Backing Jigs & Reels

Before posting this as a new thread, I tried using the search engine, but didn't find much on this topic. I am hoping to use my (soon to be acquired) Tenor Uke in sessions at which Irish and Scots music abounds. I'm planning to be with the rhythm section, rather than trying to follow all of those incredibly fast diddly-eye melodies.

So, has anyone any specific tips for backing this kind of music? Anyone seen any good Youtube Vids that illustrate Ukulele based options for accompanying reels & jigs, etc.

Thanks in advance for sharing,

BB

It is great fun. I only do a little backup now & then. I have good friends that play for contra dances.

The only tips I have:
Enjoy the music
find your own style.
Play with as many different groups as you can

I don't know where you are located, but music festivals are a great opportunity to jam with lots of different people.


Sometimes it seems like 3/4 of the fiddle tunes are played in the key of D

Ryan Thompson sells a very nice book of chords for backing up fiddle tunes:
http://www.captainfiddle.com/chordencyclop.html

If are familiar with abc format, there are 30,000 or so fiddle tunes that you can search and print out or play in midi format on your computer:
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FCfiles.html

Ken Middleton has some elegant arrangements for solo ukulele:
http://kenmiddleton.co.uk/freedownloads.aspx

Thanks Bob. I'm in Catalonia (Spain) so my choice of Celtic sessions is limited. I tend to practice at home to recordings.

That ABC page looks great. I am also very poor fiddler, but an enthusiastic one. I just can't get up to the speed most sessions are played at.

Speaking of Sessions, do you know this website? It's another great resource for anyone playing "Celtic" music.

The Chord dictionary sounds interesting, but as there is no sample page, it is difficult to assess whether the book shows tunes (in standard notation) with chord names at the appropriate places, or whether it has chord diagrams (and if so, has it got them for the Uke?) or even if it is simply a book of chord diagrams for different instruments.


The Ken Middleton site looks great for learning tunes on the Uke, but I was really looking for advice on how best to use the Uke for backing sessions, rather than attempting to solo. IMHO a lot of sessions play tunes way too fast, for me they lose all their feeling at speed..... but maybe I'd feel differently if I could keep up .