Arthur McBlanket
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Arthur McBride | Snug in the blanket
trad. Ireland |
New/revived |
Two jigs in the same key, one lumpy and one straight. They flow nicely into one another. From the playing of Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick. Includes chords | Mandolin |  |
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07/08/2024 |
Bernie Lind
03/2025 refreshed |
Uncle Bernard's | Jenny Lind
trad. England | trad. everywhere |
New/revived |
A couple of lively polkas, claimed variously by England, Ireland, Shetland, Germany, Canada & USA – they’re that good! Includes chords | Mandolin | |
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28/03/2025 |
Bye bye, love
07/2025 new |
Bye bye, love
Everly Brothers 1957 |
New/revived |
A good ol’ 4-on-the-floor 2 minute pop classic. Includes chords & lead tab | Guitar | |
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30/07/2025 |
California dreamin'
07/2025 new |
California dreamin’
Mamas & Papas 1963 |
New/revived |
When pop gets sophisticated you can end up with something like this haunting, atmospheric gem. And if you ever wondered where to play a Bm⁷(♭5)/E, this tune has the answer (though the original was in C#m, not the Am of this version). Includes chords & lead tab | Guitar | |
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30/07/2025 |
Dakota
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Dakota
Shadows |
New/revived |
An unusual Shads tune: not guitar but harmonica… which we don’t play, so here it is back on the guitar. Includes chords & lead tab | Guitar | |
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17/07/2024 |
Eight days a week
03/2025 re-refreshed (there were 4 bars missing!) |
Eight days a week
Beatles 1964 |
New/revived |
The most noted feature of this track on Beatles for Sale (1964) is the fade-in. Which we don’t play. But it’s a fine breezy straightforward tune. Includes chords & lead tab | Guitar | |
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28/03/2025 |
French ambassador set
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French ambassador | Nonesuch
Playford |
New/revived |
Playford is often associated with dull tunes for old folks shuffling across the dance floor, but these two are bright and lively. The first features a novel chord progression to keep the rhythm guitarist guessing. The second is less subtle but makes a striking digestif. Includes chords | Mandolin | |
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01/04/2024 |
London kid
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London kid
JM Jarre |
New/revived |
A lovely tune – soaring, stately and stirring. Written by Jarre for Destination Docklands, a 1988 concert on a 1,000 tonne barge in London docks in the wind and rain, and featuring Hank Marvin on lead guitar. Includes tab & chords | Guitar | |
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22/12/2024 |
Maggie May
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Maggie May
Rod Stewart |
New/revived |
Rod’s story is longer than the tune, so we cut out one verse + chorus in making it an instrumental. Everyone knows the lovely mando solo at the end, but there’s not enough time to switch instruments… so here it’s on guitar instead. Includes lead tab & chords | Guitar | |
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22/12/2024 |
Make me smile
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Make me smile (come up and see me)
Steve Harley |
New/revived |
| Guitar | |
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22/08/2024 |
Mamma mia
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Mamma mia
Abba |
New/revived |
| Guitar | |
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22/12/2024 |
Princess Royal
03/2025 refreshed |
Princess Royal
trad. England |
New/revived |
Like the best folk tunes, it’s claimed by several nations: England, Ireland (O’Carolan) & Scotland (Gow). Princess Royal is a title said to refer to a title given Anne, daughter of King George II of England, in 1727. Whatever, it’s used by many morris dance sides, and sounds as if it belongs. Includes chords | Mandolin | |
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23/03/2025 |
Satisfaction
01/2025 new |
Satisfaction
Rolling Stones |
New/revived |
| Guitar | |
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14/01/2025 |
Shazam!
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Shazam!
Shadows |
New/revived |
A classic from the early days of the electric guitar, from Duane Eddy & Lee Hazlewood. So 1950s! (Actually written in 1960, but sounds earlier.) Includes lead tab and chords | Guitar | |
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22/12/2024 |
Strike theme
02/2025 new |
I walk beside you
Johnston, Letts |
New/revived |
The haunting and succulent theme tune from BBC TV’s [Cormoran] Strike series, as sung by Beth Rowley. Includes chords & lead tab | Guitar | |
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02/02/2025 |
Things we said today
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Things we said today
Beatles |
New/revived |
| Guitar | |
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17/07/2024 |
Walk don't rock 24x7
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Walk don’t run | Rock around the clock
rock & roll |
New/revived |
| Guitar | |
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22/12/2024 |
You've got to hide your love away
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You've got to hide your love away
Beatles |
New/revived |
| Guitar | |
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01/04/2024 |
And I love her
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And I love her
Beatles 1964 |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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— |
01/04/2024 |
Apache
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Apache
Shadows 1960 |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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10/08/2024 |
Blue star
03/2025 refreshed |
Blue star
Shadows 1961 |
Core |
A lovely dreamy tune, surprisingly with its origins as the theme tune of the 1950s US TV series Medic. Includes lead tab and chords | Guitar | |
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23/03/2025 |
Carthy's lemon
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Carthy's march | The lemon tree
Dave Swarbrick |
Core |
Swarbrick claimed to have written Carthy’s March in his sleep, then found he couldn’t play it so went back to bed until he could. The second tune came to him when picking a lemon off the tree for his G&T at Trevor Lucas’s wake in Sydney. Includes chords | Mandolin | |
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01/04/2024 |
Dance on
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Dance on
Shadows |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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06/08/2024 |
Foot tapper
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Foot tapper
Shadows |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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— |
01/04/2024 |
Geronimo
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Geronimo
Shadows |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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06/08/2024 |
