Irish Guitar Podcast

  Occasionally Tony will pick up a tune that just seems to feel so natural to play, so easy on the fingers, it rolls off the musical tongue so to speak. This is one of those tunes. It’s eerie but it’s as if Ryan composed this for guitar. It’s the perfect range for the guitar, played between a Low A and the A two octaves above, there’s plenty of space between the notes, no high B to “fret” over, and a busy chord progression to play with.

“Shoemaker’s Daughter” is a composition of legendary Cavan fiddler Ed Reavy (1897-1988). The A Part of this tune is played in a G Mixolydian Mode, whilst the B Part is in G Major. Transcriptions in Irish music of tunes that change to different modes that retain the same Tonic Note often, mistakenly, use the same key signature.

  “Scatter The Mud” is a tune sometimes played in E Minor but this version is in the more common A Minor (Dorian mode). Tony has arranged this version for Open A tuning (EAC#EAE) but we have included a version in standard tuning for those who wish to stick with the standard tuning.

The tune is in jig time (6/8) but is a set dance and is played considerably slower than normal jig tempo. However, other than tempo, all the “rules” that apply to jigs apply to this tune.

A very well known tune, so much so that it is played by musicians outside of the Irish music genre. the standard key is G, but Tony transposed it to A Major on the banjo, then started playing it on the guitar in Open A major tuning and came up with this arrangement. The book also includes a version in standard tuning for those who don’t want to get involved with Open A at this point in time. Open A tuning is E A C# E A E, from lowest to highest pitch.

As much as Tony would like to claim credit for this composition it’s not his to claim. This tune was in circulation a long time ago. This tune is normally played in A mixolydian so you will need to capo on the second fret.

Some musicians play this tune in C, others in D. Tony plays it in D on the banjo but in C on the guitar. For this lesson the capo is on 2, thus it’s in D. In the podcast, Tony talks about the importance of listening to other versions of any tune you are learning.

This tune is sometimes known as “Dr. John Stafford”. The tune begins on a C chord. For the accompaniment Tony plays and holds a bass note and then, instead of a full chord, he plays the notes of a chord individually.

Tony describes how to play a triplet on the lower (thicker) strings when describing how to play this reel.

  Máire Rua, translated as “Red Haired Mary”, is a slip jig in G. The B Part of the tune moves into a D Mixolydian mode but as this mode contains the same notes as G Major, that is one sharp (F#), there is no need to change the key signature. The tune moves back to G Major for the last bar of the tunes, which is in fact identical to the last bar of Part A. Tony often pairs this tune with a slip jig we looked at in Lesson 16, Na Ceannabháin Bhána.

The Garden Of Daisies is a set dance and is played in hornpipe time, but somewhat slower than your average hornpipe. Note that the tempo on the recording of Marie Walsh is the correct tempo for tunes of this type.

Here we have a tune in Open A (although in the book you'll also find a version in regular tuning.) The Open A tuning Tony uses is, from the lowest string to the highest: E A C# E A E.

These two tunes are both in G Major and coincidentally have the same three notes at the beginning. The first part of Castlebar Races is played in open position, the second part almost entirely in third position; that is the first finger is positioned at the third fret. It is also used to play any F# notes (2nd fret, 1st string). Where you have consecutive F# / G notes use your first finger for both.   For Mouse In The Mug you’ll find something similar. The first part of the tune is open position. For the second part of the tune Tony has written it out as a 16 bar section with no repeats. The first twelve bars of this section can be played in third position, using your first finger playing any notes occurring on the second fret of 1st string (F#) and 3rd string (A) and then reverting to open position for the last four bars. In fact the last four bars of the tune are identical to the last four bars of the first section.

McFadden’s Handsome Daughter is an A Major tune but for the guitar Tony plays it in G with capo on the 2nd fret. The tune is a composition of John McFadden (1847-1913).    

This slip jig moves between E Minor and G Major. The E Minor parts of the tune use the Natural Minor Scale rather than the Dorian Mode.

This tune is sometimes known as “The Funny Reel” and is played in D. On the guitar Tony plays it in C with the capo on the 2nd fret.

There is at least one other jig known as “Boys Of The Town”, starting on a high G (3rd fret, 1st string). But this “Boys of the Town” starts on a middle G (open 3rd string). The two tunes are quite different and in no way related.

