Easy tunes (mostly) for you to learn
and enjoy playing along to during these tricky times.

In 'normal' times I teach mandolin, bouzouki and guitar. Obviously, that's not possibly right now. However, when I do have classes and students I often prepare new music for them so I decided to keep producing resources to encourage them to stay interested in their mandolin playing.

  • FREE traditional music resources designed for the budding mandolin player.

  • Learn to play with other musicians - prepare your mandolin pals for a session once this virus is dealt with.

  • Think of these resources as kits for small string groups and classes.

  • Guitarists and bouzouki-ists might also learn a few tricks.

  • A selection of audio files will help you learn the tunes

  • A PDF document/book that you can print out or view on your computer or device. These resources are laid out for the convenience of solo players, tablature readers and especially for small groups who may want the tunes and parts presented in different forms. YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO PRINT OUT THE LOT - just pick the pages that are useful to you, or better still just view them on a screen and save a few twigs.

Go to the About page for more details.

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TUNE OF THE WEEK

It looks like lots people have downloaded these Aird's tunes. If you've had a go at them see if you can post them somewhere in the cloud (Google Drive/Dropbox etc) so I can hear your work, especially if you've tried them using the parts and/or accompaniment.
01/05/2021
A lively and elegant tune this week. Please enjoy my old friend K playing the spoons. How he dances when he plays them!
  • The Irish Mandolin Tune Book
Aidan Crossey has just published 'The Irish Mandolin Tunebook' which is a great resource for the budding trad player. Indeed, the whole site is vital for anyone interested in the mandolin in Irish music. LINK HERE
  • The Wolf's March
Someone asked me about the track below. I played it on a south american instrument, the cuatro. The 'tune', a reel, makes a brief appearance and refers to an Irish tune (I can't remember the name). The rest is a 'jam'. Remember that, jamming? This isn't something that happens much in our tradition but some people are dabbling in it.
Wolfs march.mp3

  • The Lockdown Polkas.
    This is the four polkas I posted recently. If they are too fast just use Windows Media Player to slow them down It's easy to do and there's no change of pitch.
Lockdown Polkas.mp3
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5. Kifs me BIGGER MIX.mp3