Below is the lesson for the traditional Irish ballad “Red is the Rose”.

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In this fingerstyle arrangement, you will learn a beautiful Irish ballad set to the tune of a Scottish love song. The melody original hailes from the Scottish song “Loch Lomond”, but features rewritten lyrics. Both songs share similar themes: the sadness of parting with one’s lover. This theme shines through the melody as it is bittersweet, yet beautiful.

This arrangement contains the main melody (16 bars in length) split into three sections:

Intro: the first half of the melody (8 bars), written with chord substitutions and slight variations.
Melody 1: a simplified take on the main melody.
Melody 2: a more intricate take on the main melody.

In the part 2 lesson, we will briefly discuss how Melody 2 altered the harmony to create a fuller sound. If you’d like to learn more about how the 3 elements (Melody, Harmony, Rhythm) can come together to create music, check out this brief lesson. And to dive deeper, check out these 2 courses:

An Introduction to Music Theory & Jamming: This course will provide a fundamental understanding of the basics of Music Theory and a thorough introduction to Harmony. Furthermore, this course sets out to bridge the gap between understanding Music Theory and applying it.

How to Write a Song on the Ukulele: This course is intended to introduce you to the steps required to write your own chord melodies.

Part 1 – Performance & Free Lesson

Part 2 – For Premium Members

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