I recorded these 50 tunes, broken down into three playlists, to introduce anyone new to Irish traditional music to tunes commonly played at Irish sessions. Recorded over the course of two evenings, these recordings are far from perfect, but can give a beginner a place to start. The tunes are played at "listening" speed. I would recommend listening to a tune until you have it in your head (or can hum it, sing it, etc.) then pick up your instrument and play it at a speed that is comfortable for you. I hope anyone who finds these recordings is helped by them, and finds also the enormous joy I have found in Irish Trad.   Cheers!
Tunes are sometimes played in sets as follows:
Egan’s Polka / The Silver Spear
The Concertina Reel / The Merry Blacksmith
The Black Rogue / Gander in the Prattie Hole / My Darling Asleep
The Lilting Banshee / The Connaughtman’s Rambles
The Boys of Bluehill / The Harvest Home
Sean Bui / Calliope House
Behind the Haystack / Donnybrook Fair
The Wind that Shakes the Barley / Drowsy Maggie
The Blackthorn Stick / Saddle the Pony / Out on the Ocean
The Humors of Glendart / Have a Drink on Me
The Rakes of Kildare / The Tenpenny Bit / Scatter the Mud
The Mist Covered Mountains / The Cliffs of Mohr
The Road to Lisdoonvarna / The Swallowtail Jig
The Staten Island Hornpipe / Chief O’Neill’s Favorite
The Earl’s Chair / The Virginia Reel / The Wise Maid
Patsy Geary’s / The Tar Road to Sligo
The Pipe on the Hob / The Hag at the Churn
The Congress Reel / The Star of Munster
Swinging on a Gate / Father Kelly’s
Garrett Barry’s / Banish Misfortune
The other tunes may be played as parts of sets, but are often played on their own.




50 Irish Trad Tunes on Mandolin - Part 2

At a post-concert session, I had the enormous pleasure of playing with the great piper Paddy Keenan.  When it was my turn to kick off a tune, I launched into "The Yellow Wattle" in dead man's tuning playing it pretty much as I do here (actually did it a bit better that night).  I started out on just 2 strings, then added the high D the second time through, then finished by hitting the low D a good bit.  Each time I added a string, he glanced my way with a raised eyebrow.  At the end of the tune he turned to me and said, "How many strings you got on that thing, anyway?!"  I was later told that was a high compliment among old school Irish Trad players, and I got it from one of the greats.  It is a treasured memory.

The Yellow Wattle (DDAD)

I recorded these 50 tunes, broken down into three playlists, to introduce anyone new to Irish traditional music to tunes commonly played at Irish sessions. Recorded over the course of two evenings, these recordings are far from perfect, but can give a beginner a place to start. The tunes are played at "listening" speed. I would recommend listening to a tune until you have it in your head (or can hum it, sing it, etc.) then pick up your instrument and play it at a speed that is comfortable for you. I hope anyone who finds these recordings is helped by them, and finds the enormous joy I have found in Irish Trad.   Cheers!
Tunes are sometimes played in sets as follows:
Egan’s Polka / The Silver Spear
The Concertina Reel / The Merry Blacksmith
The Black Rogue / Gander in the Prattie Hole / My Darling Asleep
The Lilting Banshee / The Connaughtman’s Rambles
The Boys of Bluehill / The Harvest Home
Sean Bui / Calliope House
Behind the Haystack / Donnybrook Fair
The Wind that Shakes the Barley / Drowsy Maggie
Blackthorn Stick / Saddle the Pony / Out on the Ocean
The Humors of Glendart / Have a Drink on Me
The Rakes of Kildare / The Tenpenny Bit / Scatter the Mud
The Mist Covered Mountains / The Cliffs of Mohr
The Road to Lisdoonvarna / The Swallowtail Jig
The Staten Island Hornpipe / Chief O’Neill’s Favorite
The Earl’s Chair / The Virginia Reel / The Wise Maid
Patsy Geary’s / The Tar Road to Sligo
The Pipe on the Hob / The Hag at the Churn
The Congress Reel / The Star of Munster
Swinging on a Gate / Father Kelly’s
Garrett Barry’s / Banish Misfortune
The other tunes may be played as parts of sets, but are often played on their own.




25 Scatter The Mud

20 Out On The Ocean

19 Saddle The Pony

18 The Blackthorn Stick

17 Drowsy Maggie

16 The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Rose In The Heather Jig

The Last Pint (Lunasa cover)- Ticy Poppins

Reprise de la magnifique chanson de Cat Stevens

Sad Lisa

I've been doing short, instrumental, acoustic albums as holiday gifts for a while. This one is mine for 2017 -- enjoy!

Just After Winter (Mandola)

The Blackest Crow (My Dearest Sweetheart)

I have been playing a lot of Dowland these last months.
Rennaissance lute music is just so beautiful.

This piece is a Duet, I play the upper part here.

Played on Alhambra Steelstring A-4 in Lute Tuning (g>f#), Capo on 3rd fret

My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home - John Dowland

From Rasplyn's debut release, 'Scenes Through the Magic Eye', out on Mythical Records Nov 30th, 2014.

Priestess of the Goddess

I am an amateur multi-instrumentalist with a passion for playing Irish Traditional Music on anything with strings (mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle, octave mandolin, mandola).  I also enjoy performing folk and old time music.  I created this page mainly as a way of sharing tunes with people interested in learning to play Irish Trad.  I play all tracks here in a way that I hope makes them accessible.  I play them musically, but simply, avoiding a lot of the repetition, ornamentation, or variation I might use if performing them publicly.  
I include here 50 common session tunes played on mando.  These tracks, broken down into three playlists, are intended to help anyone new to Irish Trad to pick up some popular tunes to enjoy playing at home, or better yet, at a session.  I also have lists for Irish banjo, Celtic guitar, O'Carolan tunes, and selected mando tracks of tunes people have especially liked.
 
For those interested in knowing what instruments I use:  
Guitar tracks are recorded with a Martin D-28 Custom (1984),  a Larrivee OM-02 (2019), a Larrivee D-50 (2003), a Kalamazoo (Gibson) tenor (1936), or an Eastman AC 320 B (2007).
Banjo tracks are recorded with an Epiphone Recording A (1928) or a Bacon and Day Silver Bell No. 1 (1927).
Mando tracks are recorded with a Gibson A-1 (1916), a Collings MT (2011), a Collings MT2 (2019), or an Eastman 605 (2009). 
Octave mandolin tunes are recorded with a Petersen Level 1 (2012).
Mandola tunes are recorded with a Eugene Howard mandola (1890s).
I use a Zoom H2n, and edit tracks using Audacity (cuts, fade outs, noise removal, amplification, compression, equalization).

25 Scatter The Mud

Mostly Mandolin

Related tracks