easiest tunes for a beginner to learn

[Dragonwhistle]

Anything easy and familar is a good start. My recommendations come from a wide list of folk songs and tunes, since I play a lot of different stuff:
Star of the County Down
Amazing Grace
Skye Boat Song
Will Ye No Come Back Again?
Over In the Meadow
The North Wind Doth Blow
Si Beg Si Mhor ( any spelling variant thereof)
The Water is Wide
Whiskey in the Jar, once you're feeling a little daring- tricky at first but not too hard.
The Flowers of the Forest

[RockoT]

I've been learning (self teaching with Ochs book and net) for a month or so, and like the OP, was looking for easy, familiar tunes. I'm open to any style music. I'm learing the whistle mostly to amuse myself when my truck is parked waiting for loading/unloading/next dispatch.

<a href="http://www.fullbodyburn.com/files/Set1/ ... >Here's</a> one I found that I learned fairly quickly and was already familiar with. I've just started going through the many tunes on this site, and am finding quite a few I'm interested in.

[Agio]

Here's tab for the Scottish aire Hector the Hero . The tab is for mandolin, but the music should work o.k. for whistle or UPs...I'm a beginner too.


http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab6/hector.gif


Also, if you'd like to learn by ear or get the true mood for the piece, I scarcely think you could do better than this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCwut-wg7fE

[mcurtiss]

if ya like the pogues a pair of brown eyes is pretty basic too.

"lullaby of London" and "I'm A Man You Don't Meet Everyday" are good choices as well.

I've been playing along too with Mary Bergin on "Aisling Gheal".

[Skyclad01]

The Munster Cloak

[tin tin]

Off She Goes

[FJohnSharp]

Most polkas are pretty easy. Ballydesmonds 2 and 3. Rattlin Bog. Egan's. Sean Ryan's. Finnish.

Easy reel: Anything for John Joe, Little Bag of Spuds.

Jigs: Blackthornstick. Kesh. Donnybrook Fair.

Waltz: Planxty Irwin, Planxty Fanny Powers,

Hornpipes: Off to California, Rights of Man,

March: Dawning of the Day, Star of the County Down, Foggy Dew

[Innocent Bystander]

Polkas are good, and "Off she goes" is a good one as well.

I'd add

The Rakes of Mallow
My Darling Asleep
Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part
The Cat Rambles to the Child's Saucepan ( a slide)
The Seven Stars

[RVC]

I appreciate this thread and especially some of the beautiful airs I have not heard before. Where can one find the sheet music for whichever of these may be available?

Thanks.

RVC

[Agio]

Try these RVC....only 815 pages though:

http://www.thesession.org/index.php

[buddhu]

Boolavogue
Down by the Sally Gardens
Egan's Polka
Britches Full of Stitches
Boys of Bluehill
Chief O'Neill's
The Rookery (Bill Hart's Jig)
Swallow's Nest
Parting Glass

[RVC]

Try these RVC....only 815 pages though:

http://www.thesession.org/index.php

Yeah, that should handle it. Thanks, Agio.

RVC

[jemtheflute]

Have a look at the VERY simple Welsh tune I just put on katybell's thread.

[Whitmores75087]

I've never found slow tunes easy to play, at least not play well. I never found them satisfying. I started with easy jigs such as Lilting Banshee or easy polkas such as Finnish Polka. Slow tunes need ornamentation in order to sound good, and that's not easy for beginners. (Not easy for me either, after 7 years of working on it).

[riverman]

If you're a Tolkein nut like me, you can learn the Hobbit's theme from the Lord of the Rings (official name, "Many Meetings") quite easily by ear from the soundtrack. That was one of my first tunes learned. And it has the advantage of being recorded on a D whiistle, so you can play along.
Another tune simple enough to learn by ear is "Be Thou My Vision," a beautiful hymn. Music can be found in almost any hymnbook. Might as well add "Amazing Grace" while you're at it--then you can play at my funeral!