I hope to see more from you!

  • Hey, I've got the same Guitalele as you..... but I don't play so good as you...

    It shows me that it's not only a "traveling guitar".

    Thanks.

  • Is there any tab for this song? It's just sooo beautiful :D

  • Hi Helen, I think Yamaha owes you a bigger cheque. After watching your beautiful playing and being captivated by the quality of sound you produced I looked up the 'Guitalele' and bought one,I liked it so much I bought another (for my son) Delightful little instrument for very little money. Thank you so much.

  • Nice!!!! I like!

  • Spectacular, sounds unbelievably like a harp

  • I like it!!

    Where can I find tabs to this peace?

  • @bluesnisse Thanks! The arrangement was written by Keith Hinchliffe, and can be found in his superb book of Carolan tunes, 'Carolan's Dream'. You can buy it through his website.

  • Your playing of Carolan's Receipt is bewitching. Please post more.

  • Pure beautiness and peace!

  • This is one of the most emotional instrumental's i ever heard, you have such fantastic feel when you play, it can't get any better then this! :)

  • Gorgeous.

  • beautiful playing!....do you have Irish parents?

  • Has Yamaha sent you a comission check yet for guitalele referrals?

  • @bndeyo Ha! No! They still haven't helped suggest what possible strings are supposed to go on this. Can you believe I still have not changed them from the ones they came with - and no one can tell me what on earth were used on it!!

  • @Dracapalley The shop in Toronto that sold me the guitalele recommended alto guitar strings- D'Addario EJ52. Just Strings stocks them, as does Amazon (oddly)...

  • @bndeyo THANK YOU!!!!! Off to buy some now... x

  • what a sound! is it because of the guitar? seems like a harp sound, very clear

  • @renatovcortereal Thanks! No, I would say the harp effect is pretty much down to the alternate tuning, and of course the style of music.

  • @Dracapalley over in the colonies, we sometimes call that style 'melodic banjo'- where melodies are as much as possible across different strings, so notes overlap a lot, resulting in the 'harp' sound. There's a Mudarra 'Fantasia' (orig. for vihuela) from 1546 in Noad's "Renaissance Guitar' book which 'imitates the harp on Ludovico"- the tablature indicates lots of cross-string melodies, and it's really really cool. It's also kind of hard, and I've never learned it properly, but I think I will.

  • Real nice man...

  • Lovely!!

  • Wonderfull

  • That was lovely. I've never seen one of those before.

  • I love O'Carolan tunes and this is by far my favorite version of this song. Very well played!

  • Beautiful and intriguing guitar and melody. Wonderfully played my friend.

    Best wishes

    Staffan

  • beautiful !

  • Beautifully played! Standing applause!! Got a GL1 on the strength of this and twfinamurray's SBSM clip and love it (if it weren't for slight detuning probs and a need for a km length of 4th string to keep replacing it). Superb instrument for the money though! I find the action quite high all the same, have you had yours lowered at the nut? You seem to merely touch string to fret it where I have to press it down 1 - 2mm depending on the fret. More of your virtuoso O'Carolan please! Many thanks!

  • @cathalwhelehan - sorry, that should have said "twfianmurray".

  • @cathalwhelehan Hi, and thanks for the kind comment! Glad you find the GL1 as pleasing as me, albeit with the detuning. My one has the same issue, and some things do not sound great playing it but pieces like this with open strings ringing seem to suit it. I didn't have anything done with the action... actually, mine is also pretty high, but the alternate tuning helps with this. Which strings are you using? I can't find guitalele strings anywhere :S

  • @Dracapalley Glad it's not just me having detuning issues (in a way). I'll try and solve it by giving the strings some extra light stretching next time I restring (i.e. today, for the 3rd time since I got it just over 10 days ago!). I just strung it with standard classical guitar strings (daddario EJ45s) as the factory ones were bobbins. If I keep getting breaks I may try EJ46 which are supposed to stand more tension. I don't think there's any such thing as guitalele strings, tbh. Best wishes! C

  • @cathalwhelehan Maybe the strings are the problem then? I saw some guitalele strings made by D'Addario a while back but lost the link and now can't find them. Didn't Aquila make strings that were suitable for guitaleles, or am I imagining this?! Hmm, bit confused. Will keep investigating. If I find out I'll let you know! That's insane you've had to restring 3 times in 10 days though.

