Geese in the Bog - Picking Jigs
Mandolin family and Irish tenor banjo
5/8/2008, Joe Carr
While alternating picking is the bread and butter of American style bluegrass and fiddle tune picking on mandolin and guitar, Irish players like to pick their jigs differently.
In a standard double jig, a measure of 6/8 contains six eighth notes. Jigs are traditionally played with two strong beats per measure. In the Irish approach, the eighth notes are
picked in two groups of three thusly: down-up-down down-up-down (measure 1 below.) The Irish feel this gives more the pulse of a jig with the strong downstroke falling on the first and fourth eighth notes.
American style flatpickers will find playing two successive downstrokes to be odd at first and it may feel very “wrong.” However, this is the secret to making your jigs sound “Irish.”
Geese in the Bog has another type measure – one with three eighth notes followed by a quarter and a final eighth (measure 4 below.) Measures like this (measures 4, 8, 12 ,16)
should be played down-up-down down-up to keep the downstroke on the strong beat. Start slowly, paying close attention to pick direction.
Here is the .PDF file of the sheet music.
About the Author
Joe Carr teaches a Celtic music ensemble at South Plains College. A self-taught musician, he toured with the
bluegrass group Country Gazette for many years. His face is best known through his work in numerous
Mel Bay instructional videos.
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