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.