  • @Dracapalley I think you're right about the strings being wrong... I should have known seeing as the tuning being so high. Rather than waste another set on it, I've decided to order a set of D'Addario J94s (for requinto guitars). At least they're designed for ADGCEA (even if the scale on a GL1 is a good few inches less). I assume they'll have absolutely no problem with DGDGAD or CGDGBD. I'll look for the Aquila ones, but will let you know what happens with the J94s. Thanks for waking me up. C

  • that is a beautiful instrument. because of the higher tuning, i think it sounds almost like a harp. awesome playing too.

  • Im planning to buy a 1/8 guitar and the thing im interested in are strings.. do i need special strings for it? and if i do are they common enough i can get them from a music store?

  • Ciao Helen,

    After listening again to your beautiful playing I did a bit of research and I found the only Guitalele available in Milano, and today I bought it...it's a really great instrument to expertiment with. In the store I played Eleanor Plunckett and it sounded so great!!!

    Ciao e grazie, sei una grande ispirazione!!!

  • great music and great interprétation very peacefull.

    thanks a lot

  • Beautiful!

  • wow im learning this on guitar but this makes me want one of those you play this great im glad im listening to it i can get it alot easier now its really great how you got it down pact keep up the good work

  • Ciao , sei davvero brava , musica molto rilassante . Bellina la chitarra ukulele !

  • Brilliant! ☆☆☆☆☆

  • Wanted to say, re my previous comment, that I finally got one of these. It was a surprise from my family for Christmas. And I absolutely love it! Thank you for turning me on to it. Sitting here at my work desk listening again to this O'Carolan, I want so badly to go home right now and start learning it. Cheers!

  • Awesome!

  • Just stunning... Wonderful use of the little GL-1

    I sometimes use a Requinto for the same range - not with your talent of course... Stunning.

  • I love your playing! Inspires me to practice, especially with your rubato and expression. Beautifully done.

    Thought I'd offer my two cents about strings for the guitalele. I use requinto strings made by D-Addario (ADGCEA) and they seem a good match. Alto guitar strings (BEADF#B) are another possibility (Hannabach, Pyramid and D'Addario make them I believe).

  • Great playing

  • Absolutely beautiful Helen, as always!

    Regards

    Mike

  • You have got a great sense of rhythm and pace in your playing. So much so I bought a GL-1 last week. Only problem which I hope you can help me with is the tuning for this tune. And i hope it's not too stupid a question. If the guitar is tuned ADGCEA, am I tuning the strings up or down to get to CGDGBD? Thanks.

  • Hi, glad you got yourself one of these! You need to tune down, not up. For the purpose of clarity, forget for a minute that it's actually ADGCEA. Just imagine it was regular tuning of EADGBE. It's much easier to tune to itself; chromatic tuners will confuse things. So, with regular tuning in mind, play the D string and drop the high E to match. Play the G string and drop the A to match. Then fret the B string at the first fret to make a C, then you can drop the low E string to the C.

  • love this song!!!

  • ...magic sounds !

  • Truly a beautiful cover. I have this on my Ipod now =) Check out our new song in our new vidoe watch?v=SI6PlXjedkQ

    And keep rockin =)

  • Wow! I love the sound of this instrument. It compliments O'Carolan's music so well. You play beautifully. I hope to see more posts from you in the future. I'm a huge fan of O'Carolan.

    - Ben

  • Oh, man. I want one! Lol. Almost a cross between a uke and a Terz (high string guitar). I am always frustrated with the uke because of the lack of more strings to really get some of the more lush chords. Thanks for putting this. And stunning playing, as always!

  • Yeah, I know the feeling about ukes, that's why I opted for this in the end. Never managed to get going with a ukulele I had years ago for the reason you mention. And these are cheap as chips and don't sound half bad!

  • Beautiful, of course, as all your vids. Muy bonito.

    All the best.

  • you've got skill and so much feeling

    i never heard a so sweetly touched short guitar

    i hope you will become the musician you are inside, anyway all this love for music will be important whatever you will do

  • Very nice!

  • Wonderful! Beautiful arrangement and performance! BTW, it's the size of a baritone.

  • Thank you! I have ammended the details! Great playing in your videos, I very nearly bought a ukulele after watching them, but decided to stick to what I knew. All the best.

  • Nice!

