Miss McLeod’s Reel
Did you ever see the devil, Uncle Joe?
Hop high Ladies.
Regardless of what name you choose to refer to it by, this week’s tune is a time honored chestnut if there ever was one.
First appearing in 18th Century Ireland, it has been beloved by fiddlers ever since, likely undergoing countless transformations at the hands of the folk process, replete with the addition of various and asundry turns of phrases and alterations of time signatures.
Most folks outside of the old time tradition know it as “Hop High Ladies”, which references the lyrics now typically sung along with the B part (Hop high ladies, three in a row…).
I just returned from a whirlwind trip to North Carolina to work on a new project for Brainjo Productions. It’s one that I’m really excited about, and in fact is what inspired this tune (and tuning) today. More on this soon.
For now, enjoy this wonderful tune.
Miss McLeod’s Reel
fDGCD tuning, Brainjo level 3-4
Notes on the tab: The tuning here, fDGCD, places the resultant tune in the key of F. To play it in the key of G (which is where you’ll usually find it in jams), just tune or capo up two half steps to gEADE.
The notes in parentheses are “skip notes”, meaning they aren’t sounded by the picking finger (for a full tutorial on these, go here).