Chords for Irish Fiddle Tutorial - Bowing Tricks
Tempo:
65.35 bpm
Chords used:
Bb
G
Gm
E
A
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
So I've had a lot of requests to demystify Irish bowing and I'm going to try and attempt to answer
a couple of those questions today.
The tricky thing with bowing in Irish traditional music,
as well as lots of other traditions of music, is that there isn't a set bowing pattern.
So I'm going to demonstrate some bowing patterns and things, choices that you can make on a reel,
and the reel I'm going to do is called Bridget McBride.
It's in O'Neill's Music of Ireland,
if you have that book, and it's number 1254, if you want to follow along with the music.
And this is how [E] that tune goes.
[G] [E] [G]
[A] [E]
[Bb]
So let's just look at the first two measures.
If you look at
those two measures, you'll see that all of the notes are just plain eighth notes.
There's no
sixteenth notes or quarter notes or anything else.
So that makes the bowing fairly simple.
You can just go up and down regularly like this, starting on an up bow for the pickup note.
[G]
[Bb] Straight.
Now, if you're like most fiddlers, you have a tendency to migrate to the tip of the bow
if you do too many up down, up down, up down, up down, up down.
You'll find yourself all the
way up here.
So what you can do is you can take a couple recovery up bows to help yourself move
[Bb] back to the center of the bow.
And the places where those make the most sense in Irish traditional
music is the last eighth note of a group of four to the following two eighth notes in the next
group of four.
So if we tie the first, the end of the first group of four [E] to the first two notes of
the second group of four, that'll [Gm] sound like this.
[G]
[A] [Gm] Or if we just move that over one set of four.
Or [C] if we [Bb] do it in the next set of four, it'll sound like this.
[G] [Bb]
So that's a really, really common way.
You'll just take a recovery up bow that'll replace an
up down up with an up up up.
And that way you're still following in line with the music.
Now the next two measures have a treble in them, which sounds like [G] this.
[Bb] So if you take it as it's read and you don't take any recovery up bows or anything,
you'll end up going [G] the wrong direction,
[Gm]
which feels backwards.
[Bb] So you want to make sure you get back down on a down bow on those down
beats.
So you can either just take a recovery bow of the following two notes after the treble,
which would sound like [G] this.
[D] [Bb] Or you can take a recovery up bow and just go backwards.
So you can either take a recovery up bow with the last note of the treble to the next note.
[Gm]
[Bb] That's pretty common.
Or what you can do is change the treble to a roll and slur into it like [G] this.
[Bb] And that's pretty common as well.
So a couple of important things to remember with deciding
what bowing to do is, one, the up bow recovery strategy.
If you find yourself migrating to the
tip, take an up down up and replace it with an up up up.
It's also pretty common to slur
into an up bow for a roll.
[G] [Gm]
[Bb] And then the other piece of advice is just to watch as many fiddlers
as you can, play in as many sessions as you can, and watch what other fiddlers are doing.
You'll start to notice that someone might bow something totally differently the second time
through the tune, but they're following sort of these same strategies, the up bow recovery,
a couple of those questions today.
The tricky thing with bowing in Irish traditional music,
as well as lots of other traditions of music, is that there isn't a set bowing pattern.
So I'm going to demonstrate some bowing patterns and things, choices that you can make on a reel,
and the reel I'm going to do is called Bridget McBride.
It's in O'Neill's Music of Ireland,
if you have that book, and it's number 1254, if you want to follow along with the music.
And this is how [E] that tune goes.
[G] [E] [G]
[A] [E]
[Bb]
So let's just look at the first two measures.
If you look at
those two measures, you'll see that all of the notes are just plain eighth notes.
There's no
sixteenth notes or quarter notes or anything else.
So that makes the bowing fairly simple.
You can just go up and down regularly like this, starting on an up bow for the pickup note.
[G]
[Bb] Straight.
Now, if you're like most fiddlers, you have a tendency to migrate to the tip of the bow
if you do too many up down, up down, up down, up down, up down.
