Buen Camino - solo cittern

Buen Camino, composed and performed by Louis Bingham, solo cittern. This track and others can be bought via Bandcamp: louisbingham.b...
This piece was inspired by and written in memory of a six day walk from Vigo to Santiago de Compostela, through the beautiful Galician countryside along the final stretch of the ancient pilgrim's route known as the Way of St. James. The melody is somewhat influenced by the Xota, a prominent form of dance tune in the traditional music of Galicia.
Recorded at The Barn Studio by Peter Bingham.
Video edited by Louis Bingham. Thanks to Griselda Sanderson for the use of her computer and video editing software.
Louis plays an archtop cittern by Fylde, tuned GCGDG with octave strings on the lower three courses. louisbingham.com/ / louisbinghammusic

[@yayogak1]

This is amazing. Mesmerizing. Very glad I found your channel.

[@Shellacky]

Wonderful!

[@mcgeorgerl]

While I was watching the video, my wife actually came down the hall into the study to see what I had on. Very impressive indeed.

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Glad to hear it, cheers!

[@timgittar]

Beautifully written and played. Thank you!

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Many thanks

[@deepdiver51]

Absolutely superb. Beautiful tone, crisp and clear plus played amazingly well. Subscribed.

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Thank you

[@QuickJig]

Subscribed!!! Absolutely magnificent.

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Great, thanks

[@russrobinette3175]

This is absolutely amazing. This coming from a luthier and very seasoned musician.

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Many thanks Russ!

[@harrykey2448]

Brilliant playing....fabulous sound.

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Ah thanks very much

[@oldebean]

Lovely sound.

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

cheers!

[@michaelmcdonald3057]

I may have to get me one of those.

Beautiful!

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Cheers

[@sandb1867]

Bravo! Excellent tune and gorgeous sound!

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Thank you!

[@franksabatino7576]

Yes, the sound is gorgeous.

[@williampier3250]

Very nice

[@franksabatino7576]

You deserve far more subscribers Louis. Hoping to hear duets with pipes or fiddle.

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Many thanks. Well slowly but surely, feel free to spread the word. I do know some fine pipers and fiddle players...

[@johnlavers3970]

beautiful playing. looks like a nice flyde

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Cheers! Aye it was a lucky find

[@davidhixson7085]

One of my favorite tunes !! Well done my friend !!!

[@avishy938]

Beautiful!!

[@MandaLynn_Fern]

Beautiful! Phil recommended your blog post about the Camino. It’s nice to know it’s possible to enjoy the delights of Galician music without walking the last 100K too :) Now all that’s left is to learn to dance Xota!

[@NickBurgoyne]

Lovely! :)

[@bearshield7138]

sweet job

[@kieronseamons3466]

Very beautiful balanced tune , fantastic ❤

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Cheers Kieron

[@generalstoaschicken]

This is amazing. Beautiful. One of the best things I've ever heard

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Thanks Marty, you're a gentleman!

[@KVR-we8oe]

Beautiful piece and playing :) What tuning are you using? Is that your preferred tuning on the cittern (I am new to the instrument)

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Thank you. I use GCGDG from bass to treble, and yes this is pretty much the only tuning I use for cittern

[@cloudforeststudio3699]

Amazing! What model is that?

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Many thanks. This is a Fylde cittern with an arched cedar top, their standard model, built in 2006.

[@Reliquary87]

Hi there Louis, I have a question. I recently started playing the Octave Mandolin (very similar to the Cittern which I'm sure you know) I am currently learning the Irish Jig strumming pattern (which is difficult for me since I come from a fingerpicking guitar background and not familiar with using a pick) Is there any kind of structure to your strumming you do in between of picking the melody line for your song or is it simply keeping the jig pattern over the rest of strings/courses AS you play the melody line?

