Traditional Music >> Tunes >> Tab Collection >> Scottish >> Comin' Thro' the Rye   Comin' Thro' the Rye

THIS TUNE IS WELL KNOWN largely because Robert Burns wrote lyrics to it ("Gin a body meet a body comin' thro‘ the rye"). There are actually quite a few older Scottish tunes which could be the original tune, the earliest of these being The Duke of Buccleugh's Tune, published in 1690.

The tune contains the snap, which characterises almost all Strathspeys. Look at the third and fourth notes; the rhythm indications (the half-bar at the top of the stem and the dot) have been reversed, leading to a short striking of the open D string followed quickly by a longer note on the second fret of the A string.

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