Chords for Swallowtail Jig: Fiddle Lesson by Casey Willis

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_ _ _ _ [D#] _ _ [F] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Swallowtail Jig
Alright, _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
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[Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
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_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
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_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
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[Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ in this lesson we're going to look at Swallowtail Jig.
This is a song in the key of E minor, _ played over 6-8 time.
It's kind of a New England feel, a little bit Celtic, but mostly New England, _ Nova Scotia feel to this song.
_ Right off the bat, I'm going to show you an exercise with your bow that's going to help you through this song.
It's a rhythm [Gm] _
that will bring you into the first part in several different places. _
It's just back and forth sawing, but thinking about a 6-8 beat.
So, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5-6.
What we're going to do is emphasize the 1's and the 4's.
So, start down on your open D.
[D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ You can do that on any string.
_ What we do in this song is we go_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A#] So, the 4th note, an up bow, which you're emphasizing is rocking over and catching _ _ the next string up.
So, just practice that as an exercise.
Think about your wrist making a circle movement when you go to catch that A [D] string if you're playing on D. _ _ _ _
So, you're dropping your wrist there. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] That will help to create a smooth pattern versus jerky back and forth on this song.
So, that starts us off.
_ _ _ Let's look at the melody here.
_ I'll start the song with some drones.
I'll do [E] long ones. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [A#] So, I'm putting my first finger across both A and D string, and I'm sliding up to a first finger.
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
So, count in your head.
1-2-3-4-5-6, up bow, 2-3-4-5-6.
And then double the time.
So, again, one more time. _ _
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_ _ You've got to get out of that last one a little bit quicker. _
So, that's how I start the song.
_ So, let's get right into the melody.
Here we go.
Down bow slur. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ So, 1-2 [E]-3 on your D string.
_ [D] _ _ Now we're into that [Em] pattern.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
And I'm keeping my first finger across both strings there.
So, you don't have to pick it up and put it down.
Just put your first finger, just lay it down across both, and you're ready to do this lick. _
Alright, in this lesson we're going to look at Swallowtail Jig, advanced melody.
_ So, we'll build on that basic, throw some extra trills in there,
some work the melody around, turn it around on itself, and some double stops.
So, let's get started.
We'll start it the same way with those drones as we did in the first part.
So, just long drones. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [G] _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ [G#] Okay, so I did just a little bit different things here.
I put [Em] a trill in. _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ [F#] _ _ [D] _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [F] So, it's 1-2, low 2, 1-low [A]-2-1, open A. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
Okay, so that's the first one.
We'll put that in all the way through if you want.
It just kind of spices it up a little [F#] bit.
[Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
So, [D] I did a, _ _ _ kind of almost like a hammer-off lick. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ So, open A, 3, open A.
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ _ Okay, [F#m] everything there, I'm just, it's the same.
I'm just going over and [G] catching that open D, [Bm] or open E.
So, my first finger is stretched across A and D. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _
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_ [G] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [A] _