I have been given the notes to play for the Chorus Melody, Problem is the person that gave them to me is a Mandolin and Guitar Player and he doesn’t recognize octaves when he writes out stuff. Other stuff he has given me I have figured out, but this one is more tricky.
This is exactly what he gave me.
A B A F# E F# E C#
B C# B A F#
F# G# A A B C# E
F# F# E C# B
A B A F# E F# E C#
B C# B A F#
F# G# A A B F# E C#
B B B A A
Now The way I hear it is like this (Caps = Upper Octave, lower case = first octave)
A B A F# E F# E c#
b c# b a f#
f# g# a a b c# E
F# F# E c# b
Can someone take a look and let me know if I am correct ?
James Fearnley from the Pogues gave this out on their website awhile back:
A B A F# E F# E C#
B C# B A F# - E F#
A - A B C# - C# E
F# - - - E - - -
A B A F# E F# E C#
B C# B A F# - E F#
A - C# E F# - E C#
B - - - A - - -
This is the main sequence that starts the whole track out. I assume this is what you meant when you said “chorus melody”, but if you need a different subsection of the song give me some more details. I know this tune like the back of my hand…
Just start on the 2nd A above middle C and work your way down. You should be able to play along with this tune on a D whistle easily. That’s what I use when my band covers it (when I’m not on the accordion).
So this is perfect, except I am still not sure which notes should be played in the first octave as opposed to the second octave. The way I hear it is like this: Meaning that the letters I have changed to lowercase would be played in the first in the 1st octave on the whistle as opposed to the 2nd octave. Can someone confirm if I have that correct.
A B A F# E F# E c#
b c# b a f# - e f#
a - a b c# - c# E
F# - - - E - - -
A B A F# E F# E c#
b c# b a f# - e f#
a - c# E F# - E c#
b - - - a - - -
Start off by playing the whistle in the second octave, and work your way down those notes I gave you. If you are playing along with the Pogues version (on YouTube if you don’t have an MP3 of it) you should hear when it starts to go back up the scale.
Also, if you have access to a piano keyboard and can play one alright, this might help give you a better idea of what the whistle is doing if you follow along with the accordion part.
I wish I had a better way to describe to you by using the strange ABC method of describing stuff, but I read regular music and play my ear a lot, so I am a little new to the ABC type of approach.
Worse case scenario, PM me your email address and I will send you a version of me playing the whistle part you are after…