Music Articles

Here’s where you’ll find a variety of articles on music

From fiddle bowing to movable guitar chords;

from mandolin tips to ukulele arrangements

plus loads more…

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The Merry Blacksmith

This reel is very popular and is heard everywhere in sessions. If you're a fiddle player and you want to develop your reel playing, you will be interested in a series of books I'm working on - ...

The Congress Reel

The Congress Reel is one of my favourites.  I first came across it on the fantastic Hidden Ground album by Paddy Glackin and Jolyon Jackson and it's been a staple tune for me since then. If ...

Solid Session Tunes

Available on Kindle worldwide as well as PDF download, Solid Session Tunes is a series of collections of popular (mainly Irish) session tunes.  Each tune is presented in standard notation as ...

Down in the Park – cover by Phil Berthoud

Rewind back to 24th May 1979 and an episode of Top of the Pops that I'll always remember.  Along with Roxy Music's Dance Away, Boys Keep Swinging by David Bowie and Shine a Little Love by ELO ...

Old Joe Clark – Old time American tune

This tune was originally a North American traditional song.  The lyrics are thought to be inspired by the 19th century Kentucky mountaineer Joseph Clark and versions have been recorded by the ...