Music Recommendations - Guitar or Lute Songs?

[Liatai]

Hello, good people of the Tower; seeing as we have a few musicians here, I thought this would be the best place to ask for music recommendations. If this is in the wrong place, sorry mods and admins...  Feel free to move it if it's not in the right area.

I'm a fairly avid D&D 3.5 player and DM, and have been running a campaign with some folks from around here for over two years now. Early in the campaign, I introduced a bard NPC, Edaric, that I expected to only stick around for one adventure. Since I only expected him to stick around briefly and move on, I gave him the bard's default instrument; the lute. However, the PCs took a liking to him and his ranger friend Aelian, and offered them a place to stay at their headquarters. Now, he's as much a member of the party as any player's character, and one of the most-loved NPCs of the campaign.

However, I've run into a small snag when it comes to his musical repertoire. When he was level 4, it was simple enough to just use people practicing folk songs on Youtube as examples of his music. However, now, he's level 9, and has a +20 modifier on his Perform checks (for the non-D&D players, if you roll a twenty-sided die, add the modifier, and get a result over 25, that's the type of performance that could earn you noble patrons and a national reputation. Over 30, and you could start attracting distant patrons or even the attention of beings like angels and dragons).

So, I was wondering... does anyone have any (preferably solo) acoustic guitar or lute songs that they enjoy? I'm not holding my breath on the lute performances, since it is an archaic instrument, but a guitar sounds similar enough. I've been listening to a lot of James Taylor and Jim Croce for inspiration when trying to write for Edaric lately, but I can't use them as examples because Ed... cannot sing anywhere near as well as he plays.  At all.

The character is a fairly laid-back, easygoing dreamer with a folksy sort of feel (one player called him a "cool chill jazz dude" last night), but any music suggestions at all would be appreciated. After all, what bard worth their salt doesn't step outside their comfort zone and experiment with new styles every now and then? 

Thank you in advance!

[Nyil]

http://youtu.be/v6FOGzoC9k0

As a part of our cultural histories, folk music around the world is still a pretty big thing, and not just among renaissance fair people - it just takes a little bit of digging to get away from the mainstream pop/alternative music. Even old/classical styles of playing on modern instruments has come back in vogue - http://youtu.be/iyhF9KEiDsc?t=16s

Another thing to consider looking for is a renaissance guitar - http://youtu.be/nVQWw_53ZP0 seen here in action with a lute.

If the second and third links sound similar, it's because they're both the same chord progression. A popular thing to do back in the day was to create structural and melodic variations based on the same progressions - something that Classical music still does. You could probably find a hundred variations on La Folia from a bunch of different composers, from Gemaniani to Vivaldi, to Beethoven to Handel, for example. Hell, variations are an integral part of Irish folk music, and I remember doing variations in Chinese folk music as well. If you were to pop 'Canarios' into a search engine, you'd probably come up with a lot of different results. Then the biggest task would be to separate all the solo stuff from the ensemble stuff.

Hope this helps!

[Tapewolf]

As a part of our cultural histories, folk music around the world is still a pretty big thing, and not just among renaissance fair people - it just takes a little bit of digging to get away from the mainstream pop/alternative music. Even old/classical styles of playing on modern instruments has come back in vogue - http://youtu.be/iyhF9KEiDsc?t=16s

Steeleye Span were quite big for a while, though I believe that they tended to write the music themselves from scratch, at least in their later works.  Their performance techniques varied a lot, but they were electric to the point at which I can't really recommend them (Their 1974 recording of the Mooncoin jig was one of the things which inspired me to start taking up electric bass, for instance).  They used the dulcimer a lot in their earlier records, if that might be an instrument worth exploring for the RP.

[Tapewolf]

Actually, is this any use or interest?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLdVzL6_Vzc

[Double post because you've already been reading my previous reply ]

[Liatai]

Tapewolf - Not for Edaric, but it would certainly be nice to use for any traveling bard groups the party encounters!  Thank you.

And thank you too, Nyil -- I'm really going into this blind. I've been singing for as long as I can remember, but know next to nothing about string instruments, how they're played, what different styles of playing there are... or much about historical music, period. I'll have to run a search for more Renaissance guitar music. All three of those pieces sounded very pleasant; I'll definitely keep those links on hand for Ed's next performance!

[Nyil]

Steeleye Span were quite big for a while, though I believe that they tended to write the music themselves from scratch, at least in their later works.  Their performance techniques varied a lot, but they were electric to the point at which I can't really recommend them (Their 1974 recording of the Mooncoin jig was one of the things which inspired me to start taking up electric bass, for instance).  They used the dulcimer a lot in their earlier records, if that might be an instrument worth exploring for the RP.

For the record, the Mooncoin jig is a traditional Irish jig, it's pretty common around Chicago sessions and it's been recorded several times by traditional bands like Baal Tinne It's old enough that there's even a couple offshoots of that jig like the Langstrom Pony (Which was recorded by the original De Dannan).

Tapewolf - Not for Edaric, but it would certainly be nice to use for any traveling bard groups the party encounters!  Thank you.

And thank you too, Nyil -- I'm really going into this blind. I've been singing for as long as I can remember, but know next to nothing about string instruments, how they're played, what different styles of playing there are... or much about historical music, period. I'll have to run a search for more Renaissance guitar music. All three of those pieces sounded very pleasant; I'll definitely keep those links on hand for Ed's next performance!

I've got a little bit of experience in folk music - I've done the traditional Chinese folk/classical music, and I do traditional Irish stuff. We talk a lot about the history of music around the world and all that junk. Folk music is still pretty vibrant around the world, even in America. It just takes a little bit of digging to get to.

[Tapewolf]

For the record, the Mooncoin jig is a traditional Irish jig, it's pretty common around Chicago sessions and it's been recorded several times by traditional bands like Baal Tinne It's old enough that there's even a couple offshoots of that jig like the Langstrom Pony (Which was recorded by the original De Dannan).

Good.  Some of their work does tally, 'Bedlam Boys' for instance, but a lot of the ones I like best and was considering covering, the original melody bears no resemblance to the one they used and is apparently their own composition.

"So there we was sitting in this dressing room when in comes this guy with glasses and he says, 'Oim afraid youse got de wrong toitles for de toons,' and then he goes and rattles off a whole load of Garlic what we couldn't make out, so we gets the roadies to see him off.  Handy things, roadies." -- liner notes from 'Below the Salt'

[Drayco84]

*Drayco slaps himself.*

Dammit, I know some kickass guitar songs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QP7_dNS8Ec
Less pictures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xidM1brzrRc

Warning: Two Steps From Hell. Edaric might not be a high enough level to pull it off.

Contains background piano and some minor vocals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiSf6w7HZ78

Guitar, violin, vocals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSH-_ScN6G0

And... Whatever's in this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CveV2gkTj64

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You might look into John Butler Trio; John is amazing on the guitar. I'll see if I can't find something suitable to show his skills.

Listening to Peaches & Cream at the moment - will add some other tracks as and when I finish listening to this one and the others linked above. ;-]

Edit:
Ocean - and yes, at about 4:10, he is both strumming it and picking out the melody at the same time. On a 12 string guitar.

[Tapewolf]

I think this is rather clever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdFDvms-Zdo  (Giles, Giles & Fripp - Tremolo Study in A Major, cover version)

...he seems to have nailed the original pretty well.