This tune has been widely played in both Scotland and Ireland since at least the middle of the 19th century. It is named after Tom Payne’s 1791 book of the same title, which refuted Edmund Burke’s Reflections On The Revolution In France and supported the cause of the French revolutionaries in light of the government’s failure to protect their human rights.
Basic chords
The tune is in E aeolian. This means that the complete list of available chords is:
Em, F#m, G, Am, Bm, C, D,
I have broken this tune down primarily into chords I, IV and VII. This is effectively the same thing as breaking the tune down into I, IV and V. Chord VII (D) is the related major of chord V (Bm) which means that the two can be used interchangeably- I have mainly used chord VII as I like its brighter feel and find it easier to play at speed. The only time I have used chord V (Bm) is to make a clear marker for the ends of the sections.
Substitutions
In this version I have used chord VII (D) in the second bar. This is because this bar contains an F# note on its fourth beat, which is a chord V family indicator. This means that chord V or its related major chord VII can sound nice over this bar. As I went for chord VII I have used chord V at the end of the fourth bar for contrast.
The C major in the third bar is a substitute for E minor (chord III substituting for chord I) as you can always replace a minor chord with the major which is two above it in the scale (its related major) or the one which is two below it. The fourth bar has changed from D to Am-D. This is because if you have a long block of any chord you can always make it more interesting by working your way round the circle of fifths (using only chords from within the key) to FINISH UP on that chord. In this instance I have resolved from A to D instead of just playing D. As I am in the key of E aeolian, the A chord has to be A minor.
In the B part I have substituted a C for the E minor chords in the second half of the A part. It is common to replace a minor chord with the major chord two notes below it for contrast, as this chord contains two of the same notes. In this instance C is two notes behind E so C major is a good substitute for E minor.
Jazzy substitutions
These are a fairly standard set of jazzy substitutions. As you can see I have more or less maintained the progression from the simpler substitutions, just adding the “right kind” of seventh note to each of my chords to give each one a jazzier flavour. As we are in E aeolian, our complete list of available tetrads (chords with sevenths) would be the same as in G major, aka G major 7, A minor 7, B minor 7, C major 7, D dominant 7 (often just called “D7”), E minor 7 and F# ½ diminished. If you wish to understand exactly why these are the available chords you can find a complete guide to the music theory involved in my book Backing Guitar Techniques For Traditional Celtic Music.
They can be played with the following “standard” jazzy barre chord shapes:
This tune is written in the mode of B aeolian. This means the available chords are the same ones which would be available in D ionian, aka D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor and C# diminished. The tune actually uses the melodic minor scale, where the seventh note in a minor scale is sharpened by a semitone. In the case of this tune it means that instead of the usual notes of a B aeolian scale, B C# D E F# G A, the seventh sometimes switches to A#. When this happens you have to accompany it with chord V converted into a major chord. The major 7th note is an unstable tone and really wants to resolve to the root note when included in the melody. That is why it has to be accompanied with chord V, which also wants to resolve to chord I. Furthermore, the notes in chord V are the 5th, 7th and 9th or 2nd notes from the scale, so if the 7th has been raised by a semitone, that means the middle of the three notes in the V chord (F#m) has to be raised by a semitone to match. That is why the V chord converts to F# major. The use of the melodic minor in this way is not at all common in Celtic music.
The tune’s second bar contains the notes “C# F# F# F#”. In relation to the key centre of Bm, these are “2 5 5 5”. Therefore this bar is firmly a chord V section. I have used chord V’s related major chord, chord VII, for ease of playability.
The F# chord in the fourth bar could have been either minor (as in the aeolian mode) or major (to match with the A# taken from the melodic minor scale) as there is neither an A nor an A# in the bar. I have plumped for the major V chord for consistency, but you can experiment with both.
The B part of the tune begins with the notes “D E D D C# B” so sounds pretty clearly like it needs a D chord. The second bar goes “C# A A A – -” making it very definitely an A bar. In bar four of the B part there is an A#, so chord V has to be major to match. Likewise in bar seven.
Substitutions
In the A part of the tune I have added a G chord as a substitute for Bm. This works because any minor chord can be switched to the major chord which is either two above it (its related major) or two below it in the key scale. That means that Bm can be replaced with either D or G, because both of these chords have two notes in common with it. G works particularly well here as it creates a nice run down the scale- Bm A G F#.
The second time through the B part I have substituted an Em for a Bm. This works because you can always play chord IV (or a substitute thereof) over a chord I section, but not chord I over a chord IV section. Straight after the E minor I have used F# minor instead of F# major, because the chord is not going to resolve down a fifth to chord I. Playing F# major would make the listener want to hear chord I next (because of the major 7th note of a B melodic minor scale being included- the major seventh is unstable and wants to resolve up a semitone to the root note) and so as the following chord is not Bm but G, F# minor has to be played instead.
