Blackberry Blossom

The one that gets called at speed to see who is still standing. G major, the widest range here, and a B part that walks down the circle.

The one that gets called at speed to see who is still standing. G major, a wide range, and a B part that walks down the circle.

This page is a MAP, not a transcription. Traditional tunes have no single correct setting — your version and mine differ and both are right — so publishing one as though it were the tune would be inaccurate and useless. What does generalise across settings is the key, the range, and therefore the geography: where the tune lives under the hand, and what the hand has to do to get it.

Key and range

G major, running from G4 to B5 — 16 semitones, which is 10 notes of the mode. The key leaves G, D, A, E open available to ring underneath, which is a large part of why some keys feel generous on this instrument and others feel like work.

Every note, and where it lives

Blackberry Blossom — every note of the tune's mode in range, with its string, finger, and position
NoteWhere it lies
G4D 3 (half position); D 3 (first position); D 2 (second position); D 1 (third position)
A4open A; D 4 (first position); D 3 (second position); D 2 (third position)
B4A 1 (half position); A 1 (first position); D 4 (second position); D 3 (third position)
C5A 2 (half position); A 2 (first position); D 4 (third position)
D5A 3 (half position); A 3 (first position); A 1 (second position); A 1 (third position)
E5open E; A 4 (first position); A 2 (second position); A 2 (third position)
F#5E 1 (half position); E 1 (first position); A 3 (second position); A 3 (third position)
G5E 2 (half position); E 2 (first position); A 4 (third position)
A5E 3 (half position); E 3 (first position); E 1 (second position); E 1 (third position)
B5E 4 (first position); E 2 (second position); E 2 (third position)

What the hand has to do

first position or third position covers the whole tune on its own — no shift is required anywhere. That is worth knowing before you learn it: a tune that needs no shift can be learned entirely as a finger pattern, and a tune that does need one has exactly one hard bar in it.

Take the position tables alongside this, and put the shuffle under it once the notes are secure — a fiddle tune with correct notes and no bowing is a scale exercise wearing a name.