Sarah's Jig Hilary's-Bonnie's-Kathy's JIgs Laurie's Waltz April's, Pete's & Deanna's Marches Laurie's Waltz
Bruce's March, Laurie's Squeezebox & Multnomah March Sarah's Jig Larry's Waltz Sandy's & Cathie's Waltzes
Bear Hug, Culhane's, Silver Bear Lydia's Jig Tony's Quadrille 4th of July & Pete's March M.F.C. Jig Laurie's Hornpipe
The Boys of Antrim The Francestown Jig Laurie's Squeeze-Box My Mother's Waltz New England Winter Joey's Hornpipe

CHORD SPECULATIONS

Bob McQuillen published most of his tunes without specifying the accompanying chords. He knew that there are often options for which chords to play, and it’s fun to experiment. We heard from numerous back-up players who wished there were published chord charts to go with these tunes, but Bob gave us the gift of ambiguity by not including chords in most of his tunes.

As one of our wrap-up activities when all the tunes had been played, we invited people to share their chords for any Bob tune they chose. These are their individual ideas, not prescriptions for the ‘right’ chords.

Laurie's Waltz

Andy Davis shared his chords for Laurie's Waltz. He writes, "A delightful waltz for a community dance. I have attached the chords we use when we play this."

Andy Davis' chord speculations for Laurie's Waltz

New England Winter

Andy Toepfer's chords for New England Winter, for the 1980 recording Applejack with Bob McQuillen. From Book 3.

Andy Toepfer's chords for New England Winter

My Mother's Waltz

Andy Davis shared his chords for a favorite waltz from Book 5

Andy Davis' chords for My Mother's Waltz

Laurie's Squeeze-Box

These chords, speculated by Laurie Andres, for a tune in his honor from Book 11.

Laurie Andres' chords for Laurie's Squeeze-Box

The Francestown Jig

These chords, speculated by Melissa Post, for this glorious jig from Book 5.
Books 1-15 contain 475 tunes in 6/8. Over 50 are 'composed through' in one or both parts.
Of these tunes, at least half are somewhere between delightful and fantastic. Here is one. Play it at least three times through - it will grow on you. Try it medleyed with The Boys of Antrim. Two glorious jigs.

Melissa Post's chords for The Francestown Jig

The Boys of Antrim

These chords, speculated by Laurie Andres, for this glorious jig from Book 6.

Laurie Andres' chords for The Boys of Antrim

Laurie's Hornpipe

From Book 3. Andy Toepfer's guitar chords for Laurie's Hornpipe. Hear it played by Applejack.

Below, the transcription for the harmony part. 

Andy Toepfer's chords for Laurie's Hornpipe, ca. 1979

1979 transcription of harmony part for Laurie's Hornpipe. © Laurie Indenbaum

Anne's Waltz

From Book 5. Laurie Andres shares the chords for Anne's Waltz, dedicated to Anne Thomas. Hear it played by Hand It Down.

Laurie Andres' chord speculations for Anne's Waltz

M.F.C. Jig

From Book 15. Melissa Post, a fiddler, pianist, accordionist and tune composer from Chester, Vermont, shared these chords with us. Bob's dedication reads, "I think that Doug Protsik's Maine Fiddle Camp is, without question, the greatest music learning event in New England. People both young and old come from all over to learn how to play traditional music on various instruments (not just fiddles) and they have the time of their lives. It's a truly wonderful place. P.S. The food there is out of this world, too!! YUMMY YUMMY!!"

Melissa Post's chords for M.F.C. Jig

4th of July / Pete's March

These chords, speculated by Laurie Andres, come from The Rhythm Rollers' WB Reid.

Hear their medley on YouTube. The chords on the recording are not quite exactly these. That's why we call them 'speculations'.
Bob McQuillen, WB Reid, Laurie Andres, Cathie Whitesides.

Laurie Andres' chords for 4th of July and Pete's March

Tony's Quadrille

From Book 5. Andy Davis shares his "basic and unassailable" chords for this gorgeous tune, honoring Tony Parkes.
Hear it played by Hand it Down (Laurie Andres, Cathie Whitesides & Bob himself) on YouTube.