“Athair” is the Irish word for “father”, and the Anglicized title “Fr. Jack Walsh” is often used as the title for this tune, as is “Tatter Jack Walsh”.   The tune is played in the D mixolydian mode and thus contains the same notes as a G Major scale. A cursory glance at the chords used in the sheet music should alert you to this. The two main chords used are D and C and this combination in a “D” tune invariably tells you it’s mixolydian. The key signature is one sharp (F#). If I used two sharps (F# and C#) then there would be natural signs used for the C notes occurring in the tune. Some tune books incorrectly notate the tune this way. Tony’s old copy of that excellent small collection “Allan’s Irish Fiddler” has it in D Major with natural signs for the C. Although the transcription still ends up with the same notes it is not very good “musical grammar”. There are two accidentals in the tune, both in the last bar of each section. In fact the last three bars of each section are identical.

The “Yellow Tinker” is a tune in the G mixolydian mode. In other words the scale used is a C Scale but played in the key of G. The tune is associated with the playing of Galway accordionist Joe Burke , and perhaps because of Burke, it is very popular and widely played. The first and third parts of the tune are almost pure mixolydian, whilst the second part of the tune is almost pure G Major, although Tony didn’t alter the key signature for the second part, despite there being an argument for doing so. Overall he just felt it was more convenient to leave t A distinguishing feature of the Mixolydian mode is that the chord progression typically consists of G chords and F chords. With the small exception of the C chord in bar 20, the entire tune is a three-chord wonder, but the chords are G, D, and F (not G, D, and C).  

The “Swedish Jig", sometimes known as Arthur Darley’s, is a most unusual tune. In the first part of the tune a time signature change occurs in bar 7 from the standard 6/8 to a 9/8, just for one bar, before reverting back to 6/8. In effect you play an extra half a bar. Also the first part consists of 12 bars rather than the standard eight. The A part is in D Major, but changes to D Minor for the second part, and then back to D Major for the third part. Both the second and third parts have 8 bars. The chords are D, A, G, Dm, A7 and Gm.

Polish in origin, mazurkas are not very common in Irish music. Sonny’s Mazurka is arguably the most well known of the mazurkas played in Ireland. As mazurkas are written in 3/4 time the rules that you use for waltzes also apply to mazurkas. In this tune most of the bars have a crotchet on the first beat followed by two groups of quavers over the next two beats. As an accompaniment, a basic strum consisting of a bass note on the first beat followed by full or partial chord strums for each of the next two beats in each bar would be quite sufficient. In other words treat your accompaniment the same way you would a standard waltz. Note the B Minor chord in Bar 3 of the second part of the tune. D would be quite acceptable but B Minor just sounds a bit nicer to Tony’s ear. Chords are D, G, A and Bm.

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000167 EndHTML:0000000698 StartFragment:0000000454 EndFragment:0000000682 This tune is one of those lovely 16-bar reels in the key of D Major, of which there are many in Irish music. Structurally it is a very simple tune, containing only three chords (D , A, and G).

One of the better-known compositions of the great Turlough O'Carolan. Tony has set this arrangement in 4/4 rather than 2/2 or “cut” time, that is 4 groups of 2 quavers rather than 2 groups of 4. This is a subtle difference although with a tune played at the somewhat slower tempo than a reel, or even a hornpipe, the difference is barely noticeable. On reflection this tune could be written as 4/4 or 2/2. In the first part of the tune there is one high B (6th bar). And the second part of the tune has some tricky left hand work so we’ve included in the transcription the left hand fingering Tony uses for playing the tune. Note that your local Classical Guitar Club members will probably be horrified by some of the fingerings but they work for Tony! The finger number is notated directly under the relevant note. Where there is no fingering markings you can assume that normal open position fingering applies. There's a rather busy chord progression in the accompaniment, and Tony suggests you will need to spend longer than usual learning it. The chords are G, D, Em, C, A7 and D/F#.

Tony learned this lovely 3-part polka from the playing of New York button accordionist Patty Furlong. 48-bar polkas are not common in Irish music and are not used much for sets. Tony consulted Marie Brouder here in Melbourne about this. Marie is the number one person on set dancing in Melbourne and she could only find one dance that was of 48 bars duration. That is the first figure of The Kilkenny Set.  the lowest note is the open D string and the highest is the F# on the first string so the tune is fairly compact. You can play the whole tune from open position. In the first part Tony has notated the B notes as being on the open 2nd string, but you can play them on the 4th fret/3rd string if you find it easier to pick. Contrary to popular “lay” thought,  part of the art of playing guitar is finding the easiest way to do things. In this tune there is an example of how one well chosen chord can make a big difference to the tune and that chord can be found in the 2nd bar of the 3rd part of the tune. It is a B minor chord. You could just as easily use a D chord but the Bm adds a wonderful melancholic tone to the tune.  Chords are D, G, Em, A and Bm.

