Antony Titley (from local Folk band Two Blank Pages and Severn Folk Club’s own Reabrook B Band) recently gained a new instrument (and a new challenge) in the form of an Irish Bouzouki. Now, after managing to keep it a secret from the rest of the band, Antony has shared his experiences of noodling with this “pear-shaped instrument”…
Background
I’ve been playing with Two Blank Pages since I was 11 years old. Thankfully our songs from the early days are safely locked away in a hidden vault that will never see the light of day.
Approaching 32, I realised just how long I’ve spent playing a single instrument and whilst I love driving our sound with fun rhythms, I felt a growing itch to expand into playing melody and writing in a new style. That’s when Matthew (Quantum Penguin) came along. Having worked with our Banjo player on a separate project, we asked him to bring his incredible fiddle skills to our live shows. He has more than lived up to his reputation and it’s been a true pleasure getting to know him. An unexpected perk of this was the introduction to the wider world of traditional folk instruments.
Matthew kindly asked us to support at his Adélie album launch show, where I was able to hear his fantastic song-writing first hand for the first time. This is also where I first heard the Bouzouki, and what an incredible sounding instrument it was! There was something about the richness and sustain of the instrument that immediately piqued my interest. Plus it looked very similar to a guitar, so how hard could it be to learn?
I did some Google searching and discovered the many Jigs and melodies played on the instrument. This also led to the discovery of Robin Jones Music (part of the excellent band Trials of Cato) who I relied on heavily for learning the instrument. This was enough for me, so I took the plunge and purchased a beginner Bouzouki.
It’s Not Just A Small Guitar
After being in my comfort zone for so many years, it had been a long time since I felt truly humbled as a musician, but this instrument was more than happy to oblige. Unboxing it excitedly, I suddenly realised I had no idea how to properly hold or play it. My usual right arm position was incompatible with this pear on a stick. Surprisingly even tuning the instrument was difficult, as I’d never dealt with paired strings before and kept constantly catching them. I opted for GDAD tuning (rather than standard GDAE) because it closely mirrored open D on a guitar, giving my brain a slight head start.
Having spent a few hours making little progress and discovering a handful of random ‘chords’, I decided to learn properly. Turning to YouTube for help, I was shocked by how little content exists for the bouzouki. I seemed doomed to squint at grainy, decade-old videos until I rediscovered Robin Jones’ channel, which quickly became my go to space for learning this wonderful instrument.Relearning basic scales and picking patterns made me feel like a kid again — excited, nervous, and inspired. But it was a surprising physical workout. I tired out far quicker than I would on a guitar, a mix of the extra finger pressure required for the double strings and having no lazy resting place for my right arm. Though eventually this alien instrument began to feel more familiar and despite battling with some picking patterns (Seriously, how is Down-Up-Down Down-Up-Down so difficult when crossing strings?!) I felt confident enough to start exploring.
The first song I picked up was ‘Northwest Passage’ by Show of Hands, a beautiful song that I believe is played on a Mandocello but translates really nicely to the Bouzouki. With this under my belt I found some familiar chords and learnt ‘These Days’ by Jackson Browne, originally a guitar song that sounds beautiful on this instrument. Learning these familiar songs helped tie the instrument together with myself as a musician, I felt I could work together with it, instead of trying to break it in.
Finally, I had an inspiring afternoon and was able to put this practice together into a new song. It has a distinctly more folky feel than my previous writing and I feel like I’m finally able to head in a new direction. It’ll be a long time before I’m able to keep up with the speeds of our Banjo player, or know the instrument well enough to write instant songs with our Bass player, but I’m excited about the direction I’m heading in.
Was it worth it?
Absolutely.
Although the Bouzouki has required me to untrain some guitar muscle memory, it has challenged me as a musician and inspired me to try things I wouldn’t have on the guitar.
Once I finally get the hardware ready (thank you Laurence for providing some of this!) I’m excited to take this to the stage and give it the real Two Blank Pages road test. If you’re considering picking up a Bouzouki, or any new instrument then find your local folk musicians singing beautiful songs whilst playing strange looking instruments (The Folk Club is a great place to start) and ask them about it, you won’t be disappointed.
You can hear Antony perform with Two Blank Pages and keep up with all their news (and perhaps hear him playing the Bouzouki with them in the near future?) on their website and socials at http://www.twoblankpages.com/
