Old Mill Wheel
“Millers Reel” is another traditional North American fiddle tune. I can’t say that I’m all that familiar with it. On the other hand, it does seem to have a familiar sound to it. It tends to to be one of those melodies that I may recognize, … or perhaps it just sounds similar to another tune that I’ve heard before.
Either way, I enjoyed working on it.
The tune has a shared popularity in Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the United States. However, it tends to be another one of those ‘melodies with muddied roots’. As a result, it has been called ‘traditional American’ and ‘traditional Irish’.
Some will dispute the origin of “Millers Reel”, but popular opinion tends to lean toward American roots.
Chords for Millers Reel
There are always an number of different shapes to explore for each chord, but here a few to get you started. However, a couple of them might take some practice, but this tune is good for that! There are a lot of quick chord changes throughout the melody to keep the left had moving.
The Tune
As with any tune, this melody can remain a simple version of the traditional, or get more complicated and intricate. Also like many tunes, you can definitely notice a different ‘flavor’ between the North American versions and those from Ireland and Scotland.
My version sticks fairly close to the traditional. It’s set here in 4/4 time and played in the key of A Major. It has a typical A-A-B-B format.
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What’s in a name?
Millers Reel is known by more than one name, as is the case with thousands of old tunes and melodies.
In Scotland and Ireland it may be referred to as “The Miller”, or “The Dawn Reel”.
But, it answers to few other names as well.
It is sometimes called “Dusty Miller Reel”, but don’t let that confuse you (like it did me), it is not the same “Dusty Miller” that Bill Monroe made famous. So, make sure you know which one is expected before you play along.
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You have a way of presenting a tune. You should expose your site to violinist/fiddle players and also Irish banjo.
You probably have a lot of them already (I’m interested in fiddle) but your tune and chord display is way better than a lot of sites. My main interest is Irish