Reels

This is a reel in the key of G. The tune is also known as Judy Brallaghan.

Chords are C, G and D.

This tune has first- and second-time endings. In the sheet music, the bars marked '1' are used the first time you play, and the bars marked '2' are for the second time.

Kerr's collection of merry melodies apparently dates back to the 1870's. A Google search will return a lot of references.

Listen to the lesson (Green_Fields_of_America.mp3, 14 minutes 26 seconds. 6.61 MB)

The final lesson in the series is a reel. As we are in the key of D left hand fingering is to use the first finger for the second fret, second for the third fret, third finger for the fourth fret, and fourth finger for the fifth fret.

The accompaniment is a little complicated. Tony uses a lot of D/F# chords. The chord of D contains three notes D, F#, and A, in any combination and in any number.

In the case of D/F# you finger the F# note on the 6th string.

Tony does this with his thumb, which is a bit controversial with the more conservative music teachers.

Listen to the lesson (Wise_Maid.mp3, 9 minutes 03 seconds. 1 MB)

Two tunes that are often played together are Crowley's 1 and 2.

The legendary Connemara single row melodeon player Johnny Connolly plays these two on his first recording 'An t'Oileann Aerach', available on CIC Records.

The tune is in D; the sheet music in the booklet shows it in C, with the capo on the second fret (to bring it into D).

The highest note is the G, 3rd fret, 1st string, so you don’t have to move out of the open position.

The right hand is tricky if you include triplets, as you should be if you are playing Irish music - without ornamentation the tune does not sound authentic.

Listen to the lesson (Crowleys_1.mp3, 6 minutes 30 seconds. 1.49 MB)

In episode 9, we had this reel in the 'normal' tuning.

In this episode, it's in Open D tuning. The tuning (from lowest pitched string to highest) is D A D F# A D, .

As the tune is normally played in G, the capo is on the 5th fret.

The chord shapes for Open D are, of course, different to those for the ‘regular’ tuning. However, learning them is no different from learning any other chord; and having these under your belt opens up your repertoire.

In the booklet (Book 2), the chords shapes for Open D are on page 43.

Listen to the lesson (Green_Fields_of_America_in_Open_D.mp3, 8 minutes 46 seconds. 2 MB)