# AI Wiki - Music - Celtic Music ## Overview "Celtic music" is a broad label for music that grew out of the folk traditions of the Celtic peoples of north-west Europe. The Gaelic (Q-Celtic) branch is Irish, Scottish and Manx; the Brythonic (P-Celtic) branch is Cornish, Breton and Welsh. Galician and Asturian music are often added. In practice, when a guitar or piano player says "Celtic", they almost always mean **Irish and Scottish traditional dance tunes** and the songs and bands around them: the Chieftains, Planxty, the Bothy Band, Clannad, Altan, Capercaillie, Runrig and, in the other direction, Celtic folk-rock (Fairport Convention, Horslips) and Celtic punk (the Pogues, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys). The core of the tradition is **instrumental**: fiddle, tin whistle, flute, uilleann pipes (the Irish bagpipes, blown with a bellows under the arm), accordion, concertina, banjo, harp, and the bodhrán (frame drum) for rhythm. Guitar is not a traditional instrument in it, but it is widely accepted today, and the Irish bouzouki (introduced in the late 1960s by Johnny Moynihan, and popularised by Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine and Alec Finn) plays a similar role. Learning it from the guitar side means two jobs: playing the tunes themselves (flatpicking or fingerstyle melody) and accompanying other people's tunes. This article focuses on the second one, and on the tunes you need to know to do it. What makes it tick: short tunes in two parts repeated many times, played in sets with no pause; a rhythm that is felt in groups of beats (not in chord changes), modal melodies, and ornaments (not volume or harmony) for variety. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Folk Music]] for the wider folk context and for the AABB tune form. ## Dance tunes and their rhythms Each tune type has a fixed time signature and a fixed way of being felt. You recognise it by counting the beats in a bar: | Type | Time | Feel | | --- | --- | --- | | **Reel** | 4/4 (or 2/2) | Eight even eighth notes per bar, accents on beats 1 and 3. Fast and driving. | | **Double jig** | 6/8 | Two beats per bar, each divided into three (1 2 3 4 5 6, accents on 1 and 4). | | **Slip jig** | 9/8 | Three beats per bar, each divided into three (the lilt of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9). | | **Hornpipe** | 4/4 | Slower than a reel, with swung (long-short) eighth notes. | | **Polka** | 2/4 | Two beats per bar, from Sliabh Luachra (Cork-Kerry). | | **Slide** | 12/8 | Four beats per bar, each in three; a Munster speciality. | | **Waltz** and **mazurka** | 3/4 | The waltz is accented on beat 1, the mazurka on beat 2 (common in Donegal). | Most tunes are **AABB**: an A part of eight bars played twice, then a B part played twice, then the whole thing again, often 3 times before moving on to the next tune. Sets usually contain 2 or 3 tunes of the same type. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythm and Time Signatures]] and, for the hornpipe's long-short eighths, [[AI Wiki - Music - Swing and Shuffle Feel]]. In **Scotland** the same forms exist (reels, jigs, hornpipes, marches), plus the **strathspey**, a slower tune of the Highlands and Cape Breton in 4/4 with sharp dotted rhythms (the "Scots snap", a short note followed by a long one; it is hypothesised that the rhythm mimics Gaelic speech), and the **pibroch** (*piobaireachd*), a long, slow solo form for the Great Highland bagpipe. Scottish music is tied to the Highland pipes much as Irish music is tied to the uilleann pipes; Highland pipe tunes are often Mixolydian in sound. Here is a bar of each in a grid that you can tap on your knee (`X` = accent): ``` Reel 4/4 : 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & X . . . X . . . Jig 6/8 : 1 2 3 4 5 6 X . . X . . Slip jig : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X . . X . . X . . ``` ## Modes and harmony Irish and Scottish tunes are mostly in four modes: **Ionian** (major), **Aeolian** (natural minor), **Dorian** and **Mixolydian**, along with hexatonic (six-note) and pentatonic (five-note) versions. Some tunes have accidentals. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Modes]] and [[AI Wiki - Music - Modal Harmony]]. - **Mixolydian** (major with a ♭7): D Mixolydian is D major with C natural. The chords are D and C, with G as the IV. The tune sounds major, but the flat 7th keeps it from pulling home the way a major tune does. - **Dorian** (minor with a major 6th): E Dorian is E minor with C♯. The chords are Em and D (i – ♭VII) and often A or G. Many session reels (e.g., "Drowsy Maggie", "Cooley's") are in E Dorian or a close relative. - **Major and minor** appear too, but the first two are the ones that give the sound. Traditional melodies are written as a single line. Chords are an addition (and so is the guitar), so they stay **simple and sparse**: usually a chord per bar or per half bar, and often just a bare **root-and-fifth** (a "power chord" without the third, since a third would force the tune into major or minor). Major and minor 7th chords are used rarely. A three-chord loop, such as Em – D – Em – D, will fit many Dorian tunes. ```chords {title: Two common session chord patterns} {time: 4/4} {start_of_verse: E Dorian reel, one chord per bar} | [Em] / / / | [D] / / / | [Em] / / / | [D] / / / | | [Em] / / / | [G] / / / | [D] / / / | [Em] / / / | {end_of_verse} {start_of_verse: D Mixolydian, jig-style progression (6/8)} {time: 