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Hey that's a really tricky question to answer as I'm afraid it changes from piece to piece depending on what instrument I'm playing, if I'm accompanying, leading the melody or playing solo. I would say that I rarely ever play the exact same picking pattern without interruption throughout a tune, the phrasing and string crossing just wouldn't allow it, plus it would start to sound pretty one dimensional. That said, I would recommend spending some time getting very familiar and comfortable with the down-up-down down-up-down picking/strumming pattern, it's really good as a solid rhythmic basis for playing jigs.

[@Reliquary87]

@LouisBinghamMusic Thanks for getting back to me. I decided I would start working on alternative picking exercises, if only to get into a comfortable position and familiarising myself with the pick and incorporate the jig a bit later. If I can play at your level some day I will be happy

[@Teakettlefarm]

I’m curious, in Irish music, when referring to the cittern, is that the bouzouki or just Irish music played on any of the cittern family? I’m learning the bouzouki and want to have my knowledge and learning sources straight. Thanks for any help

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Cittern is the instrument I'm playing here. There are so many different versions of this type of instrument out there but the main difference between this and any sort of bouzouki is that it has a couple more strings and a shorter neck.

[@Teakettlefarm]

@@LouisBinghamMusic fantastic. I think that answers mt question well. Thank you.

[@KVR-we8oe]

Also, it looks like you have strings 3,4,5 in octave; is that a custom made set or is it readily available as is?

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

That's right octaves on the lowest three courses. It's a custom set, I order them from Eagle Music Shop in Huddersfield who make them

[@KVR-we8oe]

@@LouisBinghamMusic Thank you so much. I contacted them but without the gauges, they can't make the string set. Would you have the gauges on yours? (Although my cittern scale is 20 inches, yours looks longer) There must be a way to figure this out :)

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

@@KVR-we8oeaye it'd be easier if you send me an email then I can be a bit more specific. [e-mail]

[@clintspoon3765]

This sounds lovely Louis... thanks for sharing the tuning. Don’t suppose you’d let us know the string gauges you use? 👍

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Thanks Clint, glad you like it. Of course, I often get asked that actually. Gauges as follows... G: 24w 56w C: 16u 48w G: 10u 26w D: 16u 16u G: 12u 12u The wound strings are Phosphor Bronze, and I get them as a custom set from Eagle Music Shop in Huddersfield who I'd highly recommend. www.eaglemusicshop.com/

[@clintspoon3765]

@@LouisBinghamMusic thanks. I know Eagle music! You seem to have overcome the problem of intonation with the two differing gauges - it just has a beautiful chiming sound. I’ll look into it! Keep up the good work👍

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

@@clintspoon3765 Hi Clint. I've recently looked at the standard gauges for these citterns, and the 56 and 46 wound strings are actually a fair bit higher than recommended, usually it would be 46 and 35. I've not had any issues since stringing this way for 5 or 6 years, but you may not want to put the tension up that high, I'm thinking about taking them down a bit.

[@clintspoon3765]

@@LouisBinghamMusic thanks! I haven’t changed mine so not a problem. Thanks for letting me know👍

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

@@clintspoon3765 No worries. I've been doing some string tension calculations and I think there's room for compromise here. If for instance you used a .052 and a .040 for your lowest G and C, then your total cumulative tension for all strings would actually be lower than that of the gauges given for a unison set on Fylde's site, .052 and 0.42 would make it pretty much the same. The only difference then is how the tension is spread across the instrument. With the unison gauges there is more tension in the middle course and less on the outers, with the gauges I've used it's spread more evenly across the board. Next thing is for me to ask some luthiers about how that distribution might affect things. I'll let you know where I get to

[@TheDOPiper]

Good Bouzouki playing on this Cittern, not utilizing the lowest course at all...

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

Interesting point. The bass course is in there but pretty much always as a drone and to reinforce the root chords in this case

[@BranWud]

Вульф рок))

[@probindemufhoes42069]

Is that an octave mandolin?

[@LouisBinghamMusic]

A cittern, similar scale length but five courses