This is an often-played polka, normally in the key of G. Polkas, like marches, are in 2/4 time. That is, there are two groups of quavers, or the equivalent. Where you have two groups of four quavers, you should play: down on the first quaver down on the next quaver. In this tune the only time you play an up stroke is on the last semiquaver (or sixteenth note) of a group of what would be two eighth notes if there were no sixteenth notes. In this tune you will only be picking up on the last notes of Bars 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, and 20. There are only ten up strokes in the whole tune. Also note that the last 5 bars of part A are identical to the second time ending in Part B of the tune. In fact a lot of people just play the B part through twice without the second time ending. But Tony learnt it off P.J. Hernon and if it’s good enough for Mr Hernon... If you're using the booklet (book 4), you will see that there are differences between the sheet music chords above the melody and the separate guitar accompaniment sheet. For the purposes of the recording we’ve used the guitar accompaniment sheet, but this will show you that there is more than one way to back up a tune. Tony loves that Em to begin the second part of the tune, but G Major is just as valid. Chords are G, C, D and Em.

This is one of Tony's own compositions, which he wrote in honour of his friend Jim Connolly, an accordion player from Rossinver in North Leitrim. It's played in C, with a capo on the 2nd fret. The second part is higher than the first. The “normal” speed recording is the first track off Tony’s CD “An Sliabh Glas” and includes “Shores of Lough Gowna”, followed by “Jim Connolly’s Jig”. By the way you can purchase the CD, or tracks from it, on Amazon and iTunes and various online outlets. See the CDs page on this site for links. Note the D Minor chord at the end of the third line. Tony could have just used a G chord for the whole bar (Bar 12) but the inclusion of a D Minor just adds a little bit extra to the tune. Chords are C, F and G.

There are two jigs that carry the name “The Gold Ring” (“An Fáinne Óir” in Irish). One is a 7-part jig in G particularly popular with pipers, and the other, a 4-part jig in D Major. This tune is the D Major tune, and it's one of Tony's all-time favourties. Although this is a D tune, Tony plays it in C with a capo on the second fret. This tune has a wide range of just over 2 octaves, but if your left hand is positioned correctly you should need very little, if any, lateral movement to reach all the notes. Chords are C, F, G and Am.

A delightful jig with a strong underlying rhythm, which is probably why it is quite often used for playing at céilithe (social dances). In the second bars of both the third and fourth lines you will note that Tony uses the same finger for the first two notes of those bars (G and F#), plays the high B with his fourth finger and the high A with his third finger. In the booklet (Book 4), we’ve included a separate accompaniment sheet for this tune. Note that Tony uses a D Chord with an F# in the bass, a chord we’ve used as a stock chord for tunes not only in D but in other keys as well, where appropriate. Just for something a bit different Tony ends the tune with two dotted crotchet chords in the very last bar. This is a little trick just to accentuate the end of the section. Don’t do it every tune but once in a while is OK.

Marches usually have a 2/4 time signature, but this tune is one of a number of tunes designated as a march, but carrying a 6/8 time signature. (“The Butcher’s March” is another.) This tune is also quite often played as just a normal jig as part of a set. It's fairly compact in the left hand, only going up to the high G on the first string, and of course even though called a march it should be treated as a jig without ornamentation, although you may wish to go the whole way and just play it as a jig, in which case you would of course include some ornamentation. In the podcast, Tony emphasises the importance of getting the timing exactly right when accompanying tunes. Chords are G, D, C and Am.

The most challenging tune in Book 4, this is totally unrelated to "Farewell to Ireland". It's not at all unknonwn to encounter such confusingly similar titles in Irish music! Normally played in A Dorian, but Tony has arranged it for gutar in E Dorian. You can capo up to the 5th fret, but on the podcast there's no capo. Tony has also brought the first part in some places so it can be played in one octave, giving it a more dynamic sound. In some places there are triplets using three different notes. If these are problematic, you can isolate them and practice them on their own. In the tablature, you'll notice that Tony plays the B on the 4th fret of the 3rd string in places, to make picking easier. For the accompaniment, there are only two chords - Em and D.