You'll find yourself all the
way up here.
So what you can do is you can take a couple recovery up bows to help yourself move
[Bb] back to the center of the bow.
And the places where those make the most sense in Irish traditional
music is the last eighth note of a group of four to the following two eighth notes in the next
group of four.
So if we tie the first, the end of the first group of four [E] to the first two notes of
the second group of four, that'll [Gm] sound like this.
[G]
[A] [Gm] Or if we just move that over one set of four.
Or [C] if we [Bb] do it in the next set of four, it'll sound like this.
[G] [Bb]
So that's a really, really common way.
You'll just take a recovery up bow that'll replace an
up down up with an up up up.
And that way you're still following in line with the music.
Now the next two measures have a treble in them, which sounds like [G] this.
[Bb] So if you take it as it's read and you don't take any recovery up bows or anything,
you'll end up going [G] the wrong direction,
[Gm]
which feels backwards.
[Bb] So you want to make sure you get back down on a down bow on those down
beats.
So you can either just take a recovery bow of the following two notes after the treble,
which would sound like [G] this.
[D] [Bb] Or you can take a recovery up bow and just go backwards.
So you can either take a recovery up bow with the last note of the treble to the next note.
[Gm]
[Bb] That's pretty common.
Or what you can do is change the treble to a roll and slur into it like [G] this.
[Bb] And that's pretty common as well.
So a couple of important things to remember with deciding
what bowing to do is, one, the up bow recovery strategy.
If you find yourself migrating to the
tip, take an up down up and replace it with an up up up.
It's also pretty common to slur
into an up bow for a roll.
[G] [Gm]
[Bb] And then the other piece of advice is just to watch as many fiddlers
as you can, play in as many sessions as you can, and watch what other fiddlers are doing.
You'll start to notice that someone might bow something totally differently the second time
through the tune, but they're following sort of these same strategies, the up bow recovery,
Key:
Bb
G
Gm
E
A
Bb
G
Gm
_ _ _ _ So I've had a lot of requests to demystify Irish bowing and I'm going to try and attempt to answer
a couple of those questions today.
The tricky thing with bowing in Irish traditional music,
as well as lots of other traditions of music, is that there isn't a set bowing pattern.
_ So I'm going to demonstrate some bowing patterns and things, choices that you can make on a reel,
and the reel I'm going to do is called Bridget McBride.
It's in O'Neill's Music of Ireland,
if you have that book, and it's number 1254, if you want to follow along with the music.
And this is how [E] that tune goes. _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _
[A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
So let's just look at the first two measures.
If you look at
those two measures, you'll see that all of the notes are just plain eighth notes.
There's no
sixteenth notes or quarter notes or anything else.
So that makes the bowing fairly simple.
You can just go up and down regularly like this, starting on an up bow for the pickup note.
[G] _
_ [Bb] _ _ Straight.
Now, if you're like most fiddlers, you have a tendency to migrate to the tip of the bow
if you do too many up down, up down, up down, up down, up down.
You'll find yourself all the
way up here.
So what you can do is you can take a couple recovery up bows to help yourself move
[Bb] back to the center of the bow.
And the places where those make the most sense in Irish traditional
music is the last eighth note of a group of four to the following two eighth notes in the next
group of four.
So if we tie the first, the end of the first group of four [E] to the first two notes of
the second group of four, that'll [Gm] sound like this.
_ [G] _
_ _ [A] _ [Gm] Or if we just move that over one set of four.
Or [C] if _ _ we [Bb] do it in the next set of four, it'll sound like this.
[G] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
So that's a really, really common way.
You'll just take a recovery up bow that'll replace an
up down up with an up up up.
And that way you're still following in line with the music. _ _ _ _
Now the next two measures have a treble in them, which sounds like [G] this.
_ _ _ _ [Bb] So if you take it as it's read and you don't take any recovery up bows or anything,
you'll end up going [G] the wrong direction,
_ _ [Gm] _
which feels backwards.
