Bag of Spuds — Mandolin Tab

Mandolin tab and sheet music with synced audio · Key of D · 120 BPM · 4/4 time · Irish Reel · Starter

Chords used in this arrangement: D, G, A.

One fun thing about Bag of Spuds is that the tune goes by a whole pile of names. Across sessions you'll encounter it as "The Sligo Dandy," "An Mála Fataí," "The Gypsy," and even "Eddie Dunne's Favourite," and those are just a few. That kind of identity crisis is pretty common in the tradition, but this one's particularly well-traveled. Poet and flute player Ciarán Carson actually wrote a whole column for the Journal of Music just about the experience of learning it, noting how the tune can feel urgent and full of drive at speed, yet strangely ruminative and beautiful played slow, which tells you something about how much life is in there. It's been in session circulation since at least 1921, so there's real mileage on it. In D it sits nicely under the fingers on mandolin, but pay attention to the B-part because those high runs move fast. Enjoy this mandolin tab version of Bag of Spuds.

This page includes mandolin tablature, standard music notation, and a chord chart — printable as PDF and playable in sync with the original recording. Change the key, slow the tempo down, and loop the bars you want to practise.