  • Beautiful Folk feel of the traditional Irish...

    Fantastic flow!..:-)

  • Music to my ears, your sense of phrase is fab. Do you play the harp?

  • Thank you very much. No, I have never played a harp but I wish I could!

  • beautiful.

  • Lovely music, thank you.

    Mick

  • Thanks for the inspiration!

  • Really beautiful playing!

  • fucking awesome

  • Ha ha thank you so much... The pieces of my jigsaw are finally coming together.. (sounds like it should be suffixed with a 'mwah ah ah'...) And when I said 'do you play out?', what I mean is 'out - out'.. Do you ever leave your house in order to teach people to play tunes? Or just play with other people? Cos if you do, I'd like to do that too *gush*.. Not in a weird way.. I just need to learn some tunes from good guitarists... hOnEsT... :) x

  • Hello again, I have sent you a message to your inbox. :0)

  • Please please PLEASE will you teach me to play some O'Carolan tunes? Where can I get recordings to obsess over? Do you study the guitar? Do you ever play out? Stu x

  • Hi Stu, Recordings to obsess over; I can help there! Try Keith Hinchliffe's 'Carolan's Dream' CD, available from his website (youtube won't let me put in links, google him). Also, Franco Morone's CD 'The South Wind' is stunning. I study the guitar only in as much as I love it and want to learn more. I don't go to any institutions or anything though, if that's what you mean? I don't play out, just a bedroom noodler with the occassional youtube vid. Liked your videos, btw. Cheers! x

  • Its actually very beautiful.

    Im thinking of getting an Ukulele.

  • And now i got one! :P

  • Hello,

    It' is Aquila Strings ?

  • Hello, sorry, I'm unsure as to this question myself. I'm putting off re-stringing until I do a bit of research to find out. I'm still using the original strings it came with.

  • i wish you were my friend so we can play guitar 4ever. ........you wish maybe in Bali.......

  • You play beautifully! I am relaxing from a hectic day and enjoy your music and talents. Thank you.

  • Beautifull!

    You must be very tall to make that guitar look so small ;)

  • Thanks so much for taking the time to comment or rate my video. It's very much appreciated. All the best.

  • YOU ARE TALENTED !!!!

  • WOW!!  just beautiful...*****

  • you are amazingly talented.. very mature musically.. just fantastic,

  • MAGNIFICENT!!!! 5*****

    You have big talant! Wish you successes!

  • Played with such elegance. You go on my favourites. Nicely played :)

  • that makes sense now, thank you!

  • can you help me tuning the guitalele to you with this piece?? i've got it wrong (is open string = CGDGBD) ?

  • Hello... hope I can help... the tuning for this piece is CGDGBD when playing in standard tuning on a standard guitar. The guitalele is the equivalent of a standard guitar capoed at the 5th fret, so CGDGBD becomes FCGCEG on the guitalele, open strings. Hope that makes sense.

  • hi dracapalley, after watching your video, i got myself this guitalele, however i'm not good at guitar. i just found out that i need to tune it as ADGCEA instead of tune it as a standard guitar. i just wondered are they completely different way to play between a standard guitar and a guitalele? if so, do i have to learn how to play a guitalele all over again. also, can i tuning it as EADGBE, can you please advise. by the way, you played it very nice.

  • Hi, it's not as daunting as it sounds, promise! When it's tuned to its regular tuning (ADGCEA) it is the equivalent of a standard guitar tuned EADGBE but with a capo at the 5th fret. So, you don't need to learn from scratch, all chords that you already know will sound just the same as if you played them with a capo at the 5th. Hope this helps. :0)

  • finally.. i've got 2 guitaleles very light and good sound. I can tune one as you've done with this and leave as you said CGDGBD

  • god..this is so good!

  • wow i never used to like the sound of nylon string guitars but this is really nice. very musical and smooth. i play a steel string myself you can check out my videos if you like. but really nice job! i could never play finger style like that

  • Hi,Dracapalley!

    Greetings from Duisburg, the Ruhrvaley in Germany! Very nice piece of music!

    You've done it excellent!

    Qpidon send me your video.

    Go foreward!

    God bless you!

    Wolfgang

  • please! more guitalele songs :) I ordered the yamaha gl1 this morning. Can't wait to cover you when i get it. Nice fingers though.

  • Beautiful song... thanks for introducing me to O'Carolan! Nice playing too...

