The pattern
| Instrument | Beat 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Beat 2 | Step 5 | Step 6 | Beat 3 | Step 8 | Step 9 | Beat 4 | Step 11 | Step 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest |
| Snare | hit | rest | hit | hit | rest | hit | hit | rest | hit | hit | rest | hit |
| Rim shot | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest |
| Tambourine | hit | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest |
How to play it and where it comes from
The Irish double jig is in 6/8 (two dotted-quarter pulses per bar, each divided into three eighths). Grid: 12 steps = two bars of 6/8 in eighths, BPM referring to the dotted quarter (in sessions jigs typically run between 100 and 125, a rule-of-thumb value). kick = the low bodhrán hit (rim struck near the center, hand behind the open skin) on the start of each bar; snare = “tip” strokes of the stick (tipper) on the eighths with the typical DOWN-up-DOWN pattern (not all equal: accent the first of each triplet); rim = a hit on the rim or a damped skin as an off-beat accent; tamb = the pulses (the guitarist's or bouzouki player's foot). Reels are in 4/4 (or 2/2) with slightly swung eighths, hornpipes in 4/4 with a marked swing, slip jigs in 9/8, slides in 12/8, polkas in 2/4 (source: Wikipedia, Irish traditional music). The bodhrán follows the phrase of the melody (eight bars per part, AABB) and varies the pattern the second time; avoid playing at a constant volume under the fiddle.