Reel, G, Traditional Irish
TrailJams Tune of the Week for January 9, 2022; June 23, 2024
This cheerful tune, a traditional Irish reel, is distinctly different from the ballad of the same title. A sally garden is a garden of willow trees, used for making baskets, fences, furniture, and for fastening down the thatch on roofs. The sally garden is also a good setting for a little romance.
Recordings
- Video – Comhaltas: Sally Gardens from the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 1
- Video – Mikela Valenzuela: Sally Gardens (Irish reel in G) slow medium fast fiddle
- Video – Online Academy of Irish Music: Sally Gardens | Drowsie Maggie | The Tulla Reel – played on fiddle and tenor banjo with guitar backup. Moderate tempo of 85bpm, played with a lot of swing. Played by Cillian Ó’Dálaigh, Sean Ó’Dálaigh and Denis McAuliffe.
Dots (Music Notation)
As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference.
Play-along Tracks
Sets
Examples of sets that include this tune.
- Sligo Maid Reel Set: The Sligo Maid (A Dorian) / The Sally Gardens (G) / Swinging on a Gate (G)
- Mountain Road Reel Set: The Sally Gardens (G) / The Mountain Road (D) / Miss McLeod’s Reel (G)
- Sally Gardens / Drowsy Maggie / Humours of Tulla (The Tulla Reel )
- The Sally Gardens (G) / The Mountain Road (D)
- The Sally Gardens / Miss McLeod’s Reel / The Foxhunter’s Reel / The Bucks of Oranmore
References and Resources
For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.
- More Recordings
- Video – Shannon Heaton: Quarantine request corner – Sally Gardens [Reel]
- Video – Shane Farrell: The Sally Gardens Reel. Played on Irish tenor banjo.
- Books
- Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1 Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.
- Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1.
- Lessons
- Lessons – Online Academy of Irish Music has lessons for playing the tune on tin whistle and playing rhythm on guitar, and provides play-along tracks with the melody and rhythm parts.
- Lesson – James Finnegan (TheBanjoBuddy): Learn The Sally Gardens – Trad Tutorial – video tutorial for tenor banjo; sheet music shown in video.