About The Britches Full Of Stitches
The Britches Full Of Stitches is a two-part Irish polka in D major — beginner-friendly, running from A to b and staying in first position on banjo, mandolin and fiddle.
This is one of the first tunes in Beginner Banjo, a free step-by-step tenor banjo course.
- Type
- Polka, two parts, each usually played twice
- Key
- D major · 2/4
- Range
- A to b · first position
- Notes used
- D E F♯ A B
- Level
- Beginner-friendly
The Britches Full Of Stitches — sheet music
D major · 2/4
The notes
Letter names, bar by bar · capitals up to C in the third space, lower case from the D on the 4th line
d e f♯ d | e d f♯ d | d e f♯ d | e d B d e f♯ d | e d f♯ a | d e d B | B A A a a f♯ | e d e f♯ | a a f♯ | e d b a a f♯ | e d e f♯ | d e d B | B A A
The Britches Full Of Stitches — tab
Tenor banjo · mandolin · fiddle · guitar · ukulele — tap one to open it
The Britches Full Of Stitches — Tenor banjo tab
G D A E (Irish tuning) · open position
E|---0-2---|-0---2---|---0-2---|-0-----| A|-5-----5-|---5---5-|-5-----5-|---5-2-| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
E|---0-2---|-0---2-5-|---0-----|-------| A|-5-----5-|---5-----|-5---5-2-|-2-0-0-| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
E|-5-5-2-|-0---0-2-|-5-5-2-|-0---7-| A|-------|---5-----|-------|---5---| D|-------|---------|-------|-------| G|-------|---------|-------|-------|
E|-5-5-2-|-0---0-2-|---0-----|-------| A|-------|---5-----|-5---5-2-|-2-0-0-| D|-------|---------|---------|-------| G|-------|---------|---------|-------|
Numbers are frets. Tenor banjo sounds an octave below the written notes.
The Britches Full Of Stitches — Mandolin tab
G D A E · open position
E|---0-2---|-0---2---|---0-2---|-0-----| A|-5-----5-|---5---5-|-5-----5-|---5-2-| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
E|---0-2---|-0---2-5-|---0-----|-------| A|-5-----5-|---5-----|-5---5-2-|-2-0-0-| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
E|-5-5-2-|-0---0-2-|-5-5-2-|-0---7-| A|-------|---5-----|-------|---5---| D|-------|---------|-------|-------| G|-------|---------|-------|-------|
E|-5-5-2-|-0---0-2-|---0-----|-------| A|-------|---5-----|-5---5-2-|-2-0-0-| D|-------|---------|---------|-------| G|-------|---------|---------|-------|
Numbers are frets. Same strings as the fiddle, so the same notes fall in the same places.
The Britches Full Of Stitches — fiddle fingering
G D A E · first position — finger numbers
E|---0-1---|-0---1---|---0-1---|-0-----| A|-3-----3-|---3---3-|-3-----3-|---3-1-| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
E|---0-1---|-0---1-3-|---0-----|-------| A|-3-----3-|---3-----|-3---3-1-|-1-0-0-| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
E|-3-3-1-|-0---0-1-|-3-3-1-|-0---4-| A|-------|---3-----|-------|---3---| D|-------|---------|-------|-------| G|-------|---------|-------|-------|
E|-3-3-1-|-0---0-1-|---0-----|-------| A|-------|---3-----|-3---3-1-|-1-0-0-| D|-------|---------|---------|-------| G|-------|---------|---------|-------|
0 = open string · 1–4 = finger · L = low (half step back), H = high.
The Britches Full Of Stitches — Guitar tab
E A D G B E · open position
e|---0-2---|-0---2---|---0-2---|-0-----| B|-3-----3-|---3---3-|-3-----3-|---3-0-| G|---------|---------|---------|-------| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| A|---------|---------|---------|-------| E|---------|---------|---------|-------|
e|---0-2---|-0---2-5-|---0-----|-------| B|-3-----3-|---3-----|-3---3-0-|-0-----| G|---------|---------|---------|---2-2-| D|---------|---------|---------|-------| A|---------|---------|---------|-------| E|---------|---------|---------|-------|
e|-5-5-2-|-0---0-2-|-5-5-2-|-0---7-| B|-------|---3-----|-------|---3---| G|-------|---------|-------|-------| D|-------|---------|-------|-------| A|-------|---------|-------|-------| E|-------|---------|-------|-------|
e|-5-5-2-|-0---0-2-|---0-----|-------| B|-------|---3-----|-3---3-0-|-0-----| G|-------|---------|---------|---2-2-| D|-------|---------|---------|-------| A|-------|---------|---------|-------| E|-------|---------|---------|-------|
Numbers are frets; the bottom line is the low E string.
The Britches Full Of Stitches — Ukulele tab
G C E A (high G) · open position
A|-5-7-9-5-|-7-5-9-5-|-5-7-9-5-|-7-5-2-| E|---------|---------|---------|-------| C|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
A|-5-7-9-5-|-7-5-9-12-|-5-7-5-2-|-2-0-0-| E|---------|----------|---------|-------| C|---------|----------|---------|-------| G|---------|----------|---------|-------|
A|-12-12-9-|-7-5-7-9-|-12-12-9-|-7-5-14-| E|---------|---------|---------|--------| C|---------|---------|---------|--------| G|---------|---------|---------|--------|
A|-12-12-9-|-7-5-7-9-|-5-7-5-2-|-2-0-0-| E|---------|---------|---------|-------| C|---------|---------|---------|-------| G|---------|---------|---------|-------|
Numbers are frets; the top line is the A string, the bottom line the high G.
More polkas and tunes like it
This setting is a community transcription from thesession.org. The tune itself is traditional. Tabs and letter names worked out by The Music Arcade.