Traditional Irish Accompaniment
for Acoustic Guitar

When I moved to London in the late 80's, I became familiar with the notion of the Traditional Irish Session. One such session was (and still is) on a Friday night at The Hemingford Arms in North London. It was there in the early days that I met up with the fiddle player, Robin Mc Kidd, who encouraged me to sit in on the session and play some guitar accompaniment. With Robins help, calling out the chords for the tunes with the fiddle wedged firmly under his chin, I began to develop an ear for the accompaniment.

From there I began sitting in at other sessions around London. Working with the 'golden rule' of keeping the accompaniment as simple as possible and using only chord inversion and moving bass lines for added depth and interest, I found a simple but effective way to accompany the Reels and Jigs as I went along. After a particularly invigorating session at Ryans Bar in Stoke Newington some years back, I was approached by someone who wanted to know if I did private tuition in acoustic guitar accompaniment. I agreed to give it a go and Jim O' Shea became my first student. As we progressed through the tune sets and arrangements, he mentioned that I should keep notes on what I was teaching him for other students I was beginning to pick up. This tutorial is the result of all those lessons and notes scribbled down on various pieces of A4 paper. In this edited web version, you will learn the basic chords and rhythm structures needed to accompany "Cooley's Reel" and "The Kesh Jig".

This is a concise method for elementary and advanced acoustic guitar players who wish to explore Traditional Irish Accompaniment. Please note that this method is best suited to steel strung acoustic guitar using standard plectrum techniques. It is assumed that you have a basic understanding of the common major and minor chords and general strum patterns before beginning these lessons.