When most people think of cigar box guitars, they do not think of traditional Irish tunes… but it turns out that a lot of Irish tunes are fairly simple melodies and are quite well suited to playing on a 3-string cigar box guitar. So here are 3 of my favorite Irish polkas (the term polka refers to the time signature and rhythm of the piece, not any German origin), which I used to play when I was in an Irish band. You may recognize the second tune as the popular Irish/kids song “The Rattlin Bog/Bog Down in the Valley-o”, and the third one from the Irish party scene of James Cameron’s hugely popular movie The Titanic.
To play these in the traditional way, you treat the first line of notes in each tune as the “A” part and the second line as the “B” part. You repeat the A part twice and the B part twice, and then repeat the whole thing over again. AABBAABB, then move on to the next tune.
All of the cigar box guitar tablature here on CigarBoxGuitar.com is presented by The Southbound String Company, the only strings specifically chosen and voiced for cigar box guitars. Be sure to check out our line of Open G GDG cigar box guitar string sets here!
Click this link or the image below to view the printable PDF: Irish Polka Set – Traditonal Tunes Tablature for Cigar Box Guitar
