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The Blockers reel

Also known as Sean Ryan’s.

There are 9 recordings of a tune by this name.

The Blockers has been added to 1 tune set.

The Blockers has been added to 90 tunebooks.

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Four settings

X: 1
T: The Blockers
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|FGAG FD (3DDD|=CA,G,A, =CDEG|Ad (3ddd cded|
|cAG=F E=C (3=CCC|FGAG FD (3DDD|=CA,G,A, =CDEG|
Ad (3ddd cded|1 cAGE D2 DE:|2 cAGE DEFA|
|:d2 Ad FdAF|~G3 A GECE|A,D (3DDD CDEG|
|FGAB cABc|d2 dc dAFA|~G3 A GECE|
A,D (3DDD CDEG||1 FDEC DEFA:|2 FDEC D2 DE|
# Added .
X: 2
T: The Blockers
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmix
z6 A2 |: Bc dc BG (3GAG | =FD CD FG Ac | dg (3gfg fg ag | fd c^A =A=F (3FEF | Bc dc BG (3GAG | \
=FD CD FG Ac | dg (3gfg fg ag |1 fd cA G2 A2 :|2 fd cA GA Bd |: g2 dg Bg dB | cB cd cA FA | \
DG (3GFG FG Ac | Bc de fd ef | g2 dg Bg dB | cB cd cA F2 | DG (3GFG FG Ac |1 BG AF GA Bd :|2 BG AF G2 A2 | \
X: 3
T: The Blockers
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|:Bcdc BG ~G2|=FEDE FGAc|dg ~g2 fgag|fdcB A=F F2|
Bcdc BG ~G2|=FEDE FGAc|dg ~g2 fgag|1fdcA G3 z:|2fdcA GABd||
g2 dg GdBd|c2 cd cAGE|DG ~G2 FGAc|Bcde fdef|
g2 dg GdBd|c2 cd cAGE|DG ~G2 FGAc|BGAF G3 z||
g2 dg GdBd|c2 cd cAGE|DG ~G2 FGAc|Bcde fdef|
g2 (3g{a}fg gdBd|c2 cd cAGE|DG ~G2 FGAc|Bz Az G4||
X: 4
T: The Blockers
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
A2|Bcdc BGG2|=FDCD FGAc|dg~g2 fgag|fdc_B A=FF2|
Bcdc BGG2|=FDCD FGAc|dg~g2 fgag|fdcA G2 :|
|g2dg BgdB|cBcd cAFA|DG~G2 FGAc|Bcde fdef|
[1 g2dg BGdB|cBcd cAF2|DG~G2 FGAc|BGAF G2:|
[2 g2 (3agf gBdB|cBcd cAF2|DG~G2 FGAc|BGAF G2:|

Eight comments

Sean Ryan’s

Ohhh, I love this tune. It’s not the easiest thing to pull off on a fiddle, but Frankie Gavin makes it sing and swing on DeDannan’s "Mist Covered Mountain cd. The A Part is pretty straightforward once your ear learns to like those c and f naturals. The B Part, however, throws that jumpy string crossing at us in the first measure (you can play the notes as in measure 5 if measure 1 is just too tricky). And then the fingering gets a little tight going from measure 3 to 4 (and again from measure 6 to 7). I’ve tried jumping from the E to A, with my index finger, or holding the E and A, at the same time, and the latter seems to work a little better for me.

So, this Sean Ryan fellow was quite a fiddler from County Tipperary, a key figure of the IRTRAD revival during the 1950s and 1960s. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music says he wrote more than 250 tunes, including Glen of Aherlow, now a popular session tune. Maybe we could just submit Sean Ryan tunes for a week…. ;-)

Will

Posted .

Sean Ryan plays this tune in G mix

Hey Will, I love this tune, I don’t know why Frankie put it in D, but it’s great in the original key.

“Ther Blockers”

Sean Ryan named it "The Blockers".

Sean Ryan’s “The Blockers”

and here it is:-

X:1
T:"The Blockers"
C:
L:1/8
Q:380
K:Gmix
M:4/4
z6 A2 |: Bc dc BG (3GAG | =FD CD FG Ac | dg (3gfg fg ag | fd c^A =A=F (3FEF | Bc dc BG (3GAG | \
=FD CD FG Ac | dg (3gfg fg ag |1 fd cA G2 A2 :|2 fd cA GA Bd |: g2 dg Bg dB | cB cd cA FA | \
DG (3GFG FG Ac | Bc de fd ef | g2 dg Bg dB | cB cd cA F2 | DG (3GFG FG Ac |1 BG AF GA Bd :|2 BG AF G2 A2 | \
BG AF G4 | \

Re: The Blockers

Does anyone know what ‘blockers’ refers to? Is this a sportsball reference?

The Blockers, X:4

Picked the setting in "The Hidden Ireland: First Selection of Irish Traditional Compositions of Sean Ryan", 1985
compiled by Brian Ryan.

Re: The Blockers

I suppose this is the original version, but I just noticed the indicated key was D major which of course doesn’t make much sense, I changed it to GM.