Dirty old Town (fiddle lesson)

Dirty old Town was written by Ewan McColl, and made famous by the Pogues. In this fiddle lesson I show the melody in both G and C, with suggestions for American or Irish style fiddle ornamentation.
Below are details of further fiddle resources from Chris Haigh
1. Patreon
2. Books
3. Subscription video courses
4. Website
5. Email to request pdf’s.
1. PATREON
This is a platform where anyone can help support creative artists and get closer access to their work. You can join me on Patreon at three levels, for £4, £10 or £40 per month.

At the lowest level you get access to all my pdf’s and tune collections, plus many exclusive tuition videos not available to the public.
At level 2 you can join also me once a month for a group Zoom chat, and can request a backing rack once a month.
Level 3 gives you all the above plus a free lesson once a month, and access to all my backing tracks.
You can find me on Patreon at
/ thefiddlechannel
2. BOOKS
I have seven fiddle tuition books published by Schott, all widely available from the publisher, from Amazon, and many other outlets. All come with audio tracks illustrating the tunes and exercises.
Exploring Jazz Violin
Beginning Jazz Violin
Discovering Rock Violin
Exploring Folk Fiddle
Exploring Klezmer Fiddle
Hungarian Fiddle Tunes
French Fiddle Tunes
Exploring Country and Bluegrass Fiddle
You can order from
bit.ly/31ZWmgm
3. VIDEO SUBSCRIPTION COURSES
I have three video subscription courses
MUSIC GURUS- Exploring Jazz Violin. Based on my Schott book.
Parts 1 and 2 are each £26 for 26 lessons, covering the first and second halves of the book
Part 1; tinyurl.com/49tfk5ef
Part 2 tinyurl.com/23atebfc
-MUSIC GURUS Discovering Rock Violin. . Based on my Schott book
£35 for 46 lessons
tinyurl.com/2ua2kuxh
ACADEMY OF FOLK
Includes a folk fiddle primer course, with introductions to basic techniques and concepts plus an Irish Fiddle Course and Scottish fiddle course. A monthly sub of $9.99 gives access to all lessons
academyoffolk.com/
4. WEBSITE
My website is probably the most extensive and detailed summary of fiddle styles on the web, as evidenced by the range of top hits on Google for many fiddle styles.
www.fiddlingaround.co.uk
________________________________________________________________________
TO REQUEST PDF’S, or ask any questions, CONTACT ME AT
[e-mail]

[@kloskamp4530]

Thank you! Really great to learn the tunes on the fiddle.

[@janeymax8013]

Cool Chris! A good one to practise double stops with. Sounds great, Thanks!

[@johntait491]

Nicely demonstrated Chris. This is a great crowd favourite and an ideal tune for fills as you've shown. Thanks. Incidentally, Ewan MacColl was born James Henry Miller, January 22, 1915, in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire England, to Scottish parents, William and Betsy Miller. Though early on (at least the early 60's ) his real name and place of birth was masked. Common biographies stated he was born in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland. He died in 1989 aged 74.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Fascinating guy!

[@johntait491]

@@TheFiddleChannel A talented songwriter, but I think controversial would be an apt description.

[@andypastor4693]

We play this tune , always a crowd favorite. Thanks for sharing some of your variations ! Well done.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Thanks Andy.

[@alipainting]

Haha, I grew up in Manchester/Salford in the 60s and 70s before escaping. It was by far the most miserable, dark, cold and depressing place I've ever been. 😆

[@TheFiddleChannel]

What, you mean worse than Huddersfield???

[@TheFiddleChannel]

@Syd McCreath By eck lad, we used ta dream o Whitechapel in't 1970's!

[@lescroquendouble9696]

Would get the ornements to play thru Swam Fiddle….Tx

[@channelphongsakpanta1794]

Sogood. I love.

[@user-fi2jf8eg8u]

Thanks again for another great tune Would love to see the music If you could send would much appreciated Thank you Marvin 🎻

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Hi Marvin. Sure, send me an email at [e-mail]

[@michaeltaylor7407]

Thanks Chris! That was a fantastic lesson!

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Thanks Michael!

[@kimroberts9547]

New to your channel, Chris. A thousand thanks.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Hi Kim. Glad you enjoyed this!

[@gordonlynn8300]

My Dirty Old Town was Port Alberni ( that's where I was born) in the 1950's what an awful smell , but is quite different now !

[@actionnait8479]

J'adore , excellent ,

[@TheFiddleChannel]

thanks!

[@chriskelly9653]

Love the way you put, have learned the basic melody but had trouble following your drones and slides , would love to see that part . But thanks for the tune.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Hi Chris, glad you enjoyed it!

[@chriskelly9653]

At the start of the instrumental in key of C there are three D notes then to an A note , did you take one of the D notes and make two shorter notes out of one as it sounds like four D notes being bowed before going to the A note . Thanks for the video by the way .

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Hi Chris. If you're talking about the start of the key change, the melody notes are three G's (as a triplet), followed by A and C. You can slow the video down using the cog icon at the bottom right of the video.

[@chriskelly9653]

Chris are you starting this song on open D ?

[@chriskelly9653]

Found it .

[@chriskelly9653]

Chris , I've started using the drones but where you say your putting a D note under the G chord I am having trouble seeing what your fingers are doing to get that.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

The melody note on top is the B (first finger A string), and under it is an open D string.