G minor fiddle tunes

Trad Strings
1

Now for some reason all you fiddler’s out there seem to love G minor tunes. I personally guess that you only love them to get rid of us fluters :stuck_out_tongue:, so I’d like to know your or your local session’s favourite G minor tunes to be prepared next time some waggish fiddler tries to exclude the fluters from the show. :wink:

Thanks!

2

Isn’t that what C flutes are for?

3

C Major & A minor.

B flat Major & G minor.

What was the question again?

4

I don’t have one :slight_smile:

The question was which G minor tunes are popular among fiddlers.

5

Ed Reavy’s reel “In Memory of Coleman” is a really nice one. There’s also a good one by Liz Carroll called “The Fiddler’s Key” (referring of course to the key of G minor).

6

Here are some of the G Dorian tunes that pop up occasionally in sessions around here.

Eileen Curran
|BAGF DGGB|AFcF dFcF|

Spendid Isolation (McGlinchey’s)
|FGGF GdcA|G2AG F2Ac|
Also played in ADor

The Girl Who Broke My Heart (GMix/GDor)
|BGFD ECC2|DGGF GABc|
Sometimes straight GMix, usually repeated in ADor/Amix

Fairhaired Mary/Molly
|Gddc d2cB|AFcF dFcA|

Farewell to Miltown
|DGGF G3A|BcAB GFDE|

Paddy Fahy’s
|DGA B2B|cBc d2g|

Crabs in the Skillet (GDor/Gm)
|~G3 d2F|G2A B2c|

The Cat in the Hopper
|DGA B2c|AFF F2A|
Played mostly for dancers here, not for sessions

Caisleán na nÓr
|DGGF G2Ac|dcde f2ga|
Also played in ADor

7

Thanks!

8

The Seanamhac Tube Station (jig), composed by John Carty. A local fiddler likes that one.

9

Here are a few more:

  • Dowd’s favourite - surely the “biggest” of all the Gm fiddle tunes
  • Drunken sailor hornpipe
  • Ewe reel
  • Star of Munster goes well in G too
  • Mist-covered mountain in G - the key Junior Crehan played it in, sounds much better than in A

To really be prepared, you should learn Humours of Westport and Boys of Ballisodare in F while you’re at it :slight_smile: