Portland, OR 4/20/25 was my 70th Phish concert

When Laura and I were getting ready to move to the Portland area in 2024, there was a rumor that Phish might play Providence Park, home of the Timbers and Thorns soccer teams, that summer. It didn't pan out, so when rumors resurfaced of Phish playing The Moda Center this spring I didn't get my hopes up too much until it was officially announced. For once I didn't have to worry about booking accommodations because we can walk to the MAX light rail from our house and take it all the way to the Rose Quarter stop where the Moda Center be. 

I got a pair of tickets in the Phish lottery that weren't ideal, and being the greedy person that I am, I tried again the moment they went on sale through Ticketmaster and found two pretty darn good seats in a small mini-section on its own rail above the crowd looking diagonally at the stage. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the day to come.

I woke up on the day of the show with butterflies in my stomach. This was going to be a big deal: the first time Phish has played Portland, OR since 1999. And it was on a 4/20 - which is kind of like a hippie holiday - in a state where cannabis is legal, and on Easter which is some other kind of holiday. Songs such as Buried Alive, Makisupa Policeman, and Jesus Just Left Chicago were among our pre-show speculation.

I hung around the house that morning, played Irish tenor banjo, took the dog for a walk, and then when I couldn't take it any more I convinced Laura to leave an hour earlier than planned. Once we got on the train I checked my stats for the first time in a while and noticed that this was going to be my 70th show. I knew it was around that number but I wasn't sure that it was 70 until I checked.

We got off one stop shy of the Moda Center to have pizza at our favorite place in Old Town. Once we sat at the bar and I got a beer in me I could finally relax a bit. After a while we got back on the train with our next destination being Upright Brewing. I believe Upright Brewing is the closest brewery to the Moda Center. Each time we've been there to pre-game Winterhawks hockey games they were always playing Phish music on the speakers. This time it was more like a chill dub reggae mix but that's actually better than being directly on the nose. Upright wasn't crowded at all when we got there, but it was still not even 5:00pm yet.

Upright is named after the instrument played by upright bassist Charles Mingus, with pictues of Mingus and other jazz musicians such as Sun Ra and Rahsaan Roland Kirk for the eye to see. I like Upright's beers...they have things like Irish red ales, bitters, and pale ales with a couple things always on cask. It quickly got crowded after we got there and soon the line was out the door.

In true Portland fashion, the weather this day was pretty classic. As chilly as you would expect and slightly overcast or partially sunny. Suddenly, it decided to rain while we were in the brewery. Portland gotta be Portland. It didn't last long though and soon we were walking toward the venue through a maze of nitrous balloon vendors. Not to be distracted, we went fairly straightly through one of the the Moda Center entrances.

Having scoped it out during a Trail Blazers game, I knew that cheap beer could be found in Section 303 at the Low Bar for $5.50 a can. Absolutely no line, so it was a good place to double fist it. Then we went back down to the 100's to be impressed by our seats. Nobody was going to be standing in front of our short selves today!

Time passed quickly. I was currently in a good mood, I had previously been in a good mood, and I remained in a good mood. Lights go down and here comes Phish. They opened with 46 Days and that was an instant highlight because it sounded to me like they were quickly taking it to new places and trying out new effects and sounds. 

Unlike Black-Eyed Katy, Moma Dance has historically been a meh song for me but I wasn't going to let it occupy that space on this evening. Cities was well received by the Portland crowd. Plasma seemed to be not as well received. Bouncin' is a song I can appreciate and on this occasion I did. Sigma Oasis went deep, vying with 46 Days for best jam of the set. Antelope came next and was intelligently designed to crush. I'm sorry but Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. felt like a tacked on afterthought. Not that I didn't enjoy it though. Set break.

A Wave of Hope is not really an A-list song, at least not for me, but within the jam Phish did that thing where you lose track of what song it is. Twist was good and I enjoyed trying to wooh in both the right and wrong places. Scents and Subtle Sounds was a surprise and was probably my favorite song of the entire night. I kept my clothing on. Everything's Right gave me a moment to be critical for the first time of the evening, which I then quickly corrected myself. All was made good when it segued into Boogie on Reggae Woman. My previous show in Philadelphia in 2023 also had a well placed Boogie on Reggae Woman. 

Having seen some great 2001's in the 90's, I'm a bit of a 2001 skeptic, but I succumbed to its tension /release as always. Trey gave his all for A Life Beyond the Dream. Then it was time for the elephant in the room - Harry Hood. Portland got its Hood! 

A lot of things had combined into my mind by this point so the encore is a little hazy. It was Wilson and Slave to the Traffic Light. That could have been an encore in 1994 but here it is 2025. I have no complaints whatsoever. Do I have attendance bias??? Maybe. Although Phish is so good and so consistent these days there are no bad shows.

