Where to now? Easy jigs?

Jason Paul · Post by **Jason Paul** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:06 pm

I've been playing somewhat sporadically for a few months now. I feel like I can decently play these:

Sally Gardens
Foggy Dew
Sheebag Sheemore
Planxty Hewlett
Stack of Rye
Off to California
As I Roved Out (Christy Moore)
Paddy West

... as well as several miscellaneous Christmas carols a popular simple tunes.

I think I may be ready for something a little more challenging. Right now, I think the most difficult tune I know is Stack of Rye. Am I ready for jigs?

If so, what are a few simple beginner-friendly jigs to start with?

Or, should I learn a few more hornpipes first? I'm sure I'm not quite ready to tackle a reel yet.

Thanks,
Jason

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:16 pm

I think Road to Lisdoonvarna and The Kesh Jig are pretty
good beginner jigs. The Butterfly is a nice slip jig.

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:54 pm

Brother Steve's tinwhistle site has a nice section on jigs. I learned one of my first jigs from there -- The Swallowtail Jig.

Save Kesh for later; it's harder than it looks.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:13 pm

fearfaoin wrote:I think Road to Lisdoonvarna and The Kesh Jig are pretty
good beginner jigs.

"Road to Lisdoonvarna" is a great suggestion (both the slide and the reel versions are fine tunes for beginners), but I would strongly suggest "Jim Ward's" rather than "The Kesh" -- it's easier, nicer (IMO), and hasn't been quite so wildly overplayed.

Jason, if you can play hornpipes like "Off to California" and "Stack of Rye", you shouldn't hesitate to try any form of Irish tune -- there are lots of reels simpler than those! Just keep the tempo at a reasonable pace and you should be fine.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:47 pm

gonzo914 wrote:Save Kesh for later; it's harder than it looks.

Wierd. Kesh was the first jig I learned, and and the first tune I picked
up by ear. I thought it was pretty easy. Of course, I wasn't trying to
doing any rolls on the long notes, so that probably helped.

I know a lot of people who can keep up with Kesh but seem to get
bejiggered by the rhythm of Swallowtail or Morrison's...

Wormdiet · Post by **Wormdiet** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:09 pm

Er. . . listen to a bunch of albums and learn the tunes that stand out in yer head when the CD stops spinning?

Just a thought.

Jimmy Ward's is a good alternative to Kesh indeed.
Lilting Banshee is a good jig because it isn't hard but it's minor, unlike most "beginner" tunes.

Screeeech!!! · Post by **Screeeech!!!** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:32 pm

I think The Kesh is a very difficult tune if you fully ornament it.

A and B rolls were for me the most difficult thing to learn so far and i used The Kesh to really work them up. 6 of each in one run through, plus 4 low G rolls 2 high G rolls and 2 high E rolls.

Cutting the E and G in the third bar of the first two lines were also rather challenging to get nice as well.

I recently started on Whelan's Jig which is a really sweet tune, and Donnybrook Fair i'm also really enjoying.

Hardiman the Fiddler is a wonderful Slip Jig. There's a totally wonderful rendition of this on Steafan Hannigan's 1st Bodhran DVD played on fiddle and box with guitar backing. There's also an excellent whistle version on Brid O'Donahue's album.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:55 pm

I think marches are neat. Perhaps they aren't recommended for some reason. This website is a UP tutorial, but it has some nice beginner tunes. The first two are marches, perhaps they are not hard enough. If you put the pointer over "Beginners" you can click on some other fairly simple tunes, some of which are jigs.
http://www.uilleannpipestutor.moonfruit.com/
It's fun to play along with the pipes.

boomerang · Post by **boomerang** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:02 am

Some good old standards, that almost everyone plays are
the blackthorn stick,
the rakes of kildare
the ten penny bit

all reasonable learners jigs,
unfortunately there are no such things as easy jigs, only less complicated ones, the idea is to keep it simple and slow at first and then gradually work on the ornamentation as you become more proficient,
the lilt or rythmn is by far the most important,
good luck
3 excellant sites for the dots are
http://www.tinwhistler.com/songname.asp
http://www.hslc.org/~gormley/tunes/giftunes.html
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind
David

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:06 am

also 'My Darling Asleep' and 'Donnybrook Fair'

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:44 am

I second 'Donnybrook Fair' and 'Swallow Tail Jig' (AKA 'Swallow's Nest').

How about 'Father O'Flynn'? That's a great tune... good fun to play.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:32 am

Just because it always amuses me how different these things are from place to place:

boomerang wrote:Some good old standards, that almost everyone plays are
the blackthorn stick,

Have known it since not long after I started to play whistle, but rarely hear it these days (I think it was banned from our local session). Definitely "everyone" knows it.

the rakes of kildare

Never heard of it before.

the ten penny bit

I expect you mean this "Tenpenny Bit", which I am told that everyone knows, but I only got around to learning it last summer to play for English Sword Dancing at a local festival, and I don't think I've ever played it since then.

There is a completely different "Tenpenny Bit" which is a great jig which frequently follows "Scotsman Across the Border" -- I've got four or five recordings of the pair, the earliest by Paddy Killoran. This "Tenpenny Bit" I absolutely love and play frequently, though it usually gets someone in the session to say, "What was that jig?"

PS I agree with everyone on "Donnybrook Fair", which is a great old jig.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:55 am

colomon wrote:PS I agree with everyone on "Donnybrook Fair", which is a great old jig.

I can't believe I forgot about Donnybrook Fair! It's the very model of
jigginess... It practically swings itself. The only difficulty for beginners
might be crossing the bridge in the second measure (|Bee dBA|), and
maybe hitting the high b toward the end.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:28 am

Yeah but you creep up to the B so it's easier.

Father O Flynn is nice, and it's also called Top of the Cork Road.

Tripping Up the Stairs is a nice little jig, not too hard, and it gives you a great chance to work on the swing on the repeated notes. We never play it at session though.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:25 am

'Out On the Ocean' isn't a bad beginner jig. Despite its simplicity, you'll keep finding new things in it as long as you keep improving though.
Later try:
'Banish Misfortune'
'The Lark in the Morning'

'Drowsy Maggie' isn't a bad reel to get you going.

Hornpipes:
'Harvest Home'
'Boys of Blue Hill'

Polkas:
'Top of Maul'

Have a go at a few slides too.