  • Just subscribed. Hope to hear you play more pieces with the guitalele.

  • Years ago, I was playing nylon-string guitar in a hotel restaurant, and a sightless newspaper columnist (who I recognized, tho' she apparrantly didn't return the favour) turned to her companion and asked, "who's that harpist?" I hadn't thought about that in years.....

  • Again, this is such beautiful music, I really wish I could even be half as good as you :D

    But I only play a normal guitar so I probably wouldn't ever get that beautiful and gentle sound that you can create.

  • It looks and sounds very much like a 19th century guitar, which is what Sor played on. It's actually very appropriate for the music you are playing......Hope to hear more of your music on this guitar. Aquila makes "nylgut" strings, which are synthetic strings to sound like real gut and silk strings that were used on 19th century guitars. The nylgut have bell like tones, and more volumn than real gut strings.....would sound good on your small guitar.

  • Your music sounds so gentle

  • Hope youre feeling better, and happy.Its all been said- re lovely playing from a lovely person. But also very much appreciated is the quality of your video and sound. Perfect for guitar learners -very clear view of fingering. Well placed quality mike etc. You clearly take everything you seriously -and do it right ! Excellent ! Oh ---and think I may be yet another who will be buying a guitalele.

  • Thanks so much, I'm pleased to hear that I'm doing something right with the videos. I do make them with the guitarist in mind, and what I would like to see in terms of fingering, etc., so really glad that it's helpful. Thanks for dropping by.

  • Your talent is intact. You can't even begin to imagine how good it feels to listen to your music.

    Wishing you well, dear.

    -Peace

  • Beautifull !!

    i love this !

  • ......Oh .........

  • reminds me of my guitaroni , I found when

    kid, in my sister s room ( & since then the

    guitar has never left my mind or heart ). you play a little sad but beatiful tunes ,beatifully.

    all the best in your life,

    nicholas,Athens

  • This is just lovely. Thank you for posting. What is the tuning for the instrument? Same as a guitar? Do you have the notation/tabs available?

  • Great! Probably the best Guitalele playing I've ever seen. I feel the urge to take out mine now too :)

    Regards, Wilfried

  • Hello! Your video of Triumphmarsch was what made me buy the guitalele in the first place, so thank you! I love the Harp Piece you play. Did you arrange that for guitar, or is there somewhere online that I can get the tab? Beautiful. Thanks for visiting!

  • How wonderful :) Hope you enjoy it! -- My video of the harp piece is a video reply to the original, and I learned it by ear.

    Regards, Wilfried

  • Like someone else said earlier. Five stars just are not enough for a piece as beautiful as that. Lovely!

  • You're too kind. Thank you.

  • Good sound of your new little guitar and your playing is really magic !!

  • I love that tuning on that mini model, and you play it ever so beautifully!

  • There's something about you and your manner, your playing, arrangement, your expression through music that is incredibly healing to me.

    Thank you Dracapalley.

    A.S.Angelo

    author/illustrator

  • Thanks a lot A.S. Angelo, that means a lot.

  • Hi dear friend: Your music is amazing!!! I am atonished!!! When I've listen to your music I've writen a poeme to publish in my blog. Some lines are these:

    Beautiful you are in the cadence

    with that your chest

    is given to breathe my absences

    Delightful in the sweetness of those lips,

    whispering your love to my ears

    and calming the thirst of those other lips

    of those other lips of mine

    Your soul sings in the fingers of your hands, dear friend. You are a fortunate person.

    Suri

  • *srnk*

    XD

  • Dracapalley is the biz! Keep posting, please. I hope you become as rich and famous as you want to be, you play beautifully and deserve a wider audience, thank you,

  • This music sounds really good in this higher tuning.

  • Beautiful playing - as ever. I thought I recognised Keith's arrangement - and then I read your notes.

    Well done.

    Mike

  • Truly Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

  • yes you posted again!i love you, i all ready recorded this one on my tape deck.me my bike and your guitar playing.thanks

  • Must be magic fingers to make such a little instrument sound so rich. Cheers, N

  • che bella espressione... bravissima. Un saluto, gianni

  • That was truly beautifull! Great work! Greetings Jeroen

  • Can't tell you how glad I was to see you back and posting. Hope all is well and that we'll see more from you. Cheers.