Getting out of the Moda Center didn't go as planned. Okay, we managed to find and bring with us our now empty water bottles. I think I was visualizing a different side of the building than where we came out on. For a few minutes we just walked with the flow of foot traffic, living in the moment. Then when it was time to find the train stop it wasn't where it was supposed to be, nor were we. I'm pretty sure the train had stopped running by that point in the evening anyway. No problem, part-time stand-up comic Dan the Uber man to the rescue. I have his number if you need it.

***

Kala tenor guitar for Irish music

I couldn't find much information about playing Irish tunes on a Kala Solid Spruce Top Pau Ferro tenor guitar, so I thought I would post something. This guitar does not come in left-handed but I am fortunate to know a local stringed instrument setup and repair person who set it up lefty for me by filling and re-cutting the saddle. It sounds great! 

I've been wanting a tenor guitar for playing Irish music, to use as an alternative to tenor banjo. I chose this Kala tenor guitar primarily because of its scale length (21.5 inches as opposed to 23 inches) and because of its price. I paid $250 for it with free shipping, and after the conversion to lefty the total cost was $370. It comes with a nice gig bag and the scale length is similar to a short-scale tenor banjo. I have it tuned GDAE. 

I haven't taken it to a session yet, so I don't know how it'll hold up in that environment. My guess is that it will not be as loud as a tenor banjo, but should be good for playing along in a group setting when you just want to blend in instead of stand out.  

Tenor guitar compared to tenor banjo:

-Less volume so good for practicing at home during quiet hours.

-More sustain, more responsive.

-Needs a strap, whereas tenor banjo can just sit in your lap.

-Lighter weight.

-Similar neck feel.

-Same tuning, CGDA or GDAE or DGBE.

-Similar scale length.

Irish Music by Process of Elimination

Here are some prerequisites or characteristics of the type of music I am capable of playing and/or am interested in playing:

• You can play all-melody, all-the-time and not have to worry about anything else.
• Where my chosen primary instrument - the tenor banjo - is generally accepted.
• Instrumental; no singing required.
• Where there is a local, inclusive community of fellow hobbyist/amateur musicians who play and know a certain repertoire.
• All acoustic: no electric or amplification needed.
• Is non-performance oriented but the sessions/jams can take place in pubs, breweries and coffee shops where folks sit around a table and play tunes whether customers are listening or not.
• Where a lot of the music is available online for free in sheet music notation if you need it.
• Accessible to beginners but no limit to how far you can take it.

As far as I know, the only music that checks all of these boxes for me is Irish traditional music.

On that note, it's time to get back to halfway familiarizing myself with more tunes!

Hanging on at a Fast Irish Session

Hanging on at a Fast Irish Session

My fast is moderate. My moderate is slow. If left to my own devices, I wouldn't exceed 80 bpm for a reel or 90 bpm for a jig. So an Irish session that runs 20% over my comfort zone can be a shock to the system. If I were to try to play every single note as I might have them memorized, in the sequence that I know them, I’d fall behind very quickly. So I have to make adjustments on the spot.

In an effort to stay in sync and not lag behind, I might only grab about 75% of the notes I would normally play when trying to keep up at a fast-for-me Irish session. You’ve just got to know which notes to leave in and which notes to take out, and the more familiar you are with the sound of the tune, the easier that may be. I don't actually practice or rehearse this. It's just something I improvise in the moment based on what I am feeling capable of.

If I were to actually practice this at home, a good first step would be to remove everything but the quarter notes. In other words, remove the notes that are pick-direction “up strokes”. Then once you have it stripped down to those bare essentials, you can add back in whatever up-stroke notes you feel are necessary to make the tune sound more like itself. Pretty much every tune can be simplified in this manner.

Another way to do it is to take the full sheet music version of the tune and then whittle away at it by identifying places in each measure or two where you can make adjustments. Places where you are like “nope my fingers aren’t going to do that” when playing fast. The sequence of triplets in Harvest Home comes to mind, as does the little end-tag thing at the end of each part of Rakes of Mallow. There are less "notey" ways to play those sections. 

The more that a tune is under your fingers, the more equipped you are to make variations to that tune when you need to or want to. In a beginner-level slow session this might mean going hog wild with attempting triplets or other ornaments, but in a high-speed setting where you are pushed beyond your normal limits, it might mean getting rid of everything but the basic melodic line so that you can still play in the sandbox.

