I’m curious what criteria people are using to select “easy” jigs. E.g., Banish Misfortune is a 3 part jig with accidentals, so I wouldn’t consider it easy. I’d say the easiest jigs would be (1) strongly rhythmic, (2) repetitive, (3) common and (4) not have any tricky octave jumps, high upper octave notes, or twisty fingerings. Hmm, Swallowtail is sounding pretty good in retrospect .
Actually, I personally find polkas to be simpler and easier to learn than most jigs. Egan’s Polka, Maggie in the Woods, John Ryan’s are all pretty easy and fairly common. Of course, I’m in the beginner category myself, so take anything I say with a grain of salt (and a Guiness ).
Try ‘Saddle the Pony’. It’s a fairly easy jig that gets played a lot. I picked it up at http://www.madfortrad.com/fs_tunes.htm. There are plenty of other tunes there that might suit you.
I agree with those who say that polkas are a good way to get into fast tunes. The first one I learned was Maggie in the Wood. Other good ones are Sweeney’s, Egan’s, and Carroll’s, all of which have lots of repetitions. For a jig, try The Tenpenny Bit.
My first jigs are:
Road to Lisdoonvarna
Morrison’s Jig
Moynahan’s Jig
Whats more important than ease of play, is connection. I heard these tunes and fell in love with them. It didn’t matter how hard or easy, I felt connected to them. They spoke about something I found the need to say.
So get Melbay 110 session tunes and LE’s 121 session tunes and listen through to all of them, perhaps going through the books and circling the ones you like. Bet you’ll find easily a dozen tunes that you love, and learning to play a tune you love always easier than learning a tune that is just easy on the fingers.
I have an old tape around here somewhere of Seamus Ennis playing, amongst other tunes, the jigs “Sixpenny Money and When The Cock Crows It Is Day.” Those are two easy and well-known ones.
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