Jazzy substitutions
You might be put off this chord selection by all those numbers! Don’t panic though, they’re actually a very simple set of chords which are very easy to change between (see the diagrams down below which I have written in descending scale order). Lots of further uses for the same slide-able shapes can also be found in my first book, Backing Guitar Techniques for traditional Celtic music. The idea is that every chord in the A part can be fingered with the index finger on the bottom E string, the middle finger on the D string and the ring finger on the G string. By sliding this fingering around the neck and moving the middle and/or ring fingers a fret higher in relation to the root note (always under the index finger) you can quickly and easily switch between all those beautiful, jazzy chords with lots of numbers in!
The basic principles behind this selection of chords are as follows:
You can replace the chords in any mode with a combination of major 7s, minor 7s and dominant 7 chords. In the ionian mode, chords I and IV have to become major 7 chords, chords II and VI have to become minor 7 chords and chord V has to become a dominant 7 chord (which contains a flattened seventh note relative the the root note’s scale, eg a D7 chord contains C♮ not C#.
As this tune is written in the mode of B aeolian (with occasional accidentals) the jazzy tetrads (seven chords) available are the same ones which would be available in D ionian, because B is the sixth mode and the sixth note of a D major scale is B. This means that the A chord has to be a dominant 7 chord, NOT a major 7.
In jazz chord land, adding ANY note from within the key scale to ANY of your chords is theoretically fine (in context some might sound better than others).
Any chord which resolves down a fifth can be replaced with an altered dominant, which contains accidental notes NOT from the key scale. This is what makes the F#7#5 chord (an F#7 chord with the #5 relative the F# added, aka Cx which means C double sharp, alternatively just known as D) work in bar 7 – it resolves down a fifth to Bm7.
The Kesh is written in the key of G ionian, so the available chords are G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor and F# diminished.
The second bar goes “A – – A B D”, so it could be seen as a chord V bar. In order to avoid having chord V right near the start of the tune I have played A minor (chord II) instead. This works pretty well as most of the bar is full of A notes!
The third bar could take either C or G. I’ve gone for G for contrast and because this makes a more satisfying chord progression.
As in almost all folk music, the fourth bar takes chord V. On the repeat it resolves back to chord I for the second half of the bar, in order to make the section sound finished.
The seventh bar of the B part is really a chord I section- its notes are “G – – A – -” (either a whole bar of G or half a bar of G and then half a bar of D). However, replacing chord I (G) with chord IV (C) in this section creates extra tension which is then diffused byt eh resolution from chord V (D) to chord I (G) at the end of the section.
Substitutions
In bar three I have replaced G major with its related minor, E minor. In the fourth bar I have played chord V in its first inversion. This means that of the three notes normally in a D major chord, D, F# and A, the middle of the three, F# has been played at the lowest pitch within the chord instead of the root note D which would normally be the lowest note in a D chord. The reason I have done this is that it sets up a nice walking bassline from the E at the bottom of the E minor chord, via the F# at the bottom of D/F# (aka D in the first inversion) to G at the root of the G chord.
In the B part I have replaced G with its related minor, E minor and C with its related minor, A minor.
Jazzy substitutions
In this version I have taken the progression from the previous section and converted each of the chords into “the right kind of seven chord”. These are the “tetrads”, or four note “jazz” chords, where as well as the 1st, 3rd and 5th which make up the notes of a regular triad (three note chord) you also add the 7th note from the root note’s scale. You can discover the theory behind these in my first book Backing Guitar Techniques for Traditional Celtic Music.
For any major key the list of tetrads available is:
Chord I – major 7 –
Chord II – minor 7
Chord III – minor 7
Chord IV – major 7
Chord V – dominant 7
Chord VI – Minor 7
Chord VII – ½ diminished (rarely used in folk music)
So for our tune in G major, the options are G major 7, A minor 7, B minor 7, C major 7, D (dominant) 7, E minor 7 and F# ½ diminished. These simply replace the equivalent triad from the old progression, so D becomes D7 (note that it must be D7 NOT D major 7 because it is chord V), G becomes G major 7 and so on.
You can also add any chord extensions (extra notes) to a jazz chord, so long as the notes you add are from the key you are currently playing in. For example instead of playing D7 for my chord V I have used D9. This works fine because the 9th note in the D chord is an E, and E appears in the scale of G major so adding it sounds fine.
In bar four of the B part I have broken up a chord I bar by playing half a bar of G then half a bar of its first inversion, a G chord with B at the lowest pitch in the chord. This creates a nice little bassline to lead up into the C chord in the next bar. The same principle applies to the momentary shift from C back to G/B in the next bar- it creates movement in the bassline.
