Bill Woods

Bodhran

This beginner's guide to the traditional Irish Bodhran was written by successful Bodhran performer and teacher Bill Woods, who has drawn on decades of experience to create an integrated method that incorporates photographs, text and audio examples for a complete learning experience. Bodhran - The Basics takes you step-by-step through everything you need to know, from holding the Bodhran and stick through playing along with traditional Irish dance tunes. It demonstrates the basic accompaniment patterns for reels and jigs and shows you ways to make these patterns more interesting using rests, accents and rolls. This book features downloadable audio tracks of traditional Irish dance tunes. These are recorded at different tempos so you can start playing along almost immediately and increase your speed as your skill improves. There is also information on the history of the Bodhran, the correct pronunciation of its name and suggestions on what to look for when choosing a Bodhran and stick, as well as instructions on a simple and inexpensive way to make your own stick and a discussion of the basic structure of Irish dance tunes.