Haste to the Wedding — Mandolin Tab

Mandolin tab and sheet music with synced audio · Key of D · 120 BPM · 6/8 time · Traditional jig · Beginner

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

Before it was called "Haste to the Wedding," this tune went by the wonderfully random name "The Small Pin Cushion"! That was its earliest known appearance, in James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion of 1759. It only picked up its famous title when it was used in a London pantomime called The Elopement in 1767, and the name just stuck so hard that folklorist Samuel Bayard spent considerable ink wondering which came first, the name or the tune's wedding associations. What's even more fun is the sheer range of aliases this thing has accumulated over the centuries — across Irish, Scottish, English, and American traditions it's also been called "Rural Felicity," "Fast Trip to Reno," and, brilliantly, "Cut Your Toenails You're Tearing All The Sheets."

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.