Learn to play the The Wind That Shakes The Barley on guitar. The Wind That Shakes The Barley is a popular traditional Irish / Scottish reel. It can sound good played fast or slow, and is a great tune to play on an acoustic guitar. Two versions are provided here: a 'straight' version, and a version that includes several traditional 'fiddle' style embellishments for an authentic feel. The music is presented in traditional notation and TAB.
The Wind That Shakes The Barley For Guitar TAB
As with most traditional Celtic music, there are many variations of this tune. This is because the music is learned and passed on by ear. Most performers also improvise their own embellishments to the original tune.
In this version of The Wind That Shakes The Barley for guitar, both a standard version and a slightly embellished version have been provided. Once you can play both, try making up your own variations. You could try adding ornaments such as slurs, shakes and slides. A good idea is to try to emulate the way a fiddle player would play the tune.
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The symbol next to the F sharp in bar 9 means slide up to the note. Play an F and immediately slide up to the F sharp without picking the string again.
How To Play An Irish Reel
A reel is a traditional dance, or a piece of music written to accompany this form of dance. Reels are written in simple time, usually with four beats to the bar. There is much disagreement over the 'correct' way to play a reel, and where the accents are placed in the bar. Some performers place accents on the first and third beats, others on the second and fourth beats. Try experimenting with both to see which you prefer.
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Reels can be played straight (i.e. equal timing for the quavers) or with a 'lilt'. Playing with a lilt means playing the first of each pair of quavers slightly longer and the second – similar to the swing rhythm used by jazz musicians. Again, try playing this tune both ways to see which one you prefer.
The Wind That Shakes The Barley for guitar sounds great at medium tempo, played with a lilt and with the second and fourth beats slightly emphasized.
If you are interested in playing traditional music on guitar then it is well worth listening not only to other guitarists, but also fiddlers. There are plenty of examples of YouTube:
