I am attempting to play along to my friend on his tin whistle but its not sounding right.His tin whistle is stamped Bb which i am told is in the key of B flat.I have been told that to play along with him i should either put a capo at 1st fret and play chords in the key of A or put a capo on 3rd fret and play chords in the key of G(i've been told G is easier).
I can't work out any of this(i don't even know what key the chords i have are in)
How can you tell what key a tune is in from the chords?
The tunes we're playing and chords are;
The Boys of Bluehill
D,G,A,D,A,Bm,G,D,G,A,D,A,D,G,D,Em,G,D,A,Bm,G,D,G,A,D,A,D,G,D
The Blackthorn stick;
G D G D G Em G D G C D G
The Greencastle hornpipe;
G C G D G Em C G D G Em Am D Am D G Em Am C G D G
The Belfast Hornpipe
D D A7 D EM A7 D D Em A7 D G D D A7 G D D A7 D A7 D D G A7 A7 D G A7 D
The Harvest Home
D A G A G D A G D A D G D Em G A D Em A D A D
Saint Patrick's Day
G D C G D C G D Em G D C G D G Em G D C G D G Em G D C Em G D C G
Cronin's Hornpipe
G C G Em G Am D G C G Em D G D Em G EM Am D G C G Em D G
I was wondering if someone (or yourself PJ)could tell me what chords to play in these tunes.Maybe you could type out the new chords please?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as i am in a bit of a stick.Thanks in advance(hopefully)
sorry if i have been rambling on a bit.

I'll try to help you out... I'm just learning how to transpose songs. It's a bit of a challenge to figure out at first, but it starts getting easier as you do it. I wish I had paid more attention in Music Theory.

For the songs written in the key of G: just play them with the normal chord fingerings, but with the capo at the third fret. That will change your overall key to B flat. (Bb)

If you have printed sheet music (for piano) you can tell what key it is in fairly easily:
Here are some of the most common ones-
1 sharp - key of G
2 sharps - key of D
3 sharps - key of A
4 sharps - key of E
1 flat - key of F

This site may help you as well : http://www.cyberfret.com/misc-wisdom/capo/page6.php

Hope this is helpful. Good Luck!
PS - Excellent song selection!

Thanks for the help Troy L its very much appreciated to take the time out to reply.
I found the website link very useful but the whole transposing 'thing' is still a bit confusing.
If this is of any help i took a look at the music i have for the songs and noticed -
The boys of Bluehill
2# (sharps?)
1 on the top line and 1 in the second space down
The Blackthorn stick
1 #
1 on the top line
The Greencastle Hornpipe
1 #
1 on the top line
The Belfast Hornpipe
4 #
1 above the top line,1 on the top line,1 on the second line down and one in the second space down
The Harvest home
2 #
1 on the top line and 1 in the second space down
Saint Patricks Day
1 # on the top line
Cronin's Hornpipe
1 # on the top line

(These # symbols are just after the treble clef at the start of each line)

Glad you like the song collection.Thanks again.

Bob,

To play along with a Bb whistle, your best bet is indeed to capo the 3rd fret.

Problem is, with the whistle, you basically play tunes in the first and fifth ( doh and fah ), which is Bb and Eb ( or G and D on guitar with capo on 3rd )

In the songs you want to play, you can pretty much take it that the root key is the Start/End chord displayed, i.e. D for 'Bluehill', G for 'Blackthorn'.
These chords would seem to be intended for playing on a D whistle, where the 1st and 5th would be D and G.

Sooooo...... you're either gonna have to capo on the 8th fret, and play in D for the D tunes and G for the G tunes, or transpose the chords you have shown, moving the D tunes up 5 semitones to G, and the G tunes up 5 semitones to C, then play Bluehill in the newly converted G key, and Blackthorn in the newly-converted C key ( still with capo on 3rd ), while your friend plays Bluehill in his root (Bb or Doh) key
and Blackthorn in the 5th ( Eb or Fah ) key.

I realise all of this sounds complicated, but if you read my simple guide to transposition:
http://www.guitarsongs.info/transpos.htm
.. do the simple maths and change all of the chords so that Bluehill will be... G C D G D Em etc.
and Blackthorn will be C G C G C Am etc., when you play these with capo on 3rd, you should be spot on to accompany the tunes on Bb whistle.

PJ