[Bb] So you want to make sure you get back down on a down bow on those down
beats.
So you can either just take a recovery bow of the following two notes after the treble,
which would sound like [G] this.
_ _ [D] _ _ [Bb] Or you can take a recovery up bow and just go backwards.
So you can either take a recovery up bow with the last note of the treble to the next note.
_ [Gm] _ _ _
_ [Bb] That's pretty common.
Or what you can do is change the treble to a roll and slur into it like [G] this.
_ _ _ [Bb] And that's pretty common as well. _
_ _ _ So a couple of important things to remember with deciding
what bowing to do is, one, the up bow recovery strategy.
If you find yourself migrating to the
tip, take an up down up and replace it with an up up up.
_ It's also pretty common to slur
into an up bow for a roll.
[G] _ [Gm] _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] And then the other piece of advice is just to watch as many fiddlers
as you can, play in as many sessions as you can, and watch what other fiddlers are doing.
You'll start to notice that someone might bow something totally differently the second time
through the tune, but they're following sort of these same strategies, the up bow recovery,
a couple of those questions today.
The tricky thing with bowing in Irish traditional music,
as well as lots of other traditions of music, is that there isn't a set bowing pattern.
_ So I'm going to demonstrate some bowing patterns and things, choices that you can make on a reel,
and the reel I'm going to do is called Bridget McBride.
It's in O'Neill's Music of Ireland,
if you have that book, and it's number 1254, if you want to follow along with the music.
And this is how [E] that tune goes. _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _
[A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
So let's just look at the first two measures.
If you look at
those two measures, you'll see that all of the notes are just plain eighth notes.
There's no
sixteenth notes or quarter notes or anything else.
So that makes the bowing fairly simple.
You can just go up and down regularly like this, starting on an up bow for the pickup note.
[G] _
_ [Bb] _ _ Straight.
Now, if you're like most fiddlers, you have a tendency to migrate to the tip of the bow
if you do too many up down, up down, up down, up down, up down.
You'll find yourself all the
way up here.
So what you can do is you can take a couple recovery up bows to help yourself move
[Bb] back to the center of the bow.
And the places where those make the most sense in Irish traditional
music is the last eighth note of a group of four to the following two eighth notes in the next
group of four.
So if we tie the first, the end of the first group of four [E] to the first two notes of
the second group of four, that'll [Gm] sound like this.
_ [G] _
_ _ [A] _ [Gm] Or if we just move that over one set of four.
Or [C] if _ _ we [Bb] do it in the next set of four, it'll sound like this.
[G] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
So that's a really, really common way.
You'll just take a recovery up bow that'll replace an
up down up with an up up up.
And that way you're still following in line with the music. _ _ _ _
Now the next two measures have a treble in them, which sounds like [G] this.
_ _ _ _ [Bb] So if you take it as it's read and you don't take any recovery up bows or anything,
you'll end up going [G] the wrong direction,
_ _ [Gm] _
which feels backwards.
[Bb] So you want to make sure you get back down on a down bow on those down
beats.
So you can either just take a recovery bow of the following two notes after the treble,
which would sound like [G] this.
_ _ [D] _ _ [Bb] Or you can take a recovery up bow and just go backwards.
So you can either take a recovery up bow with the last note of the treble to the next note.
_ [Gm] _ _ _
_ [Bb] That's pretty common.
Or what you can do is change the treble to a roll and slur into it like [G] this.
_ _ _ [Bb] And that's pretty common as well. _
_ _ _ So a couple of important things to remember with deciding
what bowing to do is, one, the up bow recovery strategy.
If you find yourself migrating to the
tip, take an up down up and replace it with an up up up.
_ It's also pretty common to slur
into an up bow for a roll.
[G] _ [Gm] _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] And then the other piece of advice is just to watch as many fiddlers
as you can, play in as many sessions as you can, and watch what other fiddlers are doing.
You'll start to notice that someone might bow something totally differently the second time
through the tune, but they're following sort of these same strategies, the up bow recovery,