6/8} | [D] | [C] | [G] | [D] | {end_of_verse} ``` ```fretboard labels: intervals --- title: E Dorian vs E natural minor (6th is C#) scale: E dorian compare: natural minor frets: 0-4 --- title: D Mixolydian (b7 is C) scale: D mixolydian frets: 0-4 ``` ```keyboard D mixolydian range: C4-B5 labels: degrees ``` ## Guitar accompaniment The guitar's job is to give a steady pulse and a harmonic floor without covering the melody. The guitar mostly follows the tune rather than driving the tempo. - **Rhythm**: a strummed or picked pattern that follows the feel of the tune type. For a jig, a down on 1 and 4 with lighter strokes between; for a reel, steady downstrokes on each eighth note, or down on 1 and 3 with upstrokes on the offbeats. Leave a little space (don't strum every note). See [[AI Wiki - Music - Strumming Patterns]]. - **Backing styles**: bass-note-and-chord ("boom-chick") for polkas, and arpeggios for slower airs. Compare [[AI Wiki - Music - Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar]] for the American cousin. - **Voicings**: root and fifth with a bass line walking between chords, open strings ringing as drones, partial chords on the top strings. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Partial Chords and Movable Shapes]] and [[AI Wiki - Music - Suspended and Added-Tone Chords]]. - **Tunings**: standard works, but **drop D** (low string down a tone to D) gives you a low drone and an easy D and G, and **DADGAD** (D A D G A D, low to high; the 1st, 2nd and 6th strings lowered a whole tone) suits the music best. Its open strings form a Dsus4 chord (neither major nor minor), so the tuning gives drones that approximate the voicings of Scottish and Irish pipe music. Davey Graham popularised it (after hearing an oud player in Morocco), and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Dáithí Sproule were reportedly the first Irish guitarists to use it in traditional music. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Alternate Tunings]]. The two feels as `strum` blocks, over the session chord patterns above. The reel takes a down on each beat and an up on each "&", with the accents on 1 and 3. The jig takes the down-down-up of each three-note group, with the accents on 1 and 4. Both are slow, for practice: sessions play reels and jigs much faster. Raise the tempo in the playback bar. ```strum [Em]D> U D U D> U D U | [D]D> U D U D> U D U | [Em]D> U D U D> U D U | [D]D> U D U D> U D U | [Em]D> U D U D> U D U | [G]D> U D U D> U D U | [D]D> U D U D> U D U | [Em]D> U D U D> U D U tempo: 90 title: Reel backing in E Dorian (practice tempo) ``` ```strum [D]D> D U D> D U | [C]D> D U D> D U | [G]D> D U D> D U | [D]D> D U D> D U time: 6/8 title: Jig backing in D Mixolydian (practice tempo) ``` ```chord symbol: Dsus4 frets: 000000 tuning: DADGAD title: Dsus4 (DADGAD, all open) --- symbol: D5 frets: 0-0-0-2-0-0 tuning: DADGAD title: D5 (open fifth, fret the G string at 2) --- symbol: Gsus4 frets: 5-5-5-5-5-5 tuning: DADGAD title: Gsus4 (barre at the 5th fret) ``` In DADGAD, the shapes are movable and the open strings ring on, so you hold a chord and let the melody, played on a few strings, walk through it. Keep the top two strings open for a drone and move a bass note below. A basic 6/8 pattern in D, in drop D or DADGAD (the three low strings are D, A, D in both). Strum D d u D d u, with the accents on 1 and 4: ```tab \title ("6/8 in D: the low D on 1 and 4") \tuning (E4 B3 G3 D3 A2 D2) \ts (6 8) \tempo 90 :8 (0.4 0.5 0.6) (0.4 0.5) (0.4 0.5) (0.4 0.5 0.6) (0.4 0.5) (0.4 0.5) | (0.4 0.5 0.6) (0.4 0.5) (0.4 0.5) (0.4 0.5 0.6) (0.4 0.5) (0.4 0.5) ``` Every note is an open string. The low D is the bass note on 1 and 4, and the D and A strings fill each 8th. The tempo, 90 quarters a minute, is 60 dotted quarters: a slow practice jig. ## Piano and keyboard accompaniment The piano is a minor instrument in sessions, but in dance bands and in Scottish music it is common, along with the accordion. - **Left hand**: root and fifth on beat 1 and 3 (reels, polkas) or on beats 1 and 4 (jigs), sometimes octaves, and a little walking bass between chords. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]]. - **Right hand**: short chords on the offbeats (chops), or a doubled melody in octaves. Keep the chords open (root, fifth, octave) so they do not pin down major or minor too early. See [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Voicings]]. - **Modal feel**: stay on the tonic drone and let the right hand add the colour note (the C♮ of D Mixolydian, the C♯ of E Dorian). - **Hands**: the hands must stay independent (see [[AI Wiki - Music - Hand Independence]]). ## Ornamentation Ornaments do the work that volume changes do in other styles. A fiddler or whistle player varies the tune by decorating the notes, and because the same tune is played many times, ornaments make it sound alive. - **Cut**: a very short higher note that interrupts a long note and separates it from a repeated one. On the whistle it is a quick flick of a finger. - **Tap (strike)**: the same idea from below, a short lower note. - **Roll**: a main note surrounded by notes above and below (cut – note – tap – note), played inside the time of one long note (a dotted quarter note in a jig). - **Cran**: a rapid figure around the low D on the uilleann pipes, the "gurgling D". - **Triplets and trebles**: three notes in the time of two eighths (even in a triplet; uneven in a treble). On the guitar you cannot play these exactly, but you can imitate them with **hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides** when playing the melody (see [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Lead Techniques]]), and you can use them to understand where the beats sit when accompanying (the roll lands on the beat). ## Session etiquette A session (*seisiún*) is a gathering where people play tunes together, usually in a pub, without a stage, and often without dancing. Rules differ from place to place, so listen first, and then: - Do not join in if you do not know the tune. Wait for one you know. - Follow whoever starts a set. If you start one, have a second tune ready, and keep to the same tune type and a compatible key. - Do not improvise over the tune; the point is to play it together. Clap only at the end of a set. - Play in tune and in time with everybody else, and start playing quietly until you know the tune. - **Accompanists** (guitar, bouzouki, bodhrán): usually only one or two at a time, since different chord choices or rhythms clash. Play quietly enough to hear the melody players, and play only the chords you are sure of. If you do not know the chords, you can play very simple ones, or not play. Ask first. - Sheet music is not welcome in many sessions. Tunes are learned by ear. ## Songs and tunes to study - **"The Kesh" (jig), "Morrison's Jig", "Drowsy Maggie" (reel), "Cooley's" (reel), "The Butterfly" (slip jig), "Harvest Home" (hornpipe)**: standard session tunes of each type. I could not verify keys for all of them, so check them in a tune book. - **The Chieftains**: instrumental tunes with harp, pipes and fiddle. - **Planxty and the Bothy Band**: 1970s bands that set the sound of guitar and bouzouki accompaniment. Both included DADGAD or drop D guitar. - **Clannad, Altan, Capercaillie, Runrig**: Gaelic songs with strong guitar and keyboards. - **Fairport Convention**: folk-rock built on British and Irish tunes. - **Pierre Bensusan**: DADGAD fingerstyle (his books *The Guitar Book*, 1985, and *DADGAD Music*, 1996). - **Scottish march "Scotland the Brave"** and **Highland bagpipe music**: Mixolydian-sounding tunes. ## How to practise 1. Tap the reel, jig and slip jig grids above while you count them out loud. 2. Learn one tune of each kind by ear from a slowed-down recording (see [[AI Wiki - Music - Transcription and Playing by Ear]]). Start with the A part. 3. Find the key and mode of each tune: is the 6th major or minor? Is the 7th major or flat? 4. Play E Dorian chords (Em – D) and D Mixolydian chords (D – C – G) in a 6/8 and a 4/4 pattern. 5. Tune to DADGAD and play a drone accompaniment. Compare it with the same tune in standard tuning. 6. Play along with a recording of a set, using only root-and-fifth chords, then add a bass line. 7. When you feel ready, go to a slow session, sit down, listen to two sets, then join in on a tune you know with the volume low. ## Key Points - Celtic music in practice means Irish and Scottish traditional music: instrumental dance tunes, played by ear in sessions. - Tune types: reel (4/4), jig (6/8), slip jig (9/8), hornpipe (swung 4/4), polka (2/4), slide (12/8), waltz and mazurka (3/4), strathspey and pibroch (Scotland). - Forms: AABB, repeated, played in sets of 2 or 3 tunes of one type. - Modes: Mixolydian and Dorian most of all; harmony is sparse and often root-and-fifth. - Guitar: DADGAD and drop D, drone-like accompaniment that follows the tune. Piano: root-and-fifth left hand, offbeat chords. - Ornaments (cuts, taps, rolls, crans) give variation; session etiquette is mostly about listening. ## Open Questions - Which chord choices do experienced session guitarists make on common tunes (e.g., "Cooley's", "The Kesh")? An annotated transcription is needed. - Which exact DADGAD shapes (including minor and major thirds) are standard for Em, D, G and A in sessions? The shapes above are only a start. - What are the usual keys for the tunes listed above? Not verified for this article. - Is there a reliable method for teaching hornpipe swing? See [[AI Wiki - Music - Swing and Shuffle Feel]]. ## References - Wikipedia, "Irish traditional music": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_traditional_music - Wikipedia, "Celtic music": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_music - Wikipedia, "DADGAD": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DADGAD - Wikipedia, "Irish traditional music session": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_traditional_music_session ## Related - [[AI Wiki - Music - Folk Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Alternate Tunings]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Modes]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Modal Harmony]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Strumming Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythm and Time Signatures]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Swing and Shuffle Feel]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Partial Chords and Movable Shapes]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Suspended and Added-Tone Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Voicings]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Hand Independence]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Lead Techniques]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Transcription and Playing by Ear]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Playing with Others and Jamming]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Flamenco]]