Beginning Irish Mandolin

Welcome back for another great beginner's tune. This time it's an Irish polka that some call "Tripping to the Well". As I mentioned in our first column (June 2006), most polkas and slides are not known by a single name, but usually many (or sometimes none). I've been told this tune was recorded by John McKenna in 1937 and therefore it might also be known as "John McKenna's". I learned it from the CD titled "Timmy 'the Brit' McCarthy's Set Dances of Cork and Kerry" by the Donncha Lynch Band. It can also be heard on the famous album "Meiteal" by Seamus Begley and Steve Cooney. Both of these CDs are highly recommended. The Donncha Lynch Band album contains many easy tunes played at a set dancing tempo. The Begley-Cooney CD is much faster paced, or perhaps I should say the energy level is much higher. Seamus Begley's accordion work is absolutely stunning and Cooney's guitar backup is the perfect complement to Begley's intensity.

The tune itself is dead-easy but you may find the run of four consecutive sixteenth notes to be a challenge. To help you with that, you might practice some scales on your instrument. On the mandolin, you can span two octaves by starting with the open G-note on the fourth string (G) and ending with the high G at the third fret of the first (e) string. Get into the habit of practicing these scales, up and down, as a kind of warmup each time you practice. I'm sure you will find this exercise quite valuable in the long run. I suggest you look for other scale exercises - some can be found in Mel Bay's Deluxe Bluegrass Mandolin Method by Ray Valla.

As usual, beginners should pay attention to the repetition in the notes of "Tripping to the Well" in order to ease memorization. In addition, notice that all the fretted notes but one (the F#'s in measures 7 and 15) require only the first and third fingers. The 2^nd finger is therefore needed just once in each part. The recommended pick directions may seem like too many downstrokes at first but if you're going to get the challenging 4-note run in measures 7 and 15 up-to-speed, then I suggest you stick to those suggested in the tablature.

It is a common practice to play polkas in sets of two, three or even four. Next time I'll give you another catchy polka to play with this one.

I'd be interested to hear if any readers would like to see more polkas presented in this column. As usual, I can be reached at michael.gregory@und.nodak.edu.