Bob's dedication reads: "Tony Parkes, great piano player and caller for "Yankee Ingenuity," always makes me feel so welcome whever we meet. I sure hope you like this tune, Tony."

Tony's Quadrille from Book 5. Chord Speculations by Andy Davis

Lydia's Jig

From Book 8. Melissa Post, a fiddler, pianist, accordionist and tune composer from Chester, Vermont, shared these chords with us.

Bob's dedication reads: "Lydia Reeve is a lovely lady from Weare, NH, who comes to the local dances a lot with her nice husband Bob and cute little daughter Fritha. Lydia plays the fiddle, too, and so I thought she needed this tune to play on it. Don't you think that was a good idea?"

Lydia's Jig from Book 8. Chord Speculations by Melissa Post

Bear Hug Reel, Culhane's Hornpipe, The Silver Bear

West Coast Favorites, with Chord Speculations by Laurie Andres.

Laurie Andres' chord speculations for a favorite West Coast medley.

Sandy's Waltz & Cathie's Waltz

Bob's own chords for two of his most beautiful waltzes, dedicated to Sandy Bradley and Cathie Whitesides, two of his favorite West Coast musicians. Listen to these two gorgeous waltzes as played by Hand it Down (Laurie Andres, Cathie Whitesides and Bob).

Bob's own chords for Sandy's Waltz, dedicated to Sandy Bradley.

Bob's own chords for Cathie's Waltz, dedicated to Cathie Whitesides.

Larry's Waltz

These are Andy Toepfer's chords from the 1980 Applejack recording of Larry's Waltz. You'll see a few of Bob's own chords (printed in black ink, rather than Andy's pencil marks). Hear a recording of "Nerissa" and "Larry's Waltz" by Rodney & Randy Miller on their New England Chestnuts recording.

Andy Toepfer's chord speculations for Larry's Waltz

Sarah's Jig

Another chord speculation for Sarah's Jig - makes for a fun little baseline. Speculated by Deborah Maynard.

Deb Maynard's chord speculations for Sarah's Jig

More Marches! Bruce's, Laurie's Squeezebox, Multnomah

These three marches are played as a medley by Bob's West Coast Band, including in various combinations, Laurie Andres, WB Reid, Cathie Whitesides and Bob himself. Chord speculations by Laurie Andres.

Laurie Andres' chord speculations for Bruce's March and Laurie's Squeezebox

Laurie Andres' chord speculations for Multnomah March

April's, Pete's & Deanna's Marches

These three marches were recorded by New England Tradition: Bob with April Limber and Peter Colby on their "Farewell to the Hollow" recording. Peter Yarensky shares the chords he has intuited from the recording here, along his transcription of how the tune is played.
Download the 4-page pdf here. Hear the recording here.

Peter Yarensky's chord speculations for the medley recorded by New England Tradition on their Farewell to the Hollow recording.

Joey's Hornpipe

Andy Toepfer's chords for Joey's Hornpipe, Book 3.

Andy Toepfer's chords for Joey's Hornpipe

Laurie's Waltz

Speculated by Deborah Maynard
"Here's a Chord Speculation for Laurie's Waltz. Bob wrote this waltz for Laurie in 2012 when she was putting together "Bob's Big Book of Waltzes". I posted it to thank her for all her work on the Play All the Tunes Project. So much work! So many great tunes played, discovered and played again and again! It's a great tune - try it out.

Laurie's Waltz, © chord speculations by Deboarh Maynard

Three Jigs

Three jigs chord-speculated and edited by the one and only Laurie Andres.

Hilary's, Bonnie's and Kathy's Jigs. Chords by Laurie Andres.

Sarah's Jig

A classic Bob tune, excellent for contra dance. These are Andy Toepfer's chords from the 1980 Applejack recording of Sarah's Jig. Hear it on YouTube: Applejack

Sarah's Jig by Bob McQuillen, © 1979. Chords by Andy Toepfer