***

Key Signature in Irish Music

Key Signature in Irish Music

When looking at the sheet music for a garden variety Irish session tune, seeing one sharp in the key signature does not tell me that the tune is in G, just like seeing two sharps does not inform me that the tune is in D. What one sharp can tell me is that some or all of the following notes are expected to be in the tune: D, E, F#, G, A, B and C. What two sharps lets me know is that some or all of the following notes should be present: D, E, F#, G, A, B and C#. 

The notes D, E, F#, G, A and B are pretty much expected to be there, so what I’m really looking for is whether the sheet music thinks the tune is more reliant on a C or a C# note within its melody. You might even observe C natural accidentals within the notated music when there are two sharps in the key signature, since it’s not unusual for a tune to have both a C and a C#. 

On the rare occasion that the key signature shows three sharps, I check the notation to see if that’s really true. Does the tune really use the notes D, E, F#, G#, A, B and C# or are there G-natural “accidentals” present? If you see three sharps in the key signature but then G-natural “accidentals” throughout the tune itself, it might just mean that the person writing the score was trying to convey an A modality. 

Another thing the key signature does not explicitly tell you is what drone note is going to sound the most correct for the duration of the tune, and this is important for understanding the modal aspect of Irish music. This is more of an ear thing. Generally speaking, the tonal center could be either D, G, A or E.  I recommend separately playing each of those four home notes - D, G, A and E - over a recording of the tune to decide for yourself which one resonates the best. 

One sharp could mean D-Mixolydian, G-Ionian, A-Dorian or E-Aeolian and each of these have different feels despite having the same key-signature. Two sharps could mean D-Ionian, A-Mixolydian, or E-Dorian. You can kind of rule out G as a home base when the key signature has two sharps because, you know, there ain’t gonna be no Lydian up in there. This is Irish music we’re talking about, not the Disco Biscuits!

Another thing I’d like to mention is that Irish tunes can be hexatonic, which means a six-note scale. (I had to look up what a six note scale is called). And the funny thing is, when only six different notes are required to play the basic tune, the note which gets omitted is often C/C# or F/F#! Think on that for a minute. This is another indication that the key signature chosen by the transcriber/arranger doesn’t tell the whole story.

el fin

Where to add Triplets and Double Stops in Irish Tunes on Mandolin or Tenor Banjo

First off, I'm not really qualified to be commenting on where to add triplets or double stops in Irish tunes. But I do have a theoretical idea of where they could go. So this post is to help document what I am in the process of figuring out.

Where to Add Triplets

There are lots of places to add triplets, but here are two that are probably the most simple or obvious. 

Triplet Rule Number One: Any time there's a quarter note/long note/crotchet you can add a triplet. By quarter note or long note I simply mean a note that has a brief pause after it. For example, look at the G note at the beginning of measure one of The Sally Gardens, or the D note at the beginning of measure 3. Those are quarter notes and a perfect place to add a triplet. You can just do GGG in place of that G. Or DDD in place of that D. That's going to sound OK. You don't have to get any fancier than that at first.

Triplet Rule Number Two: Any time there's a 3rd interval on one string, you can add a triplet, whether you are going up or down. There's an interval like that in measure two of The Sally Gardens. The first two notes of that measure are D and B, fret 5 to fret 2. So you could make that a triplet by playing D-C-B, frets 5-3-2. Or take a look at measure three. You could do it going the other direction by adding a C note between B and D for a B-C-D triplet. Or if you miss that one, there's another chance at the end of that measure where the last two notes are (3rd fret) G and (open) E. You could do G-F#-E as a triplet.  

That's all I'm going to say about triplets for now! On to double stops.

Where to Add Double Stops

I think of a double stop as being a two note mini-chord. Basically, you still play the same melody note as you would normally but you find a note on the next lower string that harmonizes with it. I've been thinking about some choices you can make that the odds should be in favor of. I'll go string-by-string since it's not always the same. Note: sometimes there are two choices that can be used interchangeably. Other times it may be one or the other depending on the harmony of the moment.

D String/3rd String Melody (Double Stop on G String/4th String)

Open D. Double stop on 2nd fret A (D chord) or 4th fret B (G chord / B minor chord).

2nd fret E. Double stop on open G (C major chord / E minor chord) or 4th fret B (E minor chord).

4th fret F#. Harmonize with 2nd fret A (D chord) or 4th fret B (B minor chord).

5th fret G. The obvious choice that will always work is the octave 4th string open G. Another good choice is the 4th fret B (G chord).

A String/2nd String (Double Stop on 3rd String / D String)

Open A. Double stop on 2nd fret E (A chord) or 4th fret F# (D chord).

2nd fret B. Harmonize with open D (G chord) or 4th fret F# (B minor chord).

3rd fret C. Double stop on 2nd fret E (C chord / A minor chord).

4th fret C#. Double stop on 2nd fret E (A chord).

