Donough

I never had a nickname and got through boarding school as one of the few who never got one. I think my real name was weird enough even in Ireland. BTW it is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic word “Donnacha” or “Donnchadh” which is the word for Denis/Dennis and the Greek God of Wine - “Dionysus”. So it ends in a hard “C” Sound as in the lakes (Lough) or maybe that should be described as a “soft K”. The A at the end of the gaelic word was often removed to make it easier to say the “O” at the start of the surname (O’Donovan).
Thankfully I’ve got that off my chest now.
My guitar does have a nickname (Niamh) thanks to Dow. I have since learnt that Niamh means ‘bright’ and that very aptly desribes the sound of my guitar; not that Dow actually knew that when he came up with the name ☺.
Been playing Mandolin for a few years also but only started playing it in sessions when I found that it was easier than trying to flat-pick melody on guitar. It gave me an option when there were other guitarists at the session - I don’t much like 2 accompanists.
At the start of 2006 I got started in earnest on the fiddle and since then I have been trying to master the skills to transfer what I have in my head and in my ‘mandolin fingers’, onto the fiddle. It certainly is easier to rock up to a session with a fiddle than a guitar. If no-one knows you, a guitar is usualy cringe material and if they know you and don’t like your style you’re still in trouble. Also the fiddle is way more portable - a very big bonus indeed!!


I am Member Number 674 which means I have been involved since the early days. I even used to frequent Jeremy’s music site before it re-incarnated as the mustard board of today. I am not a frequent poster to the site because I usually read the discussions at a time when either everything has been said already or no-one else is online apart from the Aussie contingent. I usually contribute if there is a guitar discussion because at least there I sort of know what I am talking about. Though people like Iris Nevins can usually say it much better and quicker than me! She doesn’t seem to be around much though any more - too busy playing music.

I am from Dublin but have lived in Perth, West Australia, for the past many years.
I play the guitar both as an accompanying instrument but also like to play ITM arranged for fingerstyle guitar and occasionally flatpick a few tunes especially if they are not played too fast in smaller sessions. I play in DADGAD and drop D as well as some other tunings but use Drop D for session accompaniment. I am not keen on the liberal use of capos where it can all end up sounding the same and my guitar neck won’t take the Quickdraw capo.
I play an Australian-made guitar from Melbourne luthier David Worthy. It is a small bodied guitar with a wide neck, cutaway and 12 frets to the body i.e. 2 frets shorter than usual.
I have an old Portuguese Mandolin and an Ovation Mandolin. My fiddle is made in UK by someone called Tarr and its older than me 🙂


♪♫♫♪♫

You still here reading - amazing!! 🙂 Now for the self-indulgent bit.
Tunes that I have written:
https://thesession.org/tunes/3664/comments - Tanga’s Reel
https://thesession.org/tunes/3670/comments - The Frog
https://thesession.org/tunes/3685 - Daisy Rose (Reel)
I have also written a number of pieces of music that I recorded at home with a basic DAW and two microphones. These are all uploaded to Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/donough-1

You still here - must be a stalker 🙂
I had posted some tunes here in 2008 and some of these were a source of mild amusement to myself until Ceolachan published a list of people who had composed tunes on their Details section. I thought Omigod people might actually try and play some of those horrific tunes. So now I have weeded and modified this selection today 1st December 2011 as well as a few new additions.

X: 11
T:Back on the Mat
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:Reel
K:D
fA (3AAA BAFB|ABde fdef|g3 a gfed|cA (3AAA cdeg|!
fA (3AAA BAFB|ABde fdef| g3 a gfed|cABc d3 e:||!
fa (3aaa bafb|afdA GF/G/Ad|e3 f gfed|cA (3AAA cdeg|!
fa (3aaa bafb|afdA GF/G/Ad|e3 f gfed|cABc d3z:||!

X: 19
T:Creek, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:Reel
K:G
cAGA FDDE|FGAB c2 dB|cAGA FAde|fgaf gfed|!
cAGA FDDE|FGAB cAde|~f2 af gfed|1^cdec d3 B:|2^cdec d3e||!
fd d2 Adfg|afge d^cAB|=cA ~A2 GAFA|EAcd ed^ce|!
(3fga ge dcAB|cAGA FD (3EFG|Adfa ged^c|1Add^c d3e:|2Add^c d3B||