  • That's super, really lovely. Glad to see recording again...this is a good sign. take care.

  • So wonderful to see you back, Helen! And with a Yamaha Guitalele too!

    Lovely! Absolutely lovely performance that seems to perfectly suit the higher pitch of the Guitalele!

    For those in the US who are interested in this instrument, you can order them from Canada.

  • We are all very happy cause you´re posting again.

    Muy bonito!

  • lovely as always from you! what a sweet sounding instrument...it's got a lovely harpish tone. Well done!

  • I like this beautiful tune of O'Carolan.

    Your playing is very very nice*****

    Do you know his fantastic piece,  title is Squire Woods' Lamentation on the Refusal of his Halfpence??

    Now I practice it everyday, so if you can play it, upload please!!

  • ...I had to come back for more....just so nice!

  • I just ordered one from "euroguitar" and it's in transit to Spain right now. I think they are in Lille, France.  And I ordered it after seeing you play in this video.

  • Thank you very much to everyone who has commented. Really pleased this new little instrument has been well received! For those interested, I would highly recommend this as a travel guitar; very small and light, but still playable. It's quiet but that can also be quite nice. Well done Yamaha for releasing what I believe is the only guitalele on the market. Very cheap too!

  • I've been looking for one ever since I saw this amazing video. All I've seen are U.K. only sites I can buy this from... even on eBay.

    Where did you get yours if you don't mind my asking.

  • I tried replying to this earlier with a link to the place in France I bought this from, but presumably youtube administrators don't like links... I bought mine from Euroguitar (google them for link) and they do apparently ship outside the EU but you'll need to contact them to arrange this. Hope this helps.

  • Yes I love the sound and I think it suits this music and your style of playing perfectly. I like the idea of a travel guitar, I was looking at the Martin "Backpacker" but I like this much better judging from this video!

  • Unfortunately it is not sold in the U.S. though.

  • The shipping to me (western US) would probably be much more then the instrument.

    I'll make a couple of phone calls to some of my 'inside people'.

    Thanks for the reply though, much appreciated.

  • Such a treat to listen to this. Wonderful warm playing. Yes - welcome back...... we can expect more now, yes ?

  • You are back! What a cute instrument beautifully played.

  • the playing and timbre and tone of the new instrument is beautiful and yes...

    welcome back - g

  • In a word...blissful. Welcome back.

  • I could listen to your playing all day!! 5 *'s Automatic!! I haven't seen a Guitalele in a while!! Cool!!

    Aloha from Hawai'i!!

  • Thank you for sharing such a beautiful music!

    best regards,

    wolfgang

    *****

  • Excelente. Que bien tocas, chica.

    un abrazo

    Daniel

  • oh gosh. so happy to see this video from you. beautifully played and cool new instrument.

    Real nice to see you back.

  • What a wonderful surprise to see a new video from you! LOVE love your playing and this little instrument is on my must-have list now.

    peace be with u, scott.

  • Thanks to Pascal for sending me. Delightful.

  • "For me..Dracapalley + O'Carolan = misty eyes"

    Me too =) Not much music can do that for me, not too emotional generally but, wow.

  • Lovely sounds my friend. Well played of course.

  • very nice and well played! I like that sound.

  • beautiful playing Turlough. and what a great sound you get from that instrument.. ;)

  • =) nice piece...and loved the guitar...

    so playing with that guitar would be like playing an 8th high?? or a 5th?? music theory is not my "major" lol

  • Very nice and beatiful, girl:))) just keep walking on guitar, you are talented!!!

    Evica

  • Gracias por el video, Pascal.

    Un abrazo.

    Daniel

  • Finally you are back, I was missing your beautiful playing, you have a really unique way of approaching O'Carolan...thanks for the music.

    Ciao da Milano.

  • Subtle, sophisticated, virtuosic, soulful, perfectly crafted, and a finely nuanced musical delicacy. Unbelievably beautiful. Thank you.

    Enrico

  • BEAUTIFUL

  • I'm very glad to see you posting again. And what a piece to return with, so beautiful I almost got teary-eyed. Inspiring, thanks so much.

    Lovely little instrument too, I hope they get it in stock at my local music store. I'd like to try it.

    Hope you feel better.

  • Great composer too I must say, thanks for introducing me to him.

  • This time only one word:

    *****Magnificent*****

    Love,

    Pascal