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Ladhar lair

from Edward Bunting, The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin 1840), Page 26: Double notes, chords, etc. for the right hand.


Irish Ladhar láir spoken by Gráinne Yeats
Scottish Gaelic ladhar làir spoken by Tony Dilworth

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“By first and second fingers; a third.”

Simon Chadwick 2008


This right hand (bass) figure is identical to the left hand (treble figure) bolsgan. As a descending sequence, the two fingers used can slide to the notes above to silence them. Note that in the musical example, the sequence straddles comhluighe, which means the fingers have to change from being 3 strings apart to being 2 strings apart.

Simon Chadwick 2008


Ladhar lair - Middle of hand

The genitive form of lár, the usual Irish for 'middle', is láir, here used adjectivally, as it often is, to mean 'central' or 'of the centre' (thus 'central space between fingers'). Bunting's English is therefore not strictly accurate, but maybe it is close enough: the footnote tells us that the chords are played 'By first and second fingers'.

See also Ladhar.

Colm Ó Baoill 2002