X:1
T:Delicate Ground
M:4/4
R:REEL
K:D
fg|:afdA BcdB| A2 AB AGFE|DFAd FAdf|edcd eAfg|
afdA BcdB| A2 AB AGFE|DFAd FAdf|1 edce d2 fg:|2edce d2 ef||
~g3 f gecA |defg a2 af|~g3 f gecA|dfec d2 cB|
Aggf gecA|dAdf a2 ba|g2 fg efge|cABc d2

X: 24
T:Wasted time
R:hornpipe
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:A
||:ed|cAFA EAce|agfd ecAc|dfed cAEA|FAdc B2 ed|!
cAFA EAce|agfd ecAc|dfed cAEA|FAGA A2:|:
ab|c’afa ecAc|dfed cAEA|FAdB ceAc|dcBA B2 ab|!
c’afa ecAc|dfed cAEA|1 FAdf ecac|BAAG A2:|2FAEA FAEA|FAGA A2||

X: 29
T:Fish Of The Day
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:Reel
K:DDor
d2 dB c3 A| GECD EDEG| ADdB c2 cA| GECD ED D2|!
d2 dB c3A| GECD EDEG| ABcA d2 cA|1 GECE DE^FA:|2GECE D3 z||!
d3 e c2 ed| cAGE ABce| dcde c3 e|gecd ed d2|!
Adde c2 ed| cAGc A2 GE| DEFA GECD| EDCD ED D2:||

X: 28
T:Crossing, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:Hornpipe
H:Written 5/2/08
Z:DJSOD
K:G
dc|:BG ~G2 AGEG|DGBd g2 fg|edBe d2 BG|ABcA F2 (3DEF|
GB ~B2 cABc|dgfa g2 bg|afd^c d=cAF|1 G2 GF G2 dc:|2 G2 GF G2 AB||
cAFA DABc|d2 ~d2 BGBd|efgf agfe|ded^c d2 FG|
AD ~D2 ABcA|Bcde dGBd| efge dgfe|1 (3ded EF G2 AB:|2 (3ded EF G2 z2||

X: 13
T:Chocolate Muffin, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:15/7/05
R:Reel
K:D
fg||:agfa gfec|dcAF G2 FG|ADDE FGAF|GEED E2 fg|!
agfa gfec|dcAF G2 FG|ADDE FEFA|1GEDC D2 fg:|2GEDC D2 (3EFG||!
ADDB defd|ef (3gfe a2 ge|“Bm”fdBF “Em” GBed| cAdA e2 fg|!
adde cdec|dcAF G2 FG|ADDB defd|1ed (3cBA d2 (3EFG:|2ed (3cBA d2 z2||

Some tunes to make use of that bottom fiddle string:
X: 39
T:Gorge, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
C:D
R:Hornpipe
K:G
DC|(3B,A,G, B,D GDB,D|(3CB,A, CE A3G|FGAB cAFA|GFGA BGDC|
(3B,A,G, B,D GDB,D|(3CB,A, CEA3G|FGAB cedF|1 AGGF G2:|2 AGGF G2 GA||
(3Bcd gf gedB|(3cBA ce a2ag|fAeA d^cde|fgef dDdc|
(3Bcd gf gedB|(3cBA ce a2 ag|fgag fdcA|1 G2 GF G2 dc:|2G2 GF G2z2||

X:1
T:Growl, The
M:4/4
R:REEL
K:G
G2 DC B,G,G,B,|A,B,CA, DEFD|G2 DC B,G,B,D|CEDB, G,DEF|
G2 DC B,G,G,B,|A,B,CA, DEFD|G2 DC B,G,B,D|CEDF G2 AB||
c2 AG FDDE|FGAB cedB|c2 AG FDEF|GBAF G2 AB|
c2 AG FDDE|FGAB cedB|c2 AG FDEF|GBAF GBBc||
dgdc BGGB|ABcA defd|gfdc BGBd|cAFA G2 Bc|
dgdc BGGB|ABcA defd|gb (3agf gdBd|cAFA G2||

And my most recent favourite waltz
X:1
T:Guvnor
M:3/4
R:waltz
K:D
FG|:A2 Dd cd|B3 A FG|AF dB AF|~E3F GB|
AF Dd cd|Bc d3 e|1 dB AF ED| ~E3 D E/F/G:|2 dB AF EF| D3 e fg||
a2 af dA|Bc d3e|dB AF ED|E3 e fg|
a2 af dA|Bc d3e|dB AF EF|D3 e fg
a2 af dA|Bc d3e|dB AF ED|EA FA GA|
FA df ed|Bc d3e|dB AF EF|D6||

Donough O’Donovan