Godiva
02/2025 refreshed |
Horse's bransle | Bear dance
Arbeau | trad. Flanders |
Core |
A couple of rollicking old French tunes, here given a few variations. (Bare + horse = Godiva, in case you were wondering.) Includes chords & lead tab | Guitar | |
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02/02/2025 |
Hard day's night
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Hard day's night
Beatles |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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— |
01/04/2024 |
I want to hold your hand
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I want to hold your hand
Beatles |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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03/08/2023 |
If I fell
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If I fell
Beatles |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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— |
30/04/2022 |
Lily of Laguna
03/2025 refreshed |
Lily of Laguna
music hall |
Core |
A British music hall song for blackface performers, until rewritten in the 1950s as a straight love song. It’s jolly, quirky and a bit tricky. This arrangement is for a clog dance performed by Aldbrickham Clog & Step Dancers. Includes chords | Mandolin | |
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— |
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23/03/2025 |
Night before
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Night before
Beatles |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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10/08/2024 |
Please please me
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Please please me
Beatles |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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07/02/2023 |
Theme for young lovers
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Theme for young lovers
Shadows |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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22/12/2024 |
Wall of death
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Wall of death
Richard Thompson |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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01/04/2024 |
While my guitar gently weeps
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While my guitar gently weeps
Beatles |
Core |
| Guitar | |
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01/04/2024 |
Chattanooga choo choo
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Chattanooga choo choo
Harry Warren / Glenn Miller band |
Part-time |
The original recording featured in the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade, but this one follows a later Shadows version. The most obvious difference – apart from the lack of a big band – is that Miller’s swung beat is here
played straight. Includes guitar tab & chords | Guitar | |
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16/03/2023 |
Dill pickles rag
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Dill pickles rag
Charles L Johnson |
Part-time |
| Mandolin | |
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— |
— |
01/04/2024 |
Flyder and the spy
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Flyder and the spy
Shadows |
Part-time |
| Guitar | |
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06/08/2024 |
Peace pipe
|
Peace pipe
Shadows |
Part-time |
| Guitar | |
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10/08/2024 |
Pterodactyl twostep
03/2025 refreshed |
Pterodactyl twostep / Drowsy dragon
Huw & Tony Williams |
Part-time |
Lovely bonkers tune for melodeon from Huw & Tony Williams’s album Unplugged and Unrelated. A bit tricky on the mando, but worth persisting. Includes chords | Mandolin | |
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— |
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23/03/2025 |
Rise and fall of Flingel Bunt
|
Rise and fall of Flingel Bunt
Shadows |
Part-time |
| Guitar | |
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10/08/2024 |
Shindig
|
Shindig
Shadows |
Part-time |
| Guitar | |
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10/08/2024 |
Albatross
MP3: slides & bends a bit shonky |
Albatross
Fleetwood Mac |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
09/09/2017 |
Bond theme
|
Bond theme
Monty Norman |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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17/08/2024 |
Bright lights
|
I want to see the bright lights tonight
Richard Thompson |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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17/07/2024 |
Father Ted theme
|
Father Ted theme
adapted from Songs of love |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
21/09/2017 |
FBI
|
FBI
Shadows |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
15/09/2017 |
Fiery python
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Fiery clockface | Liberty bell
trad. England | Sousa |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
23/09/2017 |
Frightened city
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Frightened city
Shadows |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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17/08/2024 |
Kon Tiki (in B)
potential new tune |
Kon Tiki
Shadows version is in A |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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24/11/2023 |
Man of mystery
|
Man of mystery
Shadows |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
21/09/2017 |
Moonlight shadow
|
Moonlight shadow
Oldfield |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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30/01/2024 |
Mozart forte
|
Mozart forte
|
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
26/07/2018 |
Sierra delta charlie
|
Staines morris | Dam busters | The galop ("can-can")
|
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
24/10/2017 |
Silence is golden
|
Silence is golden
Tremeloes |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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30/11/2022 |
Spaghetti suite
|
Sixty seconds to what? | For a few dollars more | The good, the bad and the ugly
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Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
04/10/2017 |
Telstar
|
Telstar
Tornados |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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17/08/2024 |
Thing-me-jig
|
Thing-me-jig
|
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
21/07/2018 |
Walk don't boogie 24x7
|
Walk don't run | Yes sir, I can boogie | Rock around the clock
|
Resting |
—Middle tune didn’t really fit – see now Walk don’t rock 24x7— | Guitar | |
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— |
02/10/2017 |
Warlord
|
Warlord
Shadows |
Resting |
| Guitar | |
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— |
30/09/2017 |
Wonderful land
03/2025 refreshed |
Wonderful land
Shadows |
Resting |
Pleasingly lyrical tune, even without the brass & strings the Shads used on the single. Includes lead tab and chords | Guitar | |
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28/03/2025 |
Foot Tapper tunes
Mark Iliff, Talespinner 2017–25