This well known tune comes in the standard 32-bar format, with two parts, each played twice. It is an ideal tune to play if a hornpipe is requested by a step dancer. Unusually for such a melodic tune the whole tune is played within one octave excepting the three F# notes that occur near the end of both sections. In the last two bars of each section multiple note triplets occur. It is important that you pick each triplet rather than slurring or tying them. In Irish music, when played on a fretted instrument such as guitar or banjo, all the notes of triplets are picked individually. In the accompaniment, Tony has included A7 in the fourth bar of the third line. It creates a nice addition to the “standard” chords found in G Major tunes, and is sometimes referred to as a “passing” chord. You can leave it out and play the succeeding D chord for the whole bar but the accompaniment is enhanced by the A7. Chords are G, D, Em and A7.

As the highest note in this tune is the F on the first string you will not have to concern yourself with left hand positioning. In fact by keeping your left hand at a right angle to the fretboard you should not have any lateral movement in your left hand at all. Make sure to play the tune at a speed that allows you to include ornamentation. The half moon markings over certain notes in the sheet music are suggested points in the tune at which you can add your ornaments but feel free to place them somewhere else if you so desire. The main point is to include some ornamentation. For the accompaniment, Tony has included only two chords in this tune; D Minor and C. Sometimes simplicity works best. An uncomplicated accompaniment can be enough for such an expressive tune.

A bonus lesson - an Appalachian tune

This tune is Scottish in origin, and is an example of how closely related the Scottish and Irish traditions are, and yet both music forms are quite different. Tony's arrangement is in G Major, capo 2, thus the "real" key is A Major. Listen to the lesson (TimorTheTartar.mp3, 8 minutes 23 seconds. 2.87 MB)

This tune is written in jig time (6/8) but is in fact a set piece, or set dance. During the podcast. Tony comments that, sadly, such set pieces don't often an airing at sessions.File size is 3.9MB.Duration is 11 minutes 22 seconds.

This polka is in G Major, so when coupled Paddy's Polka (no. 1), there's an interesting key change from D Minor to G Major.In this tune, the B part can begin on either a G Major or E Minor. Tony's preference is for the E Minor, so that's how it's notated in the booklet (Book 3).File size is 2.62MB.Duration is 7 minutes 37 seconds.

This tune is played in D Minor. This is an ideal tune for music teachers to teach their students as it is uncomplicated, and from an accompaniment viewpoint, is very basic - only two chords, D Minor and C. File size is 2.43MB. Duration is 7 minutes 4 seconds.

This lesson is one of Tony's own compositions.On his regular trips to Ireland Tony spends time in the North Leitrim region, which is the ancestral home of the O'Rourkes. Manorhamilton is part of that region.File size is 5MB.Duration is 10 minutes 21 seconds.

This reel is normally played in D, but Tony's arrangement is in C, with a capo on the second fret.File size is 3.61MB.Duration is 10 minutes 32 seconds.

Joe Bane was a tin whistle and flute player from the Magherabaun area near Feakle in East Clare. Musicians such as Mary McNamara and Martin Hayes picked up a lot of tunes from him.This is a hornpipe, and Tony plays it in the key of F.File size is 3.49MB.Duration is 10 minutes 10 seconds.

Another 16-bar reel, the first part is in B Minor, and the second in D Major.File size is 2.7MB.Duration is 7 minutes 53 seconds.

This tune is a 16 bar reel, normally played in the Key of G.Tony's arrangement is played in an Open D tuning, so to play in G you'll need to capo the 5th fret.Details on the tuning, and on chord shapes for Open D, are provided in the booklet (Book 3). The tuning is D A D F# A  D, from the lowest pitched string to the highest.File size is 3.43MB.Duration is 10 minutes.

The Fisherman's Jig is in fact a slip jig.Slip jigs comprise only a small percentage of the Irish Music repertoire and you can attend session after session and not hear them at all. Tony often plays this with Na Ceannabhain Bhána (which we had in Lesson 16 in Book 1).File size is 2.54MB.Duration is 7 minutes 25 seconds.

We return to our 'normal' program with a slide.

This is a bonus lesson, since it's not within the genre that we're studying. Rather, it's Tony's arrangement of Danny Boy, also know as The Londonderry Air.It may be a bit daunting for the newcomer. Sheet music and tab notation are provided in Book 3.File size is 3.79MB.Duration is 11 minutes 3 seconds.

Tony picked this tune up from the late Billy Moran. Billy was a button accordionist from Galway who migrated to Australia in the late 1940's and made an enormous contribution to the musical heritage of Australia. The A, or first, part is played using the D Mixolydian Mode and the B or second part uses a D Ionian (or Major) mode.File size is 4.88MB.Duration is 14 minutes 13 seconds.

This week we have a lovely jig.Tony talks about the use of overtones to enhance your playing, and which can be used to good effect in this tune.File size is 4.01MB.Duration is 11 minutes 41 seconds.