In bar 7 of the B part, I have used a nifty trick to create a chromatic link from a C chord to a D. Instead of just playing C major 7 followed by D7, I insert a C#½ diminished chord as a passing chord. You can use this to create a chromatic link between ANY two chords whose roots are separated by a semitone. For example, within the key of G, you could link G – Am (G – G#dim – Am), Am – Bm (Am – A#dim – Bm), D – Em (D – D#dim. – Em) etc etc. It also works in any mode, for any two chords whose roots are a tone apart.
This tune is in the key of E dorian. That means the available chords are E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor, C# diminished and D major. These are the same options which would fit a tune in D major, as dorian is the second mode and E is the second note of a D major scale. You can find out more about how this works using the Amazing Mode Wheel or in my first book, Backing Guitar Techniques for Traditional Celtic Music.
Throughout the simple chords, I have used chord VII instead of chord V. chord V in the key of E minor is B minor, which is hard to play, and in any mode other than ionian you can always replace chord V with its related major chord. In this case, Bm’s related major is D which sounds brighter and is easier to play.
Bar three of the tune sounds very much like it needs chord VII- the notes are “F# D A D B D A G”. The majority of notes in this bar are D, F# and A, the notes of a D major chord (chord VII).
The tune has no clear chord IV sections in either the A or B parts, so I have used the same basic chords for both.
Substitutions
In this version I have substituted the E minor in bar two to its related major (G) for variation.
Likewise I have added the B minor (chord V) back into bar IV.
For contrast in the second line of the A part I have removed the brighter D major chord and just used B minor for a bar and a half instead. This is partly because I like the sound of it and partly because changing to Bm for just half a bar would be very difficult at speed!
In the B part I have added a D major (chord VII) in the second half of the first bar. This works well because the section contains an F# note, which is normally an indicator of chord V or VII (chord VII is D major which contains D, F# and A).
In the second half of the second bar of the B part I have added a G major chord, the related major of E minor, because the bar begins on a high G note.
In the third bar I have inverted my D major chord (by adding my thumb on the second fret of the bottom string). This is because on a guitar both Em and G have nice low bass notes on the bottom string. D on the other hand has the D string as its lowest note and consequently sounds weedy in comparison. For this reason putting the F# on the bottom string in the bass gives a fuller sounding chord and creates a nice conjunct bassline between the three, Em – G – F# . Generally speaking it is nice to try and keep the bass notes of your chord progressions as conjunct as possible- avoiding any big jumps makes your chords sound a lot more fluid, deliberate and musical.
Jazzy substitutions
When you want to add four note chords or tetrads to any tune’s accompaniment, you need to know which major key would contain the same chords as your key mode. We are in E dorian, which contains the same list of available chords as D major. For tetrads in a major key, chords I and IV become major 7 chords, chords II, III and VI become minor 7 chords and chord V becomes a (dominant) 7 chord. That means that the list of tetrads available in D major would be:
D major 7
E minor 7
F# minor 7
G major 7
A7
B minor 7
C# ½ diminished (rarely used in folk music- we’ll replace it with chord V in the first inversion, aka A/C#).
Adding any notes from the key scale on top of the base chord will just give you a jazzier sounding version of the same chord, for example in place of G major 7 you could play G major 9, G major 11 or G major 13.
As we are in E dorian, our chord I is E minor 7, chord IV is A (dominant) 7 and chord V is B minor 7. In any mode other than ionian chord VII also becomes dominant, so our D chord would be D (dominant) 7 instead of D major 7. Chord VII is related to chord V, meaning that the two can be used interchangeably.
In the A part I have switched to high barre chords. I particularly like to use the E minor 7 barre chord on the seventh fret when playing in E dorian or aeolian, as this has a nice tinkly feel but with the low E string left in for a good solid bass note.
G add 6 is just a C major shape slid way up the neck.
D add 9 is an easier version of a D barre chord which can be played with just two fingers- useful at speed! Flatten the ring finger to fret the D, G, B and top E strings.
Using a 9 chord as chord IV in the dorian mode gives it a really nice jazzy twist- to me a IV9 chord sounds almost flirtatious!
In the B part I have used some different variants on the chord shapes, though the theory is exactly the same. If you don’t want to learn any more shapes you can use the old versions- I just find these ones easier to change between in this context.
