Are there any fiddle tunes in E?

[AlanN]

Pitchin' Wedge, opening track on Steffey's Grateful recording.

[Charlieshafer]

Folded's got it right, here. Tunes were written for the instruments they were played on. Very few, if any, fiddle tunes were written for fiddles in E as it's not a simply key for everyone to play in. For old time, keys with open strings rule for the drone effect.

Button boxes are a different beast. They are set up to play in two keys easily, but can play in any with a few awkward scale steps, which is tough to explain unless you play one. At any rate, the two Irish boxes are set up in either B and C, or C# and D. Ironically, you can play tunes in the key of D, the traditional irish key, more smoothly with a B/C box due to the way the push-pull of the box works. Pipes and whistles are the same thing; you can play any key, as long as you don't need all the notes that are missing on a single-key instrument.

Cellos can play tunes in C easily ("God's key") and fiddles can do a little trop tuning to make that a snap, also. But basically, for mass instrumental happiness in the fiddle world, it'll be D and G mostly, with a little C.

Some flat-picking old-time songs may be in E, an easy guitar key and one that may match the singer's voice (lots of Doc Watson) but those aren't fiddle tunes.

[tmsweeney]

I think there a few in Cole's 1000 Fiddle tunes
4 #s right ?
Copenhagen Hornpipe and Idyl Hornpipe are both in E
I've attempted Copenhagen but not recently - I'll have to give it a whirl

2 out of 1000 I would say is a minority
I think Cole's was originally published in 1940- sort of pre bluegrass

[JeffD]

Well there is the obscure fiddle number known as the 'Orange Blossom Special'
.

I have mostly seen that in A. Or is that a regional thing?

[JeffD]

As soon as you go to E major, you might as well be talking about fiddle tunes in the third position for many fiddlers. ... The survival of these tunes must depend to some extent on the fact that people other than good-to-great players can play them.

The hard task, seemingly requiring good to great players, is taking a tune that fits well in G or D and playing that tune in E. Its not rea real hard, just real awkward and unfamiliar. (And its always harder unlearning it one way to play it another way.)

But a tune that is written in E and fits well in E and you learn it in E - well its just like any other tune. There are easy tunes in E and difficult tunes in E. And if you learn a tune in E, and then after being comfortable with it and reasonably adept, you try and play it in G, well that will be very awkward and hard to do and may involve climibing up the neck.

I agree there are more tunes elsewhere, but if you play several tunes in E you "get accostomed to the territory" and there are some neat things you can do in E.

Of course there are those who eschew all open strings (not me), for whom one key is as easy as another.

There also could be some pushback from banjo players if you start reeling off a bunch of these tunes.....

Banjo players, many of them, don't like F or Bb, and there are so many wonderful tunes there too.

[xiledscot]

Hey Oldsausage......you could check out some old Shetland Fiddle tunes.
The only one that comes to mind is St.Margaret's Waltz but could well be others.

[Jim Garber]

Check out the Slippery-Hill tune site for mp3s of these:

Milliner Koken Collection

E - Fiddle Tuning BEAE
Swing Lady Home (Art Stamper)

E - Fiddle Tuning GDAE
Dry and Dusty (Uncle Dick Hutchison)
Sleepy Eyed Joe (John Ashby)

E Modal - Fiddle Tuning GDAE
Drunken Wagoner (Bob Walters)
Meg Gray (George Hawkins)
Sail Away Ladies (Tommy Jarrell)

The Old-Time Fiddler's Repertory by R.P. Christeson (Missouri)

Key Of E
Oh Say Old Man, Can You Play A Fiddle? (Red Williams)
The Drunken Wagoner (Bob Walters)
Ladies' Fancy (Ardell Christopher)
Breakdown
Breakdown

[Denny Gies]

The Dreadful Snakes do a tune in E.....Brown County Breakdown. It was fairly easy to learn.

[allenhopkins]

Fiddle tunes should, by law, all be in the key of G. This is also known as "The People's Key."...

If the key of G is the people's key, what is the key of the bourgeoisie?

-- Central Park Sheiks (except they sang "key of E")

[Eddie Sheehy]

MacArthur Road

[AlanN]

Big Bug, as played by JR on his North Of The Border (fiddle tune? Not sure....great tune? For sure...)

[Dagger Gordon]

Hull's Reel

http://thesession.org/tunes/2686

[adgefan]

Here's a new one (though I suppose it's a mandolin tune, strictly speaking). Rado Times by Dominick Leslie, performed by the Deadly Gentlemen.

[JeffD]

So, the answer would appear to be, there are as many tunes in E as anyone could want, perhaps more even, and enough to entertain a person who only played tunes in E for most of a year or more. Ummm.... give or take.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Northern White Cloud (Monroe)

[Jim Garber]

So, the answer would appear to be, there are as many tunes in E as anyone could want, perhaps more even, and enough to entertain a person who only played tunes in E for most of a year or more. Ummm.... give or take.

Now it is time to move on to C# minor?

[JeffD]

Now it is time to move on to C# minor?

Yeah boy.

[Eddie Sheehy]

That's Dmin with a capo one fret above the nut...

[greg_tsam]

E minor doesn't count - come on, it's practically G. Some of those other suggestions look intriguing, though.

And I'm not allowing singing songs that obviously CAN be played in E or any other key. I'm talking fiddle tunes here people, and that doesn't mean "Every time you say goodbye" or "Partita 3 E Bach"

You're welcome. rofl..

[OldSausage]

You're welcome. rofl..

Mon plaisir.

[AlanN]

Dawg number called Opus 23. Used in a movie. It's in his book 12 Tunes in 10 Keys (oop).

[Paul Kotapish]

The "Beare Island Reel" (aka "Barra Island," "The Bear," and "Finbar Dwyer’s Fancy," among many other monikers) by Richard Dwyer shifts between a couple of modes in E, with G#'s in the first part, G naturals in the second. It's a bit of a bear to play, too. Good, though.

http://thesession.org/tunes/696

I learned it from Kevin Burke, who learned it from Dale Russ. We recorded it with Wake the Dead in a medley with "China Cat Sunflower." It's a weird world out there.

[Paul Kotapish]

Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland penned a great jig called "Malcolm's New Fiddle" in E maj. Mighty fine, although it's another finger twister.

http://thesession.org/tunes/9347

Jack mentioned "Ross's Reel" in E, but if it's the same New England standard I know (aka "Ross's #4"), it's most commonly played in F. Could be another tune altogether, of course. There are plenty of guys named Ross.

[Mike Black]

Johnny Morgan (trad) and there is also the Jig - Calliope House that's in E.

(Dave Richardson wrote both MacArthur Road & Calliope House)

[John Duncan]

My favorite E Major tunes are:

Brown Country Breakdown

Cross Eyed Fiddler

Cazadero

Dry and Dusty