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The Ships Are Sailing — Sheet Music, Tab & Chord Directory

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About The Ships Are Sailing

The Ships Are Sailing is a two-part Irish reel in E dorian (it uses the notes of D major) — intermediate, running from A, to b and staying in first position on banjo, mandolin and fiddle.

Type
Reel, two parts, each usually played twice
Key
E dorian (the notes of D major) · 4/4
Range
A, to b · first position
Notes used
C♯ D E F♯ G A B
Level
Intermediate

The Ships Are Sailing — sheet music

E dorian (the notes of D major) · 4/4

The notes

Letter names, bar by bar · capitals up to C in the third space, lower case from the D on the 4th line

B e e d B C♯ d B | A D F♯ E D A, D F♯ E D | E F♯ G F♯ G A | B e e f♯ g f♯ e d B e e d B C♯ d B | A D F♯ E D A, D F♯ E D | E F♯ G F♯ G A | B e e d e g a b g e g | f♯ g a f♯ d f♯ | g f♯ g a b g a f♯ | g e f♯ d e d e g f♯ g a b g e g | f♯ e f♯ g a f♯ d f♯ | g b g f♯ a f♯ | e d e f♯ g f♯ e d

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The Ships Are Sailing — tab

Tenor banjo · mandolin · fiddle · guitar · ukulele — tap one to open it

The Ships Are Sailing — Tenor banjo tab

G D A E (Irish tuning) · open position

E|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0-2-3-2-0---|
A|-2-----5-2-4-5-2-|-0-------------------|-----------0-|-2-------------5-|
D|-----------------|---0-4-2-0---0-4-2-0-|-2-4-5-4-5---|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------2---------|-------------|-----------------|
E|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0---0-|
A|-2-----5-2-4-5-2-|-0-------------------|-----------0-|-2-----5---|
D|-----------------|---0-4-2-0---0-4-2-0-|-2-4-5-4-5---|-----------|
G|-----------------|-----------2---------|-------------|-----------|
E|-3-5-7-3-0-3-|-2-3-5-2---2-|-3-2-3-5-7-3-5-2-|-3-0-2---0---0-|
A|-------------|---------5---|-----------------|-------5---5---|
D|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
G|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
E|-3-2-3-5-7-3-0-3-|-2-0-2-3-5-2---2-|-3-7-3-2-5-2-|-0---0-2-3-2-0---|
A|-----------------|-------------5---|-------------|---5-----------5-|
D|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|

Numbers are frets. Tenor banjo sounds an octave below the written notes.

The Ships Are Sailing — Mandolin tab

G D A E · open position

E|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0-2-3-2-0---|
A|-2-----5-2-4-5-2-|-0-------------------|-----------0-|-2-------------5-|
D|-----------------|---0-4-2-0---0-4-2-0-|-2-4-5-4-5---|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------2---------|-------------|-----------------|
E|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0---0-|
A|-2-----5-2-4-5-2-|-0-------------------|-----------0-|-2-----5---|
D|-----------------|---0-4-2-0---0-4-2-0-|-2-4-5-4-5---|-----------|
G|-----------------|-----------2---------|-------------|-----------|
E|-3-5-7-3-0-3-|-2-3-5-2---2-|-3-2-3-5-7-3-5-2-|-3-0-2---0---0-|
A|-------------|---------5---|-----------------|-------5---5---|
D|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
G|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
E|-3-2-3-5-7-3-0-3-|-2-0-2-3-5-2---2-|-3-7-3-2-5-2-|-0---0-2-3-2-0---|
A|-----------------|-------------5---|-------------|---5-----------5-|
D|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|

Numbers are frets. Same strings as the fiddle, so the same notes fall in the same places.

The Ships Are Sailing — fiddle fingering

G D A E · first position — finger numbers

E|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0-1-L2-1-0---|
A|-1-----3-1-2-3-1-|-0-------------------|-----------0-|-1--------------3-|
D|-----------------|---0-2-1-0---0-2-1-0-|-1-2-3-2-3---|------------------|
G|-----------------|-----------1---------|-------------|------------------|
E|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0---0-|
A|-1-----3-1-2-3-1-|-0-------------------|-----------0-|-1-----3---|
D|-----------------|---0-2-1-0---0-2-1-0-|-1-2-3-2-3---|-----------|
G|-----------------|-----------1---------|-------------|-----------|
E|-L2-3-4-L2-0-L2-|-1-L2-3-1---1-|-L2-1-L2-3-4-L2-3-1-|-L2-0-1---0---0-|
A|----------------|----------3---|--------------------|--------3---3---|
D|----------------|--------------|--------------------|----------------|
G|----------------|--------------|--------------------|----------------|
E|-L2-1-L2-3-4-L2-0-L2-|-1-0-1-L2-3-1---1-|-L2-4-L2-1-3-1-|-0---0-1-L2-1-0---|
A|---------------------|--------------3---|---------------|---3------------3-|
D|---------------------|------------------|---------------|------------------|
G|---------------------|------------------|---------------|------------------|

0 = open string · 1–4 = finger · L = low (half step back), H = high.

The Ships Are Sailing — Guitar tab

E A D G B E · open position

e|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0-2-3-2-0---|
B|-0-----3-0-2-3-0-|---------------------|-------------|-0-------------3-|
G|-----------------|-2-------------------|-----0---0-2-|-----------------|
D|-----------------|---0-4-2-0---0-4-2-0-|-2-4---4-----|-----------------|
A|-----------------|-----------0---------|-------------|-----------------|
E|-----------------|---------------------|-------------|-----------------|
e|---0-0-----------|---------------------|-------------|---0-0---0-|
B|-0-----3-0-2-3-0-|---------------------|-------------|-0-----3---|
G|-----------------|-2-------------------|-----0---0-2-|-----------|
D|-----------------|---0-4-2-0---0-4-2-0-|-2-4---4-----|-----------|
A|-----------------|-----------0---------|-------------|-----------|
E|-----------------|---------------------|-------------|-----------|
e|-3-5-7-3-0-3-|-2-3-5-2---2-|-3-2-3-5-7-3-5-2-|-3-0-2---0---0-|
B|-------------|---------3---|-----------------|-------3---3---|
G|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
D|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
A|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
E|-------------|-------------|-----------------|---------------|
e|-3-2-3-5-7-3-0-3-|-2-0-2-3-5-2---2-|-3-7-3-2-5-2-|-0---0-2-3-2-0---|
B|-----------------|-------------3---|-------------|---3-----------3-|
G|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|
D|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|
A|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|
E|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|-----------------|

Numbers are frets; the bottom line is the low E string.

The Ships Are Sailing — Ukulele tab

G C E A (high G) · open position · played an octave up, as the tune dips below the lowest string

A|-14-19-19-17-14-16-17-14-|-12-5-9-7-5-0-5-9-7-5-|-7-9-10-9-10-12-|-14-19-19-21-22-21-19-17-|
E|-------------------------|----------------------|----------------|-------------------------|
C|-------------------------|----------------------|----------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------------|----------------------|----------------|-------------------------|
A|-14-19-19-17-14-16-17-14-|-12-5-9-7-5-0-5-9-7-5-|-7-9-10-9-10-12-|-14-19-19-17-19-|
E|-------------------------|----------------------|----------------|----------------|
C|-------------------------|----------------------|----------------|----------------|
G|-------------------------|----------------------|----------------|----------------|
A|-22-24-26-22-19-22-|-21-22-24-21-17-21-|-22-21-22-24-26-22-24-21-|-22-19-21-17-19-17-19-|
E|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|----------------------|
C|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|----------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|----------------------|
A|-22-21-22-24-26-22-19-22-|-21-19-21-22-24-21-17-21-|-22-26-22-21-24-21-|-19-17-19-21-22-21-19-17-|
E|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|
C|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|

Numbers are frets; the top line is the A string, the bottom line the high G.

More reels and tunes like it

Drowsy MaggieCooley'sThe Silver SpearThe Maid Behind The BarThe Wind That Shakes The BarleyThe Musical PriestThe Mountain RoadSaint Anne's

This setting is a community transcription from thesession.org. The tune itself is traditional. Tabs and letter names worked out by The Music Arcade.

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