5th fret D. Octave with open D or double stop on 4th fret F# (D chord).

E String / 1st String (Double Stop on 2nd String / A String)

Open E. Harmonize with 2nd fret B (E minor chord), or 3rd fret C (C chord or A minor), or 4th fret C# (A chord). The choice of C and C# is not an either/or. You have to know which of those notes is part of the mode the tune is in.

2nd fret F#. Double stop on open A (D chord).

3rd fret G. Double stop on 2nd fret B (G chord).

5th fret A. Octave with open A or double stop on 3rd fret C (A minor chord) or 4th fret C# (A chord). Once again, C vs. C# depends on the tune.

You may notice there are some common shapes or patterns. 

With any of these, use sparingly until you figure out what sounds good. If it's adding to the music great! If it's taking away from it then don't.

***

The Modes and Scales of Irish Tunes

One thing I’ve noticed about Irish session tunes, at least those played at intermediate level sessions in both Oregon and Virginia, is that over 90% of the tunes use notes from either the D scale or the G scale, including the various modal variations of those scales (D mixolydian, E dorian, E aeolian, A dorian, A mixolydian). This means the the majority of the tunes require only the notes D E F# G A B plus either C or C#. I think this is because some of the common instruments used by hobbyists of Irish music, such as tin whistle, aren’t entirely chromatic and can only play certain notes, with the notes in the key of D being the most accessible.

This observation has me feeling empowered to make broad generalizations about the scales and modes commonly heard in Irish sessions! As categorized below.

D through D with a C#

This is your standard D major scale. D Ionian. The notes used are D E F# G A B C#. Tons of reels have this: Lady Anne Montgomery, Maid Behind the Bar, Merry Blacksmith, Silver Spear, Wind that Shakes the Barley, Wise Maid.

D through D with a C

This is what they call a “modal” scale, although it’s one with a major sound. It uses the same notes as the G major scale but with D as the tonal center. Also known as D Mixolydian. The notes used are D E F# G A B C. Common in jigs such as Banish Misfortune, Blarney Pilgrim and I Buried My Wife. 

G through G with a C

This is your standard G major scale. G Ionian. The notes used are G A B C D E F#. Examples include Father Kelly’s, Kesh Jig, and Miss Mcleod’s Reel. Sometimes these dip into a minor feel as heard in Temperance Reel or maybe even Out on the Ocean. E minor is the relative minor of G, after all!

A through A with a C

This is another modal scale but it has a minor sound. In Irish music, it’s often referred to as simply “A minor”, but to be more exact it’s usually A Dorian. The notes of that being A B C D E F# G, although sometimes the F# (or implied F natural?) is not present, which means it could pass for either A Dorian or A Aeolian since it omits the note which would distinguish it as one or the other. “A Minor” is a catch-all term that works either way. Check out Geese in the Bog, Lilting Banshee, Star of Munster, and so on. The Ballydesmond polkas as well.

A through A with a C#

You could easily mistake these types of tunes as being in D major because they use the same notes as the D major scale: D E F# G A B C#. However, they like to center around the note A of that scale so that with that tonal world in mind, the notes of the mode are A B C# D E F# G. Same notes, just starting at a different part of the clock or the wheel. This is called A mixolydian. You might hear it in reels such as Dinky’s, the High Reel, Monaghan Twig, and the jig Atholl Highlanders.

E through E with a C or E through E with a C#

Unlike A through A with a C and A through A with a C#, which sound very different, the two E through E scales used in Irish music both sound pretty similar. For one thing, they are always going to have an E-minor sound. Sometimes an E minor tune will eschew having either a C or a C# note, making the difference between E Dorian and E Aeolian open to interpretation. With the exception of E minor hornpipes which seem to have a C note, I tend to assume these are in E Dorian which would make the notes E F# G A B C# D. Although it could also be E F# G A B C D. There’s a long list of E minor tunes including Road to Lisdoonvarna, Cooley’s Reel, Drowsy Maggie, The Butterfly, A Fig for a Kiss, King of the Fairies, Jacky Tar and more.

Some other observations:

Some tunes could go either way. Star Above the Garter is one that I hear as having D as its tonal center, so I put it in the D through D with a C category, while others might say it’s just in the key of G.

On the rare occasion that a tune does have an F natural note built-in, it stands out. Like in Chief O’Neill’s hornpipe or the errant D-Dorian reel. It brings an F-chord or D-minor chord into the options.

In Virginia I would hear Irish tunes in A major sometimes as well, but I think this is because the instruments that could play in A major like fiddle and accordion were alpha in the session. Boys of Malin for example. I would call this A through A with a C# and a G# instead of a G.

Some tunes toggle between C and C#.

***