Anybody REALLY know music out there....help!

Whistle
1

For some time I’ve wanted chords for a very nice tune, but so far no luck.
A few years ago I found sheet music for Carolan’s “Princess Royal” in a key with two sharps (C# and F#). No chords, though. My wife tried to write in some, but they don’t work. I’m hoping someone here can help. Problem is, the web site where I found the tune is now defunct. I only have a paper copy and can’t post the tune here. It’s the same tune as is found at thesesssion.org at…

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/905

but the version I want has two sharps instead of two flats.

Is anyone out there bright enough to transpose the tune to the right key, then figure out chords that work well for it? I’m pretty sure the first chord is B minor.

2

A key signature of two sharps means you’re in either D major or, in this case, its “relative minor”: B minor. So you were right about the first chord.

The chords that are given on thesession.org look good enough to me, so its just a question of transposing them up by the right amount. A key signature of two flats means either B flat major or, in this case, G minor. The difference between G minor and B minor is a major third. So, your job is to transpose those chords up a major third.

How? Well, a major third consists of four semitone steps. So, G up to B, for instance, is

G - Gsharp - A - Bflat - B

Do the same for each chord, and you should be able to work them all out.

To get you started, the chords for the first line are…

B minor, Bminor, E minor, A7, D, A, Bminor

Have fun!

Sam

3

I used took the ABC from the session and used Jens Wollschläger’s ABC-Transposer to shift in up from Gmin to Bmin.

And then used the ABC Convert-A-Matic to create this gif. I dunno how long the site will have it cached, however.


X: 1
T: Princess Royal, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:Bmin
Bc|: “Bm” d2cd B2fe|“Bm” d2cd B2f2|“Em” g2gf “A7” e2ag|“dd’” fg “A” ef “Bm” d2{e}dc|
“Bm” d2bd “Fm” c2ac|“Gd’” BcdB “F7” F2fe|“Bm” dcdB “F7” F2[E2^A2]|“Bm” [D4B4] [D2B2]:expressionless:
f2|“Bm” b2b^a “F7” {c’}babc’|“dd’” d’2d2 d2d’c’|“Bm” d’c’ba “Em” gfed|“A” cdec “A7” A2Bc|
“dd’” [A2d2]cd “A” [A2e2]de|“dd’” [A2f2][A2f2] “Gd’” [B4d4b4]|“dd’” [A2d2a2][A2d2] “A7” [A4c4g4]|“dd’” [A2d2f2] “Bm” B2 “cfim” [G4B4e4]|
“Bm” dedc BcdB|“F” ^ABcA “F7” F2fe|“Bm” dcdB “F7” F2[E2^A2]|“Bm” [D4B4] [D2B2]||

Compare this to your original–the only other time I used this transposer, it made an error in one accidental, so be careful with the results.

Edited: I think that weird “dd” chord is supposed to be Db.

4

Actually, it’s clearly meant to be D major – those are Bb major chords on The Session.

Db would be a very bad thing here!

5

Could also be A Mixolydian, C# Locrian(sp?), E Dorian, F# Phrygian, or G Lydian.

6

Got it. Wife and I just played it and it works. Thanks.

7

since the tune comes home to rest on B, I’d wager on B minor :wink:

8

That is usually a dead give away. I was just being a smart-a**.