Paddy's Return
Tune Links: A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 Entire A Part
B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4 Entire B Part Play Along Tracks
Before you get started learning this very nice jig, don't forget to
- Look over all the free lessons, especially
"How To Read Tablature At fiddlehub.com," and
"How To Learn A Tune At Fiddlehub.com." These two "how to" lessons have info that you will need in order to tackle any of the tune lessons, and it isn't repeated anywhere else.
- Listen to the tune all the way through a few times, even if you're familiar with it, to get a clear idea of how this arrangement sounds.
- Print out the sheet music so you'll always have the complete tune handy. It has both tablature and standard notation, as well as the chords for guitar/banjo/piano (or whatever).
One more thing: In Irish music, jigs are not played the way they're written. The six eighth notes in each measure look the same, but they're not played that way. In each set of three eighth notes, the first one is longer than you would expect, the second one is shorter, and the third one is an actual eighth note. Here is how you would expect a measure to sound if you played it as written on the page: Here is how it actually sounds:
Part A, Phrase 1
Bowing:
- The phrase starts with a two-note slur. The first note is a "pick up" and the emphasis is on the second note. To get the emphasis, speed up the bow stroke and increase downward pressure a little as you approach the second note. Because you speed up the bow, you end up using about a third of the bow length on the slur. Start about a third of the bow length from the frog, and end up about a third of the bow from the tip.
- The second slur doesn't put as much emphasis on the second note in the slur, so you won't use as much bow length. The second note will bring you back to around the mid-point.
- Notice here that you change strings as you slur these two notes. This might feel a little cumbersome at first, and many American style fiddlers avoid this. I don't know why.
- I think it's an essential skill, especially in Irish music. If you watch any good Irish style player, you'll see they do it all the time.
- The note following the second slur (the first 8th note in the second set of three 8th notes in the measure) is also emphasized; but because you're not slurring into it, you can just dig in a little with the down bow stroke and increase bow speed a little bit.
- The third slur, played with an up bow, uses medium bow speed and should bring you back to around the middle of the bow.
- The next three 8th notes are all played up and down, with short strokes. Remember that the first note in this set of three 8th notes is played longer than the middle one (so more bow length), the second one is very quick, and the third one is actually an 8th note.
- The last slur covers the value of three 8th notes and includes some emphasis on the first note in the slur, so it needs increased bow speed and more bow length. You should end up back down about a third of your bow length from the frog.
- In the video, I draw out the last note longer than it actually is because I am playing the phrase without anything else around it. If this confuses you, take a look at the video for the entire Part A to see and hear how it works.
- Saw Stroke: If you don't feel that you're ready to digest the slurs along with everything else in this tune, you can just saw stroke your way through the phrases until you have the fingering and the timing under control.
Start with a down bow on the first note and just play up and down on each successive note through the phrase.
- It might be difficult to emphasize the notes that need it if you bow this way; but don't worry about that for now.
- Just concentrate on keeping the rhythm and fingering accurately. You can save the emphasizing for later when you start working with the slurs.
Fingering:
- Before you start, your fingers should all be arced and poised above the fingerboard, ready to play.
- To play the first note, just bring the 1st finger down on the A string and then lift it off to slur the second note.
- For the third note, bring the 2nd finger down on the D string and then lift it off to slur into the open D. I don't do it in the video, but you can also lower and lift the 1st finger along with the 2nd. In the beginning this is a good way to train the 1st finger to always stay close to the fingerboard. If this concept is new to you, take a look at the lesson on fingering, and especially the section with fingering exercises.
- As you play the last five notes in the phrases on A string, be careful to leave the 1st finger down when you play the D note on the A string with the 3rd finger.