In bar five of the B part, I replace a chord I sounding section with chord IV. You can always do this, in any key. I then follow it up with a C major chord. This is “borrowed” from the mode of E aeolian. Only one note differentiates the dorian and aeolian modes- in dorian the sixth note is how it would be in a major scale with the same root note (in the case of E dorian it would be C# as in an E major scale) and in aeolian the sixth note is flattened, giving the mode its darker feel. As the sixth note of the scale is rarely used in Irish melodies in minor keys, you can often get away with “borrowing” chords from the other minor mode. C major makes a good substitute for E minor, because they contain two notes in common- C contains C, E and G and E minor contains E, G and B. As this bar contains neither a C nor a C# in the melody, you can get away with this substitution which provides a darker sounding progression than the C# diminished chord from the dorian mode would have done.
This tune is in the key of D dorian. Therefore the available chords are D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, B diminished and C major.
In the A part there are no sections which sound strongly like they need anything other than chord I. Consequently the whole part can be backed with chord I, with chord V in bars four and eight, resolving to chord I to mark the end of the section.
In the B part, the second bar contains the notes “C – G C E C G C”. As this is clearly outlining a C chord (chord VII), I have put one in.
Although it is customary to play chord V throughout the fourth bar in an Irish tune, this particular one sounds better with chord I for the second half of the bar. This is because the notes are “C B C D E D D -”. You can hear that the second half of the bar is very clearly finishing on a strong D, therefore I like to put a D minor chord here to match.
Basic substitutions
In this version to break up the huge chunk of D minor I have replaced the second bar with chord VII. In a chord I section you can more or less play whatever you want, and I like chord VII here as the second half of the bar contains a C note on a dominant beat, so sounds quite chord VII-y .
In bar seven I create a link from C down to A minor by using G/B, a G chord in the first inversion. This is a very common trick to link any chord to its related minor- play the first inversion of the chord below the related minor chord to create a nice descending bassline. For example, you could play D – A/C# – Bm or G – D/F# – Em. In this particular context G/B works well because it’s in a chord I section and you can always play chord IV (G) in a chord I section, so an inversion of said chord is also perfectly fine.
In bar three of the B part I have replaced chord I with chord IV. You can always replace chord I with chord IV in a chord I section.
I have re-used my link from C down to its related minor A minor as in the A part.
Jazzy substitutions
In this version I have replaced all chords with tetrads. The tetrads available in D dorian are the same as that in C ionian, except that now we begin on D minor7. The complete list is: D minor 7, E minor 7, F major 7, G (dominant) 7, A minor 7, B ½ diminished (we will avoid the diminished chord by playing the first inversion of chord V, aka G/B).
In bars three and seven, I have used B♭ major 7 as a substitute for D minor. This chord is borrowed from the mode of D aeolian. The dorian and aeolian modes are only differentiated from one another by the sixth note of the scale (which is flattened by a semitone in the aeolian mode) and Irish tunes in minor keys rarely feature the sixth note in their melodies. This means that if we wish to, we can “borrow” chords from the aeolian mode. B♭ major seven contains the notes B♭, D, F and A. The upper three notes form a D minor triad, so so long as the section in question doesn’t have a B♮ in the melody this will make a good dark substitute for a D minor chord.
In the B part I have used the standard trick of linking a minor chord to its related major using the first inversion of the chord whose root is one below the starting chord. In this case I am linking D minor up to F major, so I use C major (chord VII) in its first inversion, aka C/E.
You will notice that in bar four I have committed the ultimate folky sacriledge and missed out the chord V bar! You can sometimes get away with playing chord IV instead of chord V in the dorian mode- it can give a cool optimistic ending to a phrase of a tune. Just bear in mind that you HAVE to go V-I at the end of a section to make the section sound finished. In other words it is sometimes OK to play chord IV in the 4th, 12th, 20th or 28th bar of a tune in a dorian key, but not in the 8th, 16th, 24th or 32nd.
In the fifth bar I have borrowed B♭ major 7 from the aeolian mode again, which is fine as there is no B or B♭ note in the melody anywhere in this bar. I have followed this chord with Am7, even though it is not a chord V section, because it provides a nice conjunct set of chords dancing around the chord V and coming to rest on it in order to resolve back to chord I (the root notes being B♭ – A – G – A – D).
This tune is in the key of D ionian. Therefore the available chords are D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor and C# diminished.
If you listen to the tune my choices should be relatively self-explanatory. Notice that each section ends with a resolution from A D, aka chord V to chord I.
Basic substitutions
I have substituted the G in the second line for its related minor, Em. I have also substituted the D in the second half of the third line for its related minor, Bm and the G in the final line for Em.
In the second line of the B part I have replaced one D chord with a D in the first inversion (D/F#). This chord still contains the notes of a D major triad, D, F# and A, but has them piled up with the F# at the lowest pitch within the chord. This means that functionally it is exactly the same as a normal D major chord, but it’s altered bass note creates a nice bassline which adds a sense of movement to the progression, jumping from D to F# before dropping back down for the E at the bottom of the E minor chord which follows it. In the third line I have used a similar trick to link a G chord to it’s related minor E minor, passing through D/F# in order to make a nice descending bassline, G, F#, E.
