If I Had a Wife
The melodies of these tune types tend to be quite simple but getting them to swing as they are supposed to isn’t that simple. It is the juxtaposition of quarter-eighth notes and groups of three eighth notes that give them their swing. The tempo of the full version is quite lively because I wanted to give you an idea of how slides swing, but the real tempo would be a little faster still. One way to find a good tempo is to imagine dancers dancing to the tune; the step is one two three, one two three so they need to be lively to keep the feet moving! I love playing slides and the bass lines that I have used make sense when you see set dancing performed to these tunes. As you can hear, we take the bass ideas one stage further from the polka; often
playing held chords (fundamental and chord buttons together / counterbass and chord
buttons together) in-between the beats in the A and B parts, and on beats one and four in the C part.
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