Henrik Norbeck's Tips on Backing Irish Music

Here are some tips (or maybe rules) for musicians who wish to participate in Irish traditional music sessions as backers on guitar, bouzouki, bass, etc.

I've often met less-than-sensitive backers (some would qualify as clueless or even ghastly) at sessions, and their lack of understanding of the music has more or less ruined the session. This has prompted me to write these tips, so that both melody players, backers and listeners may enjoy future sessions more.

Session Etiquette

1. A session is often open to other musicians who play Irish traditional music, but there are also closed sessions.
2. If you wish to join in a session and have not been invited, ask one of the musicians first if it's ok! Don't be disappointed if they say no, but sit down and listen to the good music instead. You can sometimes learn more from listening than from playing.
3. If there is already another backer present in the session, it's usually not a good idea to join in as a backer. Two backers can cause havoc if they play different chords due to different interpretations of the melody. Sometimes it might work well though, especially with two different backing instruments, e.g. guitar + bouzouki or guitar + bass. For a session to work well with two backers, they either have to know each other's playing well enough so as not to "clash", or be very competent musicians.
4. Another alternative if there is more than one backer is to take turns backing the tunes.
5. Don't play louder than the melody instruments! Remember that the melody is the main element of Irish traditional music.
6. If you don't know a tune, don't play along, unless it's easy enough to follow. In this case it's better to sit back and listen and afterwards maybe ask where you could find the tune, so you can go back home and learn it.
7. If you're a proficient backer, you might be able to play along with an unknown tune the second time around, but don't do that if you risk ruining the tune by playing "bum chords".
8. Most tunes are played in "sets" of two or more tunes linked together. Keep a lookout for cues that the melody players (usually the one that started the set of tunes) are going to change tune. If they haven't said before the set which tune comes next, stop playing until you know which tune it is.
9. Good backing can lift the tunes in an Irish session, bad backing detracts from the musical enjoyment.
10. You don't want to be known to the melody players as "the messer who ruined our session" (probably expressed in a more rude way). They might not say this directly to you, but they definitely will say it to each other when you're not there.
11. Specifically, if you don't know what key (mode) a tune is in, don't just ask and then start banging along in the key you get as an answer. If you can't hear what key a tune is in, it means you have to practice more listening to tunes and figuring out the key.
12. Before joining in any session, you must learn how Irish traditional music tunes are built, see the sections below on melody, chords and rhythms.

The Music

Melody and Chords

1. The main element in Irish traditional music is the melody, which makes it different from many other genres of music, e.g. jazz or rock. This means that the melody players lead the tune, and any backers should follow the tune, and not the other way around.
2. Irish traditional music often does not follow the chord progressions you would be used to from other musical genres. Most of the tunes are in a major key, but even then there are often quirks such as a tune in D major beginning on a G major chord (e.g. The Virginia). Some people prefer using the word "modes" instead of "keys" for Irish music.
3. Most Irish tunes that are perceived to be in a "minor" key are not in a "standard minor key", but rather in a type of dorian minor mode, with a sharp sixth of the scale (e.g. A B C D E F# G). In addition, many "dorian" tunes don't include the third note of the scale (e.g. A B D E F# G), which means that they often sound better when backed with open chords (without the third), at least for the "tonic" of the tune.
4. There are however quite a number of "minor" tunes that are in the natural minor (aeolian) mode (e.g. E F# G A B C D). Learn to hear the difference between the different "minor" modes.
5. There are many Irish tunes that are in the mixolydian mode (e.g. D E F# G A B C). Learn how to accompany that mode with appropriate chords.
6. There are many tunes that are ambiguous in their modality (e.g. The Old Bush) and tunes might switch modes between the parts.
7. Many tunes don't end on the "tonic", e.g. a tune in D major might end on a B minor.
8. Most tunes have two parts. However, there are quite a number of tunes with three, four or even more parts. There are also tunes where one part is longer (often the second part is double the length of the first part). Furthermore, tunes may have 4-bar parts (called singled) or 8-bar parts (called doubled).
9. There are often several ways to interpret the harmonies for any given tune, which means that every backer probably comes up with a different set of chords for it.
10. A key element of Irish traditional music is variation, which for melody players means that they usually don't play the tune identically twice around, and different melody players interpret the tune in different ways.
11. For backers, variation ideally means that they also vary their backing the second (third etc) time around a tune. This could include chords substitutions.
12. Since the melody is the main element, most tunes have slightly different chord progressions, even though they might be similar. Learn each tune separately and find good chords for it.
13. Backers should ideally know each tune they wish to play along with at least in their head.
14. Irish traditional music can appear deceptively easy, but it is a highly evolved form of music with nuances that are lost when the musicians don't know it properly. Melody playing in Irish music takes time to learn and an even longer time to master. The same applies to backing.

Rhythm

1. Irish tunes come in some different basic rhythms, which you must learn if you wish to participate in a session.
2. The most common rhythm is the reel, which is in cut-common time (diddle duddle diddle duddle), and mostly with a bit of swing to it. Don't over-emphasise the downbeats, which will deaden the rhythm of the tune. Often it is more appropriate to emphasise the backbeats, but don't overdo that.
3. The second rhythm is the jig (or double jig) in 6/8 time (diddely diddely). Here you should also not over-emphasise the downbeats, but also place some emphasis on the last of every group of three notes (diddeLY), which of course also should not be overdone.
4. There are also single jigs and slides, which are in a faster (especially slides) 6/8 or 12/8 time, and have more of a "humpty dumpty" rhythm.
5. Then there are slip jigs in 9/8 time (diddely diddely diddely). Here the same rules apply as for double jigs.
6. Hornpipes are also in cut-common time, but slower than reels and with a marked bounce. Learn the rhythmical difference between a slow reel and a fast hornpipe.
7. Polkas are in a straight 2/4 time. Don't place too much emphasis on the downbeat here either.
8. Strathspeys, highlands and flings are also in cut-common time, but with a different rhythmisation (closer to 4/4 (common) time). They also often feature a "backward" rhythmic device sometimes called a "scotch snap".
9. These are the main rhythms. Then there might occur the odd march, mazurka, waltz, barndance or Carolan tune at a session, or even free-rhythm slow airs.
10. There might of course also be songs sung at sessions.

And finally, good luck to you, and I hope you'll have many years of fun ahead of you together with other musicians, now that you've taken up playing Irish traditional music!