Jazzy substitutions
Because of the excessive speed at which polkas roll along, I have kept my chord choices relatively simple for this one! If you’re feeling jazzy, you can replace any chord with the “right kind” of seven chord, by which I mean that in the ionian mode chords I and IV can become major 7 chords, chords II, III and VI become minor 7 chords and chord V becomes a dominant 7 chord (usually just referred to as a 7 chord). This is why my Em7, A7 (this is chord V so it has to be “A7” NOT “A major 7”) and Bm7 all work well.
In the B part I have added a C natural (♮) chord- this is decidedly cheeky. What I have actually done there is to borrow a chord from the mixolydian mode, which is only separated from the ionian mode by one note. If this tune were written in D mixolydian, its scale would contain a C♮ instead of C#, and therefore its VII chord would be C major instead of C# diminished. As the 7th note of the scale, C#, is not in the melody in this bar I can borrow the cheeky flattened VII chord from D mixolydian. So long as there is no C# in the tune it won’t clash but will just lend the tune a blues-y character for a moment instead!
Changing the third line from “D D G G” to “Bm7 A7 G D/F#” works because Bm is related to D (and therefore so is Bm7), A7 is a passing chord which creates a nice step-wise descent to G and then D/F# is chord I (D) but with a bass note which continues the little descending bass run, which then culminates in E minor in the final line.
This tune is in the key of E aeolian. This means that the chords available are E minor, F# diminished, G major, A minor, B minor, C major and D major. Because aeolian is the sixth mode, these are the same chords which would be available in G ionian (major). The main chords will be I, IV and V relative to E minor, aka E minor, A minor and B minor.
As the tune is in 9/8, each bear contains three blocks of three notes. You can pick one chord for each of the three blocks if you wish. When finding the chord I, chord IV and chord IV sections, bear in mind that a section may only last a third of a bar. The tune also has three parts rather than the more usual two. Some people would call this a “48 bar slip jig” (16 in the A part, 16 in the B part and 16 in the C part).
In the A part of the tune, the last block of three quavers in bar one contains one long F# note. For that reason this section could be seen as a chord V section, because of chord I, IV and V, only chord V contains an F#. For ease of playability I have used chord V’s related major. Every minor chord has a related major chord, which is two above it in the key scale, and these two can always be used interchangeably.In this case B is the fifth note in the scale of E aeolian, and two notes above it is D, so D major can always replace B minor.
The last three quaver block of bar two contains the notes “F# E D”. The notes of a D major chord are D, F# and A so this section is firmly a chord VII/ chord V (recall that these two are interchangeable) section.
In bar 4 I could have continued to play E minor, but I have replaced chord I with chord IV, A minor. This works because you can play chord IV in place of any chord I section.
In the B part there are no sections which sound particularly like they need a chord IV or V. In slip jigs, because each bar contains three block of three quavers, and hence three foot taps, the usual rule about playing chord V on every seventh foot tap (whch applies in all other time signatures) becomes “Play chord V at least on every sixth foot tap, potentially for the whole fourth bar”. It’s not as snappy a rule, but it does the job! In this case, bar two contains the notes “A B B B A B D B A”. Only the third of these three blocks sounds like a chord V section to me, so I have played chord VII, chord V’d related major (Bm, chord V, would also have been fine, but it’s harder to play at speed).
In bar four however we find the notes “B – D G – E D B A”. This is much more clearly a chord V section as chord V, Bm, contains the notes B, D and F# and most of the notes in this section are either B or D.
In the C part we find a different melody but with a similar harmonic structure to part A.
Basic substitutions
In this version’s A part I have used D and Bm interchangeably. You can always swap chord V to its related major in any mode other than ionian.
In bar four I have replaced an E minor (chord I) with C (chord VI). This works because as well as its related major, whose root is two above its own in the root scale, a minor chord can also be replaced with the major chord whose root is two BELOW it in the root scale. This works because a C chord contains C, E and G and an E minor chord contains E, G and B- the two common notes make these two chords a valid substitution pair.
In a slightly more unconventional move I have begun the B part on C instead of E minor. I usually say you should start sections on their key chord (unless the melody clearly dictates otherwise) so that the listener has a firm idea of what key they are in. However, when playing in minor keys it is often nice to build tension by beginning a part on the chord whose root note is two below chord I’s in the key scale. In this case I deliberately avoid playing chord I anywhere in the section, always substituting it to C. This creates tension which then adds energy when chord I kicks back in in part C.
