Butterfly Jig Pick Direction

[Peter Coronado]

I’m working on a few jigs to play along with a flute and fiddle. I’ve read about pick direction for jigs and many advocate for DUD DUD to get the right jig rhythm feel. I’ve tried that out with the Kesh Jig and I see it makes a difference. DUD UDU doesn’t give the same feel.

Now I’m working on The Butterfly Jig. It’s a 9/8 slip jig. It starts with a quarter note, eighth, quarter, eighth then dotted quarter. Counting the 9 beats, the first measure plays on the 1 3 4 6 7 beats. If I stick with the DUD DUD pattern, the first measure is all down strokes.

I see Youtube videos that show The Butterfly played with alternating pick strokes. I.e., the 3 and 6 of the first measure are played as up strokes.

I’d be interested in what experienced jig players do in this situation.

[Toni Schula]

DUD DUD DUD to my opinion.

(I don't know without holding an instrument, how I would play the first measure. Sitting in the train at the moment.)

[Toni Schula]

Sitting in the train again. This time home from work. Doing some thinking, so again just a theoretical answer:

I guess I would cheat over the first measure and do DUDU... picking here. So the 4 and 6 beats from the OP would be Ups. Then I would start with DUD DUD DUD on the second measure.

I am just not sure whether the first measure played this way would be jig-ish enough.

[Peter Coronado]

Yes, I find it is a bit easier to do the first measure DU DU D. But as you say is it "jig-ish" enough? I'd be curious what you think when you have your instrument in hand!

[JeffD]

OK here is what I do for this tune, to good effect.

D UD UD / D UD UDUD / D UD UD / D UD UDUD

Every tune is different, and while DUDU is recommended for reels and DUDDUDDUD is recommended for 9/8 jigs, in reality I change and modify and do what ever it takes to make the tune sound good. The universal pick direction "rules" are usually a good start, but what ever I do that routinely makes the tune sounds great at the speed I want, is what I go with.

[JeffD]

The Butterfly is a fantastic tune. 9/8 jig with three distinct parts with similar rhythms and emphasis. It all fits together and each part seems to kind of yearn for the next part, like oreos yearn for milk, and the last part just needs you to start over again.

I love that tune.

[James Rankine]

It's a very good question. This is how I played it just over a year ago when I wasn't as analytical about pick direction as I am now. I'd hope to do a bit better job of it now. I picked up the mandolin just now and played it through with strict DUD DUD direction and it came out rather regimented with no variation between the parts. I think the butterfly is a beautiful mesmerizing tune which suits a slower pace than your usual jig or slip jig so it is OK to stray from DUD DUD as long as the beats (counts 1,4 and 7) remain down. In fact since I have become more analytical about these things I have discovered that in a jig I will often pick the 6th count up if it is following a quarter note on the 4th count (if you can follow that). This is especially so if the first beat of the next bar is on a lower string, but I will also do it on the high A going to the high B. It introduces a conscious break in the Jig rhythm which is rather like a singer taking a breath before launching into the next onslaught of DUD DUD. Even Enda Scahill, who is very analytical and strict on his rules has an exception to the DUD DUD rule, although I can't remember what it is. Anyway rules are there to be broken and the butterfly is one to do it on.

[Randi Gormley]

thinking of how I play it (and most slip jigs for that matter), Jeffd has the picking I use. fwiw. of course, I have been known to pick DUD UDU DUD on jigs without apology because I find it faster in session, but since I originally learned to play upsidedown (i.e. UDU DUD), my up strokes are pretty comparable in strength to my downstrokes.

[RonEllison]

There is another way of picking compound, or triplet, time signatures. Pick down on the first part of the triplet, up on the last part (like you would for swing rhythm) and the middle note (if there is one) you get from a hammer on, pull off, slide or, if that note is on a higher string, by extending the downward picking movement of the first note on to the second one.

This isn't a formula that you learn once and impose on any tune. You have to work out the fingering and picking routine for each tune individually. It has the advantage of sounding less hurried or machine like than DUD UDU or DUD DUD. The three notes of any triplet have different weight and this gives a more organic sound.