Shetland tunes: Full Rigged Ship (jig) / New Rigged Ship (reel)

Shetland Tunes: Full Rigged Ship (Jig) / New Rigged Ship (Reel)

TrailJams: Rigged Ship Set (image of two nineteenth century sailing ships, sailing together at speed on the open ocean.) Illustration copyright 2025 Jonathan Lay. trailjams.org

A set (medley) of two traditional Shetland tunes. In Irish music traditions, tunes are typically played in sets like this one. Use the play-along tracks on this page to hear what the set sounds like, and to practice playing the tunes in a set. To learn tunes, follow the links below to each tune’s TrailJams page.

The Tunes

For sheet music and other resources for learning a tune, click on the tune’s link.

Full Rigged Ship (Jig, A minor, Shetland traditional)
New Rigged Ship (Reel, A Dorian, Shetland traditional)

Play-Along Tracks

Full Rigged Ship
New Rigged Ship

Tips: Each change of tunes is signaled by a spoken “hup.” Use the Playback Speed control to increase or decrease the playback tempo. (Click on the 3-dot symbol on the right-hand side of the the player to get to the Playback Speed control.)

Moderate tempo 85bpm, no repeats

Moderate tempo 85bpm, repeat each tune 3x

TrailJams Tune Camp (image: sketch of fiddle)

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Recordings

Video – Aly Bain & Tom Anderson: The Full Rigged Ship / The New Rigged Ship – from the album The Silver Bow: The Fiddle Music of Shetland. (The New Rigged Ship starts at time 1:43 in this recording.)
Video – The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc: Da Full Rigged Ship/The Rigged Ship – from the album The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc.

Playlist – TrailJams Listening Series

Listen to a curated playlist (virtual album) of recordings of Full Rigged Ship and New Rigged Ship. Absorb the tunes by hearing them in multiple settings and arrangements.
Listen, loop, and learn.