Irish Guitar Podcast

A nice simple jig.The tune is mostly played in the open position, so you don’t have to move your hand until the last two... Read more

Here we have a tune in Open A (although in the book you'll also find a version in regular tuning.) The Open A tuning Ton... Read more

Two tunes that are often played together are Crowley’s 1 and 2.The legendary Connemara single row melodeon player Johnny... Read more

A slip jig.Slip jigs are in 9/8 time - think of each bar as having 3 groups of 3.The chords are very simple - just G, C ... Read more

This tune is sometimes known as “The Funny Reel” and is played in D. On the guitar Tony plays it in C with the capo on t... Read more

The final lesson in the series is a reel. As we are in the key of D left hand fingering is to use the first finger for t... Read more

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 bu... Read more

McFadden’s Handsome Daughter is an A Major tune but for the guitar Tony plays it in G with capo on the 2nd fret. The tun... Read more

In episode 9, we had this reel in the 'normal' tuning.In this episode, it's in Open D tuning. The tuning (from lowest pi... Read more

This tune is sometimes known as “Dr. John Stafford”. The tune begins on a C chord. For the accompaniment Tony plays and ... Read more

A common polka, which Tony tells us has received some rough treatment.Make it easier to learn by using shortcuts: the fi... Read more

This is a very common polka, and because of its simplicity is ideal for learners.This tune is often used when playing fo... Read more

Another tune by the highly influential Turlough O'Carolan.Planxty Irwin (which we had in Lesson 14, in Book 1) was anoth... Read more

This is a nice lively tune in the key of D.Tony plays this tune with the high part first and the low part second, althou... Read more

'Man of the House' is a 16-bar reel, normally played in Em (Dorian mode).Tony's version is in Dm (Dorian).Its name in Ir... Read more

The Garden Of Daisies is a set dance and is played in hornpipe time, but somewhat slower than your average hornpipe. Not... Read more

Tony describes how to play a triplet on the lower (thicker) strings when describing how to play this reel.

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... Read more

The Banshee is a reel that's sometimes know as McMahon's.The first part is in G Major; it changes to E Minor in the seco... Read more

The Mist Covered Mountain is a very haunting piece in A Dorian.Normally it's played in the key of D, but Tony's arrangem... Read more