What tunes to learn for my one row melodeon?

Hello everybody. I got a one row melodeon in the key of D the other day and i have learned a couple of tunes on it but im looking for recommendations as i am basically a beginner to the melodeon. Im used to the guitar and the mandolin and stuff like that, and i was looking to get a melodeon since May of this year because i like to play shanties and hornpipes and i think they really suit the melodeon so im just looking for recommendations for sea shanties, waltzes or hornpipes to play on it.

Anything in the key of D is relatively easy as all the notes are on it. Good luck.

90% or more of the common session tunes will be playable. Some might need a little tweaking here or there but you won’t be all that limited.

Listen to as much Johnny Connolly as you can. Of course, it takes a lifetime of being Johnny Connolly play like him, but his playing shows you what is possible with 2.5 octaves of a 7-note scale. https://youtu.be/dcw4rDmAhb0 (the tune is The New Mown Meadows in EDorian/A).

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check out also Emma Corbett and Bobby Gardiner, great 1 row players. Most Sliabh Luachra tunes [slides and polkas] go well on the 1 row.

What about Tom Doherty from Donegal? He played the 1-row if I’m not mistaken, and he was fantastic.

I played B/C accordion for twenty years and then got a one-row in D.
I enjoyed that so much, but missed having some of the notes like C natural and G#, that
I got a C#/D accordion and have been playing that for fifteen years now.

When I started on the one-row, I put together this set of jigs (that I still play regularly):
Willie Coleman’s/ Rakes of Kildare/ Shandon Bells
https://thesession.org/tunes/476
https://thesession.org/tunes/84
https://thesession.org/tunes/1200

Willie Coleman’s is in G but has no C naturals (in fact it is a pentatonic tune).
The Rakes of Kildare has only a few C naturals, all in runs of Bcd. On the melodeon you can
play Bc#d and it sounds fine, or you can change it to Bdd.
Finally Shandon Bells is straight D major -- the “home” key of your box.

These three jigs get you playing in different keys, and they are old tunes that most people know
and enjoy playing in a session.
Good luck!

“Sparkling Seas” is in D major (I posted it) ,quite easy and reasonably tuneful.

Jerry’s Beaver Hat is a good one.
And there’s a lovely old jig called Repeal Of The Union that Johnny Connolly plays on this CD:
https://thesession.org/recordings/2397

“What about Tom Doherty from Donegal? He played the 1-row if I’m not mistaken, and he was fantastic.” I have a cassette of his, just wonderful music…….

To start (since you’re just days into the instrument), childrens songs in D, G and A. Playing Twinkle and the like in all 3 keys will orient you to the scale of the instrument by ear and where the notes you’ll need to “work around” show up.

Then simple airs and waltzes: Down by the Sally Gardens, Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow, Silent Night or other holiday songs. Then for uptempo tunes, polkas with associated lyrics (to aid memory and ear) like Britches Full of Stitches, Rattlin Bog, or I’ll Tell Ma, and others like Tralee Gaol, Galway Belle, Egan’s, etc.

After that, the vast majority of jigs like Mark mentioned. Here are some other sets of standard jigs that work well on one-row:
Out in the Ocean (G) / Rose in the Heather (D) / Kesh (G)
Paddy’s Return (D) / Donnybrook Fair (G) / Frost is all Over (D)
Saddle the Pony (G) / Lilting Banshee (Am) / Black Rogue (A mix/D)
Blackthorn Stick (G) / Morrison’s (Em) / Tobin’s (D)
Tripping Up the Stairs (D) / Mist Covered Mountain (Am) / Father O’Flynn (D)

Have fun!

https://youtu.be/7_jxNn-_ooc?t=145

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starts at 2:25

Good luck with learning, whatever you choose!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONVjDpcouXc

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Gilles Poutoux has a great youtube channel full of good single row melodeon tunes. He’s a fantastic player and really sounds like someone who devoted a lot of time to making a one-row work for irish music.

https://youtu.be/DvPBnuie324

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https://youtu.be/EmPmd7NObxo

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You can of course play tunes in D major, but also E Dorian (often described as E minor), A mixolydian, B minor, and many A minor, and many G major tunes. Polkas and slides in those keys are easy and fun on the one-row D melodeon. Try Galway Belle (E dorian) and go into We Won’t Go Home Till Morning (D major) polkas. Harvest Home and Boys of Blue Hill (hornpipes in D). Drowsy Maggie (Edorian-Dmaj reel) sounds great. Loads of tunes are doable. Waltzes are great- Si beag Si mor, it goes on and on.

Thanks everybody for all the recommendations im currently up to my ears in tunes, thanks to all of you, ill have no trouble at sessions (hopefully)