Soldier's Joy

Reel in 4/4, D major, 50 bpm

At a glance
Key	D major
Level	Intermediate
Type	Reel in 4/4
Form	Two eight bar strains, each played twice. 32 bars in all.
Chords	D, A
Tempo	50 bpm
Position	First position, up to the fifth fret
Recording	Mandolin, 1:19 at 50 bpm
Also	Old-time and bluegrass standard

Soldier's Joy is one of the oldest fiddle tunes still in everyday circulation, and one of the most widely played. Printed settings turn up in the British Isles from the 1760s onward. From there it carried into American old-time, bluegrass, and New England dance repertoires, collecting local titles and a few hundred variations along the way. Nearly every jam knows it, so it makes a good first reel to get under your fingers.

There is a persistent story that the title was Civil War slang for a mix of whiskey and morphine. It is a good tale and it gets told often. The tune was already a century old when that war started, though, so file it under legend.

Mandolin tab and sheet music

Both parts, written the way the app plays them: standard notation on top, mandolin tab underneath, chord letters over the bars where the chord changes.

Play it with the band

Tuning G D A E. Every note sits in first position, so nothing here moves past the fifth fret. On a phone, drag the sheet sideways to read across a line.

mandolintrainer.com/tunes/soldiers-joy/

0:00 / 1:19

Played on a real mandolinThe setting above at 50 bpm, once through, both parts. Take the written notes as slowly as you need while they are new. This is the feel to aim for once they are under your fingers.

The chords, and a band to play them with

What a jam plays behind this tune, bar by bar. The oldest breakdown anybody calls. Two chords the whole way through.

Tempo50BPM

The number counts in 2, one boom-chuck to a beat, the way a jam and a backing track count a reel. A jam calls a reel around 100 and up.

A x2

DDDADDDAD

B x2

DADADADAD

Two eight bar strains, each played twice. 32 bars in all.

Change the chords

The band plays from the row above, at the tempo set there, and lights each bar of the tab as it goes. Changing the chords opens the app, and the link keeps what you wrote.

Think you have it under your fingers?

Mandolin Trainer listens through your microphone and grades this tune note by note as you play, so you find out where it falls apart before the jam does. The Tunes shelf holds this setting. Free while it is in beta.

Play it in the app

Runs in your browser. The audio never leaves your device. iOS app coming soon.

More tunes

What else is written out here, and what is next in line.