About This Course
Learn traditional Irish fiddle, with an emphasis on playing the dance music of Ireland, including jigs, reels, polkas, slip jigs, hornpipes, and more, with an Irish feel and ornamentation.
Try a Sample Lesson
The Tar Road to Sligo
In this lesson, you’ll learn one of the most distinctive ornaments in Irish music, the “roll,” which combines grace notes and slurs. Dale explains the roll, and shows you a roll on different fingers and strings. He recommends practicing them slowly and repeatedly with a metronome so that the motion becomes natural, and he shows how you can use rolls in jigs whenever the first and third note of a three-note pattern are the same. You can also roll on the first notes of arpeggios, as in the last phrase of the B part of “The Tar Road to Sligo.”