Chords for Whiskey Before Breakfast Beginner Mandolin Lesson

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ [B] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [F#m] _ _ [B] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [F#m] _ _ [B] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [F#m] _ _ [B] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _ [G] _
_ [D] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ [B] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ [B] _
_ [D] _ _ _ Alright, hey everyone out there at Mandolin Land.
Mike Heading here [D] coming to you today with the classic fiddle tune in the key of D, Whiskey Before [N] Breakfast.
This is one of the first fiddle tunes I ever learned and it's still one of my favorites to play.
You'll hear this song all the time in jam sessions so it's a great one to have under your fingers.
I'm going to break down the whole tune note for note, show you a variation on both A and
B parts so you can practice your variations and then show you some backup stuff you can
do so you're ready when you hear the chords in a jam session.
Alright so [D] here's Whiskey Before Breakfast on the mandolin.
Here we go. _ _ _
_ _ Alright so here's the first four measures of Whiskey Before Breakfast.
I'll play it and then I'll break it down.
_ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[D] _ _ One more time.
[E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ [D] _
_ Okay so we're starting on the open D string. _
I'm doing, we're going to do a bunch of notes on the D string right in a row.
So open second [E] fret, _ fourth [F#] fret, _ fifth [Gm] fret and then open [D] A.
So I'm doing down, [F] up, down,
up, down with my right hand.
So let's play that a few [E] times in a row. _ _ _ _ _ _
I'm using one, two, three in my left hand.
_ Index, second finger and third finger. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ It's good practice to work on your stretching.
Try and keep your fingers down as you're going up the notes. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ And then we got to let that open A string ring for two beats.
So it's one and two and three, _ four.
And if you're having trouble letting that ring for two beats you can actually hit the
string twice if you want to.
So it'd be _ _ _ three, _ four.
You know you can use that if you need a little place holder there.
But it's good practice to [F] let that note ring out and [G] work on your timing and counting.
So it's one [F#] and two [E] and three, _ four.
And then we're going up to the open A string.
We're staying up there and doing open, [F#] two, [A] _ open. _
[F#] And then back down to the fifth [Gm] fret of the D [F#] string.
And then [D] fourth fret.
And then _ open, _ [E] two, _ [F#] four [B] on the D string.
So let me break down measure two.
It [A] sounds like this. _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ [Am] So we're doing all downs, down and ups there because it's all eighth notes.
So even though we're changing strings on that [G] _ _ [Em] right _ there.
Alright so we're still doing down, [E] up, down, up, [G] down, up, down, up.
Really important to keep your down and up going even though you're changing strings.
That'll really help you keep the timing there.
So one more time.
Here's the first two [E] measures.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Four, _ one, two and three [Em]
and [G] four and.
Then here's measure three.
We're going to do a quarter note on fifth fret of the D string. _ _
And then second fret of the A string and then back to that fifth fret.
So one, two and.
So I'm doing _ down, down, up with my right hand.
_ _ _ Fifth fret and then second fret and then back to the fifth fret.
So you can keep your third [Em] finger down the whole time on that five and just keep that tone ringing. _
_ _ _ And then [F] down to the fourth fret with your second finger.
[F#m] _ _ And then open A and then back to that fourth fret.
So that same timing.
Down, down, up.
_ [E] Then play that measure but just by [G] itself.
_ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _
_ And [G#] if you have to take your fingers off a little bit because the stretch feels really
big, you can do that.
But I would encourage you to try and practice keeping them [G] down as long as you can.
One more time.
_ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _
_ _ [E] And then I'm going down to the second fret of the D string with my first finger.
_ And I'm doing a quarter note there.
So down and then playing that note again with another down stroke.
So one, two and then up to the [F#] fourth fret.
_ [Em] Back down to that second fret.
So you can actually keep that note down the whole time.
_ Open D [D] string _ and then down to the fourth fret [Bm] of the G string _ with a down stroke and
then down to the second fret of the G string [A] with an up stroke.
So I play [Dm] just measure four by itself.
So it's _ one, _ two [E] and [Bm] three and [Dm] four and.
So [G] I'm doing, [Em] starting with a down _ and then down, up, [F#] down, up. _
[Bm] Down, up, [Dm] down, up.
We're doing two downs in a row at the beginning there to help [E] us play that little pause.
So it's one, two and [G] three and [Dm] four and.
Okay, [G] now we're back to this part's all the same.
_ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ Let that ring out.
One and two and three and [F#] four and.
This part's all the same.
[G] _ _ _ _ [F#m] _
_ _ _ And then this is a little ending lick.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _