Picking patterns for reels, jigs and hornpipes
Reels are settled: alternate down-up throughout. Jigs are the one thing Irish banjo teachers openly disagree about, and nobody publishes a pattern for slip jigs at all. Here is what each named teacher actually says, with the argument laid out rather than a single answer invented.
- Reel, 8 notes to the bar
- D U D U D U D U. Settled, and taught the same way everywhere
- Jig, 6 notes to the bar
- D U D D U D, or not. This is the disputed one
- Hornpipe
- Straight down-up on the dotted pairs, so the downstroke carries the long note
- Triplet, in any tune type
- D U D, then straight back into the pattern you were in
- Slip jig, 9 notes to the bar
- No named teacher publishes one
- What everyone agrees on
- The picking hand keeps moving, including through long notes
How do you pick a reel?
Strict alternate picking, down-up all the way through. This is the one part of the subject nobody argues about, and Tony O'Rourke states it plainly.
A reel has eight quavers to the bar and no gap anywhere, so the hand simply keeps moving. What varies between players is weight rather than direction: Marla Fibish teaches unequal strokes inside that pattern, so the downstroke runs a little longer and the upstroke becomes the return of a weighted down. The strokes alternate; they are not identical.
The named beginner fault is specific and worth watching for. Players rush at the end of a phrase, because the picking hand stops moving through the long notes and then has to panic to catch up. The cure is to keep the hand travelling through the long note even though it is not striking a string.
Where there are 8 quavers in a bar I play D.U.D.U.D.U.D.U. All triplets I play D.U.D and after the triplet I immediately revert to the normal DUDU pattern.
Why do teachers disagree about jigs?
Because a jig has six notes in two groups of three, and three is an odd number. Strict alternate picking puts a downstroke on the first note of one group and an upstroke on the first note of the next, so the accent moves. Fixing that means breaking the alternation, and teachers split on whether you should.
For DUD DUD: Marla Fibish and Danny Carnahan both teach a downstroke on every pulse, which keeps the accent where the rhythm wants it. Carnahan says it stops a jig "galumphing like a misbehaving horse".
Against it as a habit: Enda Scahill devotes lesson two of his course to "Breaking the Picking Rules", and players on Chiff and Fipple argue that habitual DUD limits your options as the tempo rises. Tim Connell refuses to prescribe a pattern at all and builds the jig up from downstrokes only.
Nobody is wrong here. DUD DUD is easier to get a good jig rhythm out of early, and it is harder to play very fast. Alternate picking is faster and takes more work to make swing. Both are played by people who are better at this than you or I.
| Teacher | Jigs | Their reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Marla Fibish | DUD DUD | Puts the accent on the pulse. Teaches feel and weight over strict rules |
| Danny Carnahan | DUD DUD | Stops a jig "galumphing like a misbehaving horse" |
| Enda Scahill | Break the rule | A whole lesson called "Breaking the Picking Rules" |
| Tim Connell | Refuses to prescribe | Builds the jig up from downstrokes only |
How do you pick a hornpipe?
Straight down-up on the dotted pairs, so the downstroke always carries the long note. Danny Carnahan gives the clearest published method for this, and it follows from the rhythm: a hornpipe swings in long-short pairs, and the down stroke is the stronger one, so it belongs on the long note.
Triplets are the exception inside that. They switch to jig picking, D U D, followed by a downstroke on whatever comes next.
The named failure is trying to hold strict alternate picking all the way through the bar, which flattens the swing and turns the hornpipe into a slow reel. Carnahan's other instruction is simply to keep the tempo slower than whatever you use for reels. Enda Scahill calls the hornpipe the triplet tune type, and it is where most players first work on ornamentation seriously.
What about slip jigs and 9/8?
Nobody publishes a pattern, and that is worth saying plainly rather than inventing one. No named teacher we could find gives a stroke pattern for 9/8.
What can be said is arithmetic rather than opinion. A slip jig has nine notes to the bar in three groups of three. DUD DUD DUD gives nine strokes, so every bar starts on a downstroke and the pattern repeats cleanly. Strict alternate picking gives an even number per two bars, so the start of each bar flips between down and up. That is the whole structural difference, and which one you want depends on whether you like the bar starting the same way every time.
Marla Fibish teaches the feel rather than the strokes here, emphasising the slight secondary weight on the last group of three. That may be the more useful instruction anyway.
What should you actually do?
Learn the reel pattern until it is automatic, because it is settled and it is most of the music. D U D U D U D U, hand always moving, including through the long notes.
Learn D U D for the triplet as a single unit that drops into whatever you were already doing. Every teacher agrees on this one, and O'Rourke states it directly: revert to the normal pattern immediately afterwards.
Learn DUD DUD for jigs, then learn to break it. The disagreement above is not really about which is correct. It is about whether a beginner should be given a rule at all, and the practical answer is to take the rule, get a jig sounding like a jig, and stop obeying it once you can hear why.
And for 9/8, pick whichever start feels right and be aware you are on your own. That is a more honest instruction than a pattern nobody teaches.
Questions about picking patterns
The things people ask before they commit to an answer.
Strict alternate picking, down up down up all the way through the bar. A reel has eight quavers to the bar and no gap, so the hand keeps moving. Tony O'Rourke states it directly: where there are 8 quavers in a bar he plays D.U.D.U.D.U.D.U.
Teachers disagree, and it is the one thing in Irish banjo technique they openly argue about. Marla Fibish and Danny Carnahan teach DUD DUD, a downstroke on every pulse. Enda Scahill teaches breaking that rule and Tim Connell refuses to prescribe one. Learn DUD DUD first, then learn when to break it.
Down up down, then straight back into whatever pattern you were already in. This is the one thing every named teacher agrees on. Tony O'Rourke puts it plainly: all triplets he plays D.U.D, and after the triplet he immediately reverts to the normal DUDU pattern.
For reels, yes. For hornpipes, no: holding strict alternate picking through the bar flattens the swing, and the downstroke should carry the long note of each dotted pair. For jigs it is the live argument. Alternate picking is faster and takes more work to make swing.
No named teacher publishes one. The arithmetic is that DUD DUD DUD gives nine strokes so every bar starts on a downstroke, while strict alternate picking flips the start of each bar between down and up. Pick whichever you prefer, and know you are working without a published method.
Usually the accent has moved. A jig is two groups of three, and strict alternate picking puts a downstroke on the start of one group and an upstroke on the start of the next, so the emphasis wanders. Danny Carnahan describes the result as galumphing like a misbehaving horse. A downstroke on every pulse fixes it.
Considerably, and triplets are where it shows first. Irish tenor banjo players run 0.46mm to 0.7mm, which is roughly half a mandolin pick. The reason players give is resistance: a heavier pick has to be pushed through three fast notes instead of gliding across them.
It is the least taught thing on the instrument, because the banjo is built for drive and an air wants the opposite. The documented workarounds are tremolo on long notes only, unison open strings paired with slides so the note does not die, drones on the open A and E, and knowing when not to play at all.
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