Rob MacKillop wrote:
>
> There's a chance I will be doing my History of the Guitar in Scotland
> project either as a book or as a PhD. However it turns out, I have to start
> by confessing that I have an embarrassing ignorance of the 'unique' (I am
> informed) style of Shetland guitar playing in this, sorry, last century. Can
> anyone help me out with this? I need players names, recordings (with codes
> and labels if poss), and contacts for further info. Any present-day
> practitioners? What IS the Shetland style? Thanks in advance.
>
Jazz! Someone will no doubt fill you in on the full story, but the
present-day Shetland fiddle/guitar accompaniment style formed during the
2nd half of the 20th century with roots in the rapidly-changing chord
accompaniments used by the American jazz band players of the late 20s,
30s and swing era. The key aspects are: use of a range of four-finger
chords, nearly always on four adjacent strings, which can be moved up
and down the neck freely. The shapes include diminished, augmented, 7th,
9th, 6th and combinations and are quite mobile; they generally avoid
using open strings; the bass note in the chord is often NOT the tonic;
these bass notes, when the chords are played in sequence, form a
bassline very like the accordion bass of Scottish dance bands but not as
cheesy, more funky. Full barre chords are also used occasionally, but
the essence of the Shetland style is 'one chord change per beat' or even
'per note', so the mobile jazz-chord shapes are preferred to classical
full-barre shapes.
It's quite easy for a Shetland fiddler and guitarist to switch into
playing Django-style gypsy swing but I don't think the guitarist would
ever take over a melodic line. I may be wrong there. It's a good rythmic
accompaniment style.
My experience at sessions is that if you've got someone doing a
Shetland-style accompaniment and they know exactly what they are doing,
you keep well out. A 'traditional' accompaniment can clash badly with
it, particularly if it consists of the usual three or four 1st position,
full 6-string chords with alternating or downbeat bass. Because the
jazz-chord sequences used are open to considerable variation, any two
guitarists with Shetland style under their belts would also need to know
each other's precise handling of specific tunes to play together.
All this may be total nonsense but it's what I have learned from local
Shetland-style guitarists and various articles and stuff on the subject.
David.
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