In the C part I have again replaced Em with G. I have also ended the section on chord IV. This can be a nice way to end an Irish tune- finish on chord IV instead of chord I! If you are in any mode other than ionian this will add a kind of lift to the end (try it in dorian and mixolydian too). If you are in ionian on the other hand it will leave the listener with a kind of wistful “grass might be greener on the other side” flavour.
Jazzy substitutions
In this version I have replaced each of the available chords in the key with the “right kind of tetrad”. In the simpler versions I used the more common three note chords called triads. These contain just a root, 3rd and 5th. A tetrad is a four note “jazz” chord which contains a 7th as well.
E aeolian is related to G ionian. Therefore the tetrads available are the same in both modes, aka:
G major 7
A minor 7
B minor 7
C major 7
D7
E minor 7
F# ½ diminished (rarely used in folk music- we’ll replace it with chord V in the first inversion, aka D/F#)
So for our tune in E aeolian, the options are E minor 7, D/F#, G major 7, A minor 7, B minor 7, C major 7 and D (dominant) 7. These simply replace the equivalent triad from the old progression, so D becomes D7, G becomes G major 7 and so on. Bm11 is a B minor 7 chord with the 11th (4th) note from a B natural minor (aeolian) scale added to it. This works fine in the key of A aeolian because Bm’s 11th is E, which of course is a note from the E aeolian scale. Adding any note from the key scale to a chord will just give you a jazzier sounding version of the same chord, and Bm11 is much easier to play than Bm7! The same goes for C major 13.
In bar four of the B part I have used a chromatic link from C maj 13 up to D7. Any time you have two chords in a progression whose roots are separated by a tone, you can create an ascending chromatic link between them by using a diminished or ½ diminished chord whose root note is on the semitone between the two original chords. In this case my progression goes Cmaj13 – C#1/2dim. – D7.
In the C part I have used a slightly unusual technique to create a “shimmery” sounding version on the part’s repeat. I replace chord I (Em7 in tetrad land) with chord IV from E dorian instead of E aeolian, aka A7. In this case I have left the top two open strings in the chord, to give me A9. This works well because the top two strings are B and E, the 5th and root of my key scale and adding any notes from the key scale to a jazzy chord will just give you an even jazzier version of the same chord. If you are playing a tune in the aeolian mode, you can often borrow chords from the dorian mode in order to give a moment of optimism to the tune. This works because Irish tunes in minor keys very rarely contain the sixth note of the scale, and it is this note which differentiates the dorian mode from the aeolian. In this case E aeolian should contain A minor 7 as its fourth chord, but I have used chord IV from E dorian, A7, instead! In dorian or aeolian you can always experiment with replacing chord I with chord IV from the other minor mode in order to create tension. If you are in the aeolian mode then dorian’s chord IV will sound bright and shimmery. If you are in the dorian mode then the aeolian chord IV will sound dark and regretful.
This tune is in the key of D ionian. That means that the available chords are D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor and C# diminished.
The third bar of the A part contains the notes “F# B B A B C# D B”. This sounds like a chord IV section to me, as G major contains G, B and D and two of the dominant beats in this bar are on B notes, which do not appear in chord I (D, F# A).
In the B part I have used an E minor (chord II) in the third bar. This is because the bar is basically running up the D major scale beginning from E, which is the same thing as saying “running up the scale of E dorian”. Of course an E minor chord fits nicely with an E minor scale!
Basic substitutions
In this version I have used D/F#, aka the first inversion of D major, to provide a nice linking bassline from D up to G. You can play this chord by looping your thumb round the back of the neck so that it frets the second fret of the bottom E string.
In bar three, instead of going directly to chord V, A major, I have resolved to it from the chord which is a fifth above it within the key scale. You can always do this- if you have a whole bar or more of a given chord you can play the chord whose root is a fifth above it before the original chord. I have also replaced half of bar seven, which previously just contained G major, with its related minor E minor. A major chord’s related minor is always the one whose root note is two below its own in the key scale (in this case G – F# – E minor).
In the B part I have replaced G with its related minor, Em and D with its related minor, Bm. It is always acceptable to switch chords I and IV in any key to their related minors for variation. I have also used the first inversion of chord I, D/F#, in several places. This chord sounds like it wants to move up to G, so it can be a good way to add a sense of movement to your chord progressions.
Jazzy substitutions
In this version’s A part, I have used D in the first inversion, or D/F#, as a linking chord to create a sense of movement between chords I and IV (D and G). The G major in the second bar works because you can always replace a chord I section with chord IV if you wish to.
