How to Play The Ship Doctor on the Tin Whistle

e minor · 9/8 · 200 BPM · Slip Jig · Beginner

The Ship Doctor is a slip jig you can learn on the tin whistle, set in e minor (9/8, around 200 beats per minute). It uses 11 distinct notes, ranging from D5 up to G6 — all within the D whistle’s range.

Slip jig in e minor (121 notes after repeat-expansion).

The tin whistle notes for The Ship Doctor start G F# E E E B G E B G E E 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 Ship Doctor with these notes in order. Same letter in a higher octave uses the same fingering — overblow for the second register.

G F# E E E B G E B G E E D A F# D G F# E E F# G A B C B A G A B G E G E D E F# G A B C B A B G E E F# G A B C B A G A B G E

Sheet music

ABC notation

X:38389
T:The Ship Doctor
R:slip jig
M:9/8
L:1/8
K:Eminor
|:GFE ~E2e BGE|BGE~E2d AFD|GFE ~E2F GAB|cBA G2A BGE:|! g2e efe ede|gfg A2B c3|BAE ~E2F GAB|cBA G2A BGE|! ~g3 e2d e2f|~g3 A2B cBA|BGE ~E2F GAB|cBA G2A BGE|
% Source: https://thesession.org/tunes/19492 setting 38389

Fingering chart

The Ship Doctor uses these notes on the D tin whistle: D5, E5, F#5, G5, A5, B5, C6, D6, E6, F#6, G6.

D5
E5
F#5
G5
A5
B5
C6
D6
E6
F#6
G6

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