ptabThe Bard of Armagh Max CampbellÿZTHE BARD OF ARMAGH Oh list to the lay of a poor Irish harper And scorn not the strength in his withered old hands But remember these fingers would once have moved sharper To raise up the strains of his dear native land At a fair or at wake, I would twist my shillelagh And trip through a jig with my brogues bound with straw And all the young colleens around me would gather Their bold Phelim Brady, the bard of Armagh How I love to muse on the days of my boyhood Though four score and three years have fled by them A kings sweet reflection, with every young joy, For light hearted boys makes the best of old men. When sergeant death, in his cold arms shall embrace me And lull me to sleep with sweet Erin go bragh By the side of my Kathleen, my young wife then place me And forget Phelim Brady, the bard of Armagh - TraditionalÿäThe main structural elements of my arrangements are, first position chords and freely used open strings in the melody and bass. I would always suggest that you find other sources for the harmony and melody in these tunes and use them along with my ideas as a basis for your own arrangements. When I'm singing this song the phrasing of the melody varies from verse to verse. I've never had a written source for the tune so what you've got here is me humming the first verse as I write it out. My harmonisation also varies. I might for instance play the 2 chord (Dm) in the second bar or, as here, keep the first 4 bars major (with a second bar F chord) to accentuate the minor modulation , ( Am - Dm,) in bars 5 & 6. I've also introduced some step wise movement in the bass by harmonising in 6th intervals. (Bar 8 etc.) it's worth practising harmonising your first position scales in various intervals, as these step wise movements can become a strong and natural part of your playing.ÿÿCGuitarUntitledh@Standard@;72-(ÿÿ CGuitarInÿÿ CTempoMarker  ÿÿCSection2 ô€ÿÿ CChordTextÀ €À €À €ÀÿÿCStaff$3ÿÿ CPosition€ÿÿ CLineData€€€ €€ €€€€€€€ €€€€€#€€!€€ €€@€!€@€€!€@€ƒ€€!€B€¡€€!€@€ƒ€€£ÿÿ CMusicBar€;€ €;€€;€€€2 È€ €Á €Á €À €À €À€$0€€!€€ €€ €!€€#€ €€ €€€€€#€€!€€#€€€€ €€€€€€ €€€B€b€€€€B€`€€b€€c€€b€€@€£€€!€@€ƒ;€€;€ €;€€;€€€2â Ÿ€ €À €À €À €Á €Á€$3€€€€€€€€€ €#€ €!€€ €€@€€@€€!€€ €€ €!€€#€€€ €€€!€B€¡€€!€@€ƒ€€£€€B€b€€B€`€€@€ €B;€€;€ €;€€;€€€2¹ d € €À €Ç €À€'€€€€!€€#€€!€@€b€€@€€b€€c€€ƒ;€€€Untitled!h@Bass+&!€€2 }€€ ArialTimes New RomanTimes New Roman