In bar three I have replaced G major with its related minor, E minor. The related minor of any major chord can be found by going two steps down in the key scale from any major chord- in this case G – F# – E (minor). I proceed up the chord scale from Em – D/F# (a substitute for the F# diminished chord) – G – A, in order to arrive at chord V for the second half of the chord V section in the fourth bar. Remember that bars 4, 8, 12, 16 etc (multiples of four) all take chord V!
In bar 5 I have used both of the minor substitutions available for a D major chord- B minor and F# minor. B minor is the related minor of D major, and F# minor is the chord whose root note is two above D in the key scale. You can always substitute a chord for either the chord whose root note is two below it in the key scale, or the chord whose root note is two above it in the key scale. Both of these chords will have two notes in common with the original chord and so both will make good substitutes.
In bars seven and eight I have missed out the D/F# from my ascending chord run. This is because I have to get back to A in time to go from V – I at the end of the section. If I played the full ascending progression from the end of the first line, I would end the B part on chord V (A) instead of going from V back to I (D) to make it sound finished.
In place of A major I have used A7 as my chord V. You can always replace chord V in a major key with a dominant 7 chord, or any other dominant chord like a 9 or 13.
In the B part, just to show that it CAN be done, I thought I’d stick an actual chord VII in. I have used the tetrad (four note chord) form, C# ½ diminished in bar two. This chord contains the notes C#, E and G. An E minor chord would work well in this section, and this chord contains two of the same notes so it’s theoretically an acceptable option. You will probably find in practice that it doesn’t sound that great though- you could replace it with G, Em, D, Bm or loads of others!
In bar six I have slid my F#m chord down one fret for the second half of the bar. This creates a nice chromatic link down to the E minor chord in the following bar. Any time you have two chords whose roots are separated by a tone, you can slide between them in this way using barre chords.
This is a very dark sounding slip jig in E aeolian. That means the chords available are E minor, F# diminished, G major, A minor, B minor, C major and D. This is because aeolian is the sixth mode, and therefore E aeolian contains the same chord options as G ionian (major) would. You can find out more about this in my first book, Backing Guitar Techniques for Traditional Celtic Music.
In the A part I have used only chords I (Em) and V (Bm). In a slip jig you can have up to three chords per bar, one chord for each block of three quavers (“8th beats” for Americans). You usually end the second bar with chord V and always end the fourth bar and multiples thereof with chord V going back to chord I. This is exactly what I have done here.
In the B part, I have replaced the B minor with its related major. This is a little easier to play and in my opinion sounds nicer in context. You can always replace a minor chord with its related major, the chord whose root is two notes above its own in the key scale. In this case we are starting from B, and two notes up the key scale of E aeolian we find D. Therefore we can replace B minor with D major.
Simple substitutions
In this version I have replaced the B minor at the end of the second bar with a D major. This works because D is B minor’s related major chord. I have played the D in the first inversion, with the F# note (the chord’s major 3rd) at the bottom. This sounds nicer than a normal D chord, because it is getting rid of the big jump in the bass notes. In order to understand this, think about an E minor and a D chord as two separate piles of notes, which create little melodies between themselves. Going from an E minor chord, which contains a low E note on the bottom string of the guitar, all the way up to the D string which is the lowest note in a standard D chord, is a huge leap for the ear. If you invert the D chord so that its lowest note is the F# on the bottom string’s second fret then you have made the jump a lot smaller. This will “glue” your chord progression together nicely. You can play D/F# with a standard D major shape- just loop your thumb round the back to that it depresses the second fret on the bottom string as shown below.
In bar four of the A part I have replaced an E minor with a G. G is Em’s related major (E – F# – G) so this is a valid substitution. It also follows the melody, which contains the notes “G – A B E D E – -”.
In the B part I have used D’s first inversion again in bar two. In the third bar, I have substituted C for E minor. This works because any chord can be substituted either for the chord whose root note is two above it OR two below it within the key scale. In this case our key scale, E aeolian, can make the chords E minor, F# diminished, G major, A minor, B minor, C major and D major. This means our E minor can be substituted to either G major or C major.
In the fourth bar of the B part I have flagrantly disregarded my own rule about chord V! Ending a section on chord IV gives it a deliberately unfinished feel, as if it’s day-dreaming about something that might happen down the line somewhere. In this context I thought it sounded rather nice- you can experiment with this in any tune in any mode. The second time through the A part however I do not end on chord IV as the tune would sound unfinished if I did so. Instead I go from chord V (Bm) back to chord I as usual.
Jazzy Substitutions
In this version I have more or less just converted each chord from the previous version into the relevant kind of tetrad. E aeolian contains the same notes as G ionian would. The list of tetrads available in G ionian would be:
G major 7
A minor 7
B minor 7
C major 7
D7
E minor 7
F# ½ diminished (rarely used in folk music- we’ll replace it with chord V in the first inversion, aka D/F#)
The same list applies to E aeolian.
