The Guitarist's Survival Guide: The Road From Ireland

Talking Shop: The Gear

1. The Helix Stomp: A Modern Miracle

Honestly, the Helix Stomp made my life so much easier on this tour. I run both my mandolin and my guitar through separate processing on the one Helix unit, and then I can either split their signals or have them come out through a single jack. This versatility is an absolute game-changer. I can choose differently whether I'm sending it out to a desk for a dedicated sound engineer, or if we're mixing ourselves on a smaller desk where space (and time!) are at a premium. In fact, just thinking about the days I used to have to lug a full pedalboard on tour, or painstakingly pick my favourite pedals to sacrifice, makes me shudder now. Whatever we can say about the world right now (and there are plenty of negatives), it's a brilliant time for music equipment.

2. The Indispensable Instrument Bag

I know, I know, I keep singing this old song on repeat, but having a sturdy, reliable, and padded instrument bag really is a must. Since I last wrote here, I've been on planes, trains, and automobiles, and despite one’s best intentions, instruments do inevitably get bashed around a bit. Having a bag I can truly rely on helps me sleep at night. I've even been eyeing up a Mono case now, as they're generally considered the next level up in protection. It's an investment, but one I'm seriously considering.

Do Not Skip Warming Up!

As well as playing mandolin and guitar on this tour, I'm also a singer. In the past, I used to regularly go on stage without warming up my voice to any reasonable degree. I now see this as needlessly reckless behaviour – the folly of the young! Lack of sleep, less-than-ideal travelling conditions, and, dare I say it, the consumption of alcohol are all familiar aspects of a tour. Regular warming-up sessions (I like to use the free videos on YouTube from Jacob's Vocal Academy) are absolutely essential to keep your voice shipshape. Heavy recommend!

Other Takeaways from the Tour: Tunes that Took Flight

1. Old Dangerfield

Written by the grandpappy of Bluegrass himself, Bill Monroe, this is a fiery and fast bluegrass tune. It's incredibly fun to improvise over, to variable degrees of depth, and it went down a storm every night we played it. My good friends and bandmates Honza Bartošek and Loes van Schaijk deeply enjoyed putting this song through its paces, from small pubs to larger venues, and to audiences with varying degrees of bluegrass education. Play it fast and play it loud!

2. A Set of Scottish and Irish Tunes: Morven's March – Wee Michael's March – Banish Misfortune

Playing these tunes on the mandolin, I came to love them even more over the tour. The first two hail from Scotland and the last from Ireland (better known to some as "The Mangled Badger"). Even though to some the idea of bringing these Celtic tunes to Ireland is a bit like bringing sand to the desert, these beautiful tunes also went down exceptionally well at every gig we played.

Here's a short clip.

Final Musings: The Strength in Difference

As a musician who likes to flit between genres, I've always felt a bit of a musical misfit. I came to bluegrass in my twenties, and most of my friends who like soul and jazz music (which I also adore) don't really care for it. I came to Irish music even later in life, never having really cared for it growing up in Ireland. Having lived abroad for years, I often feel a familiar sentiment – a foreigner in my adopted country of the Czech Republic, yet in many ways, my home country of Ireland has also become a foreign place to me. Going home to Ireland to play music at a few of these festivals was, for me, a truly wonderful experience. We even participated in a very interesting panel discussion at Westport.

What I realised is that the different things we bring to the table are often our strengths, not our weaknesses. As someone who didn't grow up steeped in the bluegrass tradition, my playing is a melting pot of other influences – bluegrass, folk, rock, gypsy jazz, metal, soul. Watching some of the dedicated bluegrass players at the festivals in Ireland, I realised how exceptional those players are at their chosen craft. Am I that? Well, no. I might never be as good as them at bluegrass. For music so firmly rooted in tradition as bluegrass or Irish music, it's obvious when someone isn't playing strictly "inside the lines."

However, one night at a jam, when I played a rudimentary jazz line over a chord, I got a few nods of approval from bluegrassers who I felt I wouldn't have impressed too thoroughly with my typical playing. At that moment, I felt a flicker of pride. Another night, a musician simply told me, "Your playing is very interesting; where does it come from?" I had been chastising myself for not being as good as these other players, but perhaps it was my differences that made me interesting. So, a lesson for us all! As musicians, we are often introspective and self-reflective, and I feel that's an important piece of "software" to run on our brains if we value the art we make and the idea of getting better. But equally important is a change in perspective and occasionally allowing ourselves to feel accomplishment, and dare I say it, pride!