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There are a handful of tunes almost every musician learns when they dip their toes into Irish folk music. I posted one, “Egan’s Polka,” last month. “The Boys of Bluehill” is another. These pieces are ubiquitous because they are fairly basic, making them great to teach to new learners. But because they are played so often, they tend to get a bad rap among more experienced players even though they are quality tunes.
“The Boys of Bluehill” is a hornpipe, a specific type of traditional dance performed in hard shoes. “Off to California” is another example. Hornpipes can be played either fast or slow, but the dancers’ moves never really change speed regardless of which version the musicians are playing. In fact, slow hornpipes tend to be the domain of more experienced dancers as their feet have to move in double-time to the music, and often in more complex patterns.
I wasn’t able to find much specific history for this tune. There are apparently hills named Blue Hill all over the place, including in Massachusetts, and there is some support for the idea that this tune is actually native to North America rather than Ireland. Regardless, it is old enough that it has become embedded in traditions on both sides of the Atlantic.
“The Boys of Bluehill” Playing Tips
While “The Boys of Bluehill” is fairly simple melodically, that doesn’t mean that the full version won’t be a challenge for new learners. While “Egan’s” is a fairly sparse polka in 2/4, this tune is a hornpipe in 4/4 with a steady barrage of eighth notes.
“The Boys of Bluehill” earns its reputation as a simple tune because the melody plays out like a major scale finger exercise, with repeated small interval jumps and predictable scale runs. If you’re into learned tunes by ear (the traditional way to do it for folk music), this is a great one to cut your teeth on.
Despite being an “easy” piece, this one will require a quick shift up the neck during the B section unless you can stretch and grab the 7th fret with your pinky. You will want to play the majority of the song with your index finger at the second fret. You won’t need the first fret at all, so it doesn’t make sense to keep your hand in a strict first position and constantly have to stretch up to the 5th fret with your pinky.
Hornpipes, though they are notated in a straight 4/4, are typically played with a dotted feel (i.e. swing). So even though a passage might be written like this:
You play it as though it is written like this:
When you play with a “dotted feel,” your eighth notes go from an even TI TI TI TI TI TI TI TI to a bouncy TIM ri TIM ri TIM ri TIM ri. The bounce is accentuated a bit more in slow hornpipes compared to fast, but it’s present in both.
If you find all of those eighth notes too challenging for you at the moment, I’ve included a simplified version of the tune that subs in some quarter notes to create some breathing room while keeping the core of the melody intact. PDF download after the embed. It still reaches up to the seventh fret, but there’s more space in the arrangement to give you time to make the shift up the neck.
Click the link or the ‘Download’ button below to see the sheet music if your browser doesn’t display the embedded PDF. The simplified version of the song is the bottom download button. Happy picking!
“The Boys of Bluehill” Low G Sheet Music Download
“The Boys of Bluehill (Simplified)” Low G Sheet Music Download
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