Ale Carr - Swedish Polska Medley on Cittern

[@franksabatino7576]

After hearing a few of Ale's pieces, it's clear that he has a knack for getting to the heart of this music.

[@LMB2301]

Wow! Great performance! As an early music enthusiast and lutenist, I have dabbled a bit with the renaissance cittern. It’s interesting to see this modern-day variety of the instrument and see that the practice of keeping the little finger down on the soundboard has survived all the way to modern times.

[@MetalionMusic]

I'm interested in getting a cittern (or similar instrument like octave mandolin/bouzouki) and this video definitely made me want one even more. This music is both peaceful and invigorating simultaneously for me... very beautiful playing!

[@iamjaykaye]

Ditto. A lovely sounding instrument.

[@Robert_The_Bruce05]

Go for a bouzouki. Citterns are way more expensive than bouzoukis

[@brentmatusik]

Damn...I might have to get a cittern one of these days. Amazing playing!

[@alecarrmusic]

Thanks man! It's a fun instrument :-)

[@rhapsag]

Great playing! Reminds me of oud playing in parts. As a mandolin player of 30 years, playing mostly Irish music, I have started learning some Swedish tunes on the fiddle - I can't get the mandolin to sing like that.

[@dreamerscircus]

Made possible in part due to relatively loose tension strings, also the instrument itself is very dynamic and melodic rather than percussive and punchy, like the Irish counterparts are often leaning towards.

[@bearshield7138]

sweet job

[@avishy938]

Very nice

[@ryand.5857]

Greetings from Nashville! I recently discovered modern Scandinavian folk music and have been addicted ever since. Considering getting a cittern now to match my mandolin and guitar :D Cheers!

[@FOLKetljydarkiv]

That's great to hear! :)

[@benprout8535]

Does anyone know why the cittern is so particularly popular in scandinavia as opposed to bouzouki? Love this!

[@rasmuserlandsson2204]

Yes. It's constructed differently. Warmer, more top and bass and less "plonky". This specific one that Ale plays is 10/10, pretty much perfectly balanced. You want certain projection and combining all of this is very, very difficult.

[@Orelaf84]

Yay! I 💖 Ale!

[@raymonddesrosiers6164]

Gorgeous, and an amazing instrument as well.

[@timgri]

Wow. Sweet!

[@c.a.t.732]

I was already a big fan of Ale Carr before stumbling upon this video just now. I hit "subscribe" before the performance was half-way over. This channel looks like a treasure-trove... I'm grateful to have found it. Greetings from northern California!

[@deberinaemelander5623]

Awesome!!

[@SoenkeMeinen]

Beautiful, Ale! 😊

[@DSteinman]

So like, if these citterns are so new, are the old tunes coming from fiddle repertoire or a different instruments? What was it played on before the 80s?

[@alecarrmusic]

Typically fiddle tunes, yeah! I started off as a fiddle player and when I studied cittern I primarily had fiddle teachers as well, focussing on translating the fiddle idiom to cittern.

[@DSteinman]

@alecarrmusic very cool! Now you've got me curious, is there anything like a session culture there, such as with Irish traditional music? Cheers!

[@CelticMedievalGuitar]

very very well : )

[@citolero]

Am I right in thinking that the first tune here was adapted by Ranarim for the title track of their album Morgonstjärna?

[@alecarrmusic]

Yep!

[@sergioribnikov]

Asbra!

[@bronzeladdy53]

People tune and string their citterns different ways. Mines unison GDAda at the 3red fret. I see yours are octaves, what is the large string sequence? this is a mesmerizing and richly calming medly.. I love it but not sure i could play it depending on the tuning. Also, what is the size of your largest string on the base side?

[@alecarrmusic]

Hi Frank! These are the strings that I'm using: D-bass | Hannabach "Classic Strings", Doublebass-guitar D-4th Nylon, E8414 MT D-4th Silver-plated, 90cm (105cm totalt) (0.060 string gauge) D-8va | Thomastik-Infeld SB30 Bronze Flat Wound .030" (D: ins 030, mm 0.75, lbs 25.7, kp 11,7) G-bass | D'Addario Classical Guitar Medium High Tension Composite Polymer Core E6th. J4506C. (0.044 string gauge) G-8va | Thomastik-Infeld AC519 Bronze Flat Wound .019" (E: ins 019, mm 0.47, lbs 13.8, kp 6.3) D | Thomastik-Infeld SB30 Bronze Flat Wound .030" (D: ins 030, mm 0.75, lbs 25.7, kp 11,7) A | Thomastik-Infeld AC516 Bronze Flat Wound .016" (A: ins 016, mm 0.41, lbs 19.0, kp 8,6) D | Thomastik-Infeld P10 Plain Steel .010" (E: ins 010, mm 0.26, lbs 17.2, kp 7.8) I explain why and go through my play style in an online course here, if you're interested: www.thefolkmusicacademy.com/alecarr

[@sionneauvincent892]

Hi @alecarrmusic, I start your online course, very very interesting !!!! I have a question about your tuning : what is the scale of your cittern ? I don't find this information... Thank's a lot !

[@UrielCopy]

Ale Carr - Spelman - med mustasch

[@sophietekliuk9864]

Loooove it (灬♥ω♥灬) thanks muchly)

[@spurvlek]

Apart from scale length and strings numbers, what is the main difference between a 12-string guitar and a cittern?

[@uffeholmsgaard1013]

The body resonates a bit different because of the drop-shape, and it is tuned DGDAD (from low to high). Only the low D and A string pairs are tuned in octaves (the 12-string guitar has four pairs in octaves). But the differences are not that big when you for instance listen to Roger Tallroth or Mattias Perez playing 12-string Swedish music (tuned ADADAD). And to make things even more confusing, Ale Möller, the father of modern Swedish music on plectrum based instruments, plays a 12-string låtmandola. It is similar to a cittern in body shape, but the tuning is like in the mandolin family: contra G, G, D, A, E, H.

[@spurvlek]

@@uffeholmsgaard1013 Wow, thanks! I now have a lot of stuff to check out.

[@SkeepyJeepyJohnson]

DADGAD?

[@citolero]

Can't be DADGAD with only five courses...

[@michaelcaplin8969]

DGDAD

[@Ah01]

I use also DGDAD on my cittern, find it a versatile tuning for accompaniyng vocals and also for putting in some tapestry, unisono or piece of a solo melody. Mesmerizing intrument, my guitars and basses have more or less been gathering dust since got a cittern. 😂