In the B part I have used a C major 9 chord. So long as you have started out with the right kind of tetrad, adding further notes from the key scale to any given chord will just make it sound jazzier. In this case I have taken a C major 7 chord (containing the notes C, E, G and B, the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of a C major scale) and added the 9th note as well, aka D. This works fine because a D note appears in the E aeolian scale so will not clash with the tune.
This tune is in A dorian. That means that available chords are A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor, F# diminished and G major. If you’d like to fully understand the modes and why certain chords fit certain keys then you’ll need my first book Backing Guitar Techniques for Traditional Celtic Music, or an Amazing Mode Wheel from Finale Guitar.
In bar two I have used a G major chord, which is chord VII within the key of A dorian. This fits well because the melody notes are “B A B D G – A G”. The notes of a G chord are G, B and D so this chord is an obvious fit for this bar.
Chord V appears on every seventh foot tap (or fourth bar) as usual. In most tunes I would resolve to chord I at the end of the first play through the A part. In this particular one I prefer not to, until the end of the repeat of the A part (either is fine).
The B part’s harmonic structure is basically the same as the A part’s, so I have used the same chords.
Basic substitutions
In this version I have replaced the E minor in bar four with its related major, G major. In any mode other than ionian, you can replace the minor V chord with its related major chord. A minor chord’s related major is always the one whose root note is two notes above it in the key scale- in this case E (minor) – F# – G (major). As well as this substitution, I have added an approach chord to the G- I approach it from a semitone below.
As G is chord VII in the mode of A dorian, you might expect me to approach it using F# diminished, the chord in the key whose root is one below G. However folky guitarists tend to avoid diminished chords as they sound rather unpleasant. Instead I use the first inversion of a D major chord, which in practical terms is just a D major chord with your thumb looped round the back to fret an F# on the second fret of the low E string. This substitution works because D major contains the notes D, F# and A, and F# diminished contains F#, A and C- the two chords share two notes. In any key you can avoid the diminished chord by using the first inversion of the chord whose root is two notes lower in the scale, eg F# dim becomes D/F#, C# dim. becomes A/C#, B dim. becomes G/B etc.
In bar seven I have replaced A minor with its related major, C.
In the B part, inverting the G chord in bar two creates a nice walking bassline from A up to its related major, C. A G chord contains the notes G, B and D, so its first inversion has the B at the bottom pitch within the chord.
Jazzy Substitutions
When we begin to introduce tetrads into the dorian mode, the available options are I minor 7, II minor 7, III major 7, IV (dominant) 7, V minor 7, VI ½ diminished and VII (dominant) VII. In this case, our options are A minor 7, B minor 7, C major 7, D (dominant) 7, E minor 7, F# ½ diminished and G (dominant) VII. Notice that as dorian is the second mode, these are the same jazzy options which would be available in the key of G ionian, with the addition that in the dorian mode chord VII is also a dominant 7 chord.
If you recall that you can play chord I, chord IV or any chord related to either of those two in a chord I section, you should have no trouble decoding why the first line works well.
In bar seven of the A part, I have “borrowed” an F major chord, as if we were playing in A aeolian instead of A dorian. In Irish music in minor keys, the sixth note of the scale (in this case F) is rarely used in the melody. This means that you can often use chords from either mode- you only have to stick rigidly to the “right” chords for the dorian mode in bars which contain the sixth note. As this bar contains no F#s in the melody, I have used the darker sounding F major chord. I then use D/F# (a substitute for F# diminished) to create a chromatic link up to a G (chord VII)- F – F# – G.
This chromatic link is continued by using G# diminished to link G back to A via G#. You can always use a diminished chord whose root note is on the semitone between two other chords to create an ascending chromatic link. If you want to create descending chromatic links then use a dominant 7 chord instead.
In the B part I switch to shapes which are higher up the neck, as shown below. I invert the G chord in the second bar, to set up an A – B – C bassline between the first three bars. C major add 13 is a valid substitute for C major, because adding any extra notes from within the key scale to a chord will just give you a jazzier version of the same. C major add 13 is a C chord with an A note added so this sounds great in the key of A dorian.
Remember I said that you could borrow chords from the aeolian mode in a dorian tune if the melody didn’t contain the sixth note in the bar in question? Well, bar five of the B part actually DOES contain an F#, but it’s right at the end so I think the guitarist can get away with a dark, moody F major 7 chord there. I like to play the first four bars of the A part using light tinkly chords a way up the neck, and for contrast play the second half low down using the dark brooding chords of the aeolian mode.
Finishing on an Am13 gives the tune a cool, gypsy jazz style flourish!
A part jazzy chord shapes
B part jazzy chord shapes
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