chord progressions

[Tou-Che]

does anyone know of any tune search websites that have the chord progressions to go along with the sheet music.

Thanks in advance

[missy]

while this may not quite be what you are looking for, this may work:

Tom has a "chord wizard" on our website. It's set up primarily for mountain dulcimer usage, but there's parts of it that could be used by any instrumentalist.
If you to the bottom of the page, you'll find the "chord finder" part. Put in the note (or more then one) that is being played at that part of the song, hit the (find chord) button, and you'll get three choices - major, extended, and obscure - chords to choose from. If you hit the pull down button, you'll have multiple choices under each one.
Then just play around until you find the one that sound "right" to your ear.

Here's the page:
http://www.strothers.com/chords.htm

[SteveK]

Here are two sites that provide tunes with chords.

http://www.blackflute.com/music/

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/irish-folk-music/

Not to lecture or anything but it's really a lot better to work out the chords yourself. It really isn't that hard.

Steve

[IrishPiper42]

I agree with Steve. Most musical forms have set chord progressions for a given tune and a basic melody which also includes a lot of freedom to improvise. Irish music seems to be the opposite. The melodies are followed much more strictly, but strangely enough that leaves the accompaniment wide open to improvisation. I rarely play a tune the same way twice, although with more than one accompanist you need to work together to make sure what your playing is compatible with each other - not necessarily the same, but compatible.

Play around with different chord progressions over some tunes and see what you can come up with. You'll find out what works and what doesn't, and what you like and dislike. You will eventually develop your own style; I know I did... the jury is still out as to whether that's good or bad.

Accompaniment is largely overlooked by the public in Irish music, but it really has a huge effect on the sound. I play guitar in a trad group of 6 musicians. All are excellent musicians, but I alone can completely change the sound and feel of a tune by what I play. I love that - it's a blast!

Mike Brennan

[BrassBlower]

First, I would say to get a copy of anniemcu's book.

But, if you can't do that, or the tune isn't familiar to you, I would suggest looking for the fiddler who is playing long, slow bow strokes with a high elbow. This fiddler will be playing the root notes of the chords, probably in a turn-around pattern. Listen to him/her and make a mental note of this pattern in the first pass through the tune. Then, in the second pass, you should be able to join right in.