How to Play The Butterfly on the Tin Whistle
e minor · 9/8 · 200 BPM · Slip Jig · Intermediate
The Butterfly is a slip jig you can learn on the tin whistle, set in e minor (9/8, around 200 beats per minute). It uses 9 distinct notes, ranging from D5 up to G6 — all within the D whistle’s range.
Slip jig in e minor — 146 notes, difficulty 3/5.
The tin whistle notes for The Butterfly start B E G E F# B E G E F# E D… Full sequence below.
The interactive sheet music shows a fingering chart under every note. Press Play this tune to play along while the app listens to your microphone and grades every note, or print a clean copy of the score.
Tin whistle notes
On a D tin whistle, play The Butterfly with these notes in order. Same letter in a higher octave uses the same fingering — overblow for the second register.
B E G E F# B E G E F# E D B E G E F# B D D B A F# D B B A G A B B A B D B A B B A G A B D G E D B A
Sheet music
ABC notation
X:10 T:The Butterfly R:slip jig M:9/8 L:1/8 K:Eminor |:B2E G2E F3|B2E G2E FED|B2E G2E F3|B2d d2B AFD:|! |:B2d e2f g3|B2d g2e dBA|B2d e2f g2a|b2a g2e dBA:|! |:B3 B2A G2A|B3 BAB dBA|B3 B2A G2A|B2d g2e dBA:| % Source: https://thesession.org/tunes/10 setting 10 (traditional, public domain)
Fingering chart
The Butterfly uses these notes on the D tin whistle: D5, E5, F#5, G5, A5, B5, D6, E6, G6.
More tin whistle tunes
- How to play Banish Misfortune on the tin whistle
- How to play Byrne's on the tin whistle
- How to play Cal Callaghan's on the tin whistle
- How to play Callaghan's on the tin whistle
- How to play Carolan's Welcome on the tin whistle
- How to play Chief O'Neill's Favourite on the tin whistle
- How to play Chief O'Neill's Favourite on the tin whistle
- How to play Come West Along The Road on the tin whistle
- How to play Cooley's on the tin whistle
- How to play Corney Is Coming on the tin whistle
- How to play Cronin's on the tin whistle
- How to play Cuckoo's Nest on the tin whistle