Learning to play "To Work upon the Railroad" on guitar gives you a chance to put those natural minor scales to work. The song “To Work upon the Railroad” is also known by its Gaelic title, “Filimiooriooriay.” But we couldn’t pronounce that title, let alone tell you what it means. So we named our version according to a lyric that repeats in the song.
“To Work upon the Railroad” is a driving song that features neat two-bar sequences. Compare the first two bars in the music to the next two to see that the melody is nearly the same. The only difference is that you start from a different note.
Also notice the time signature of 6/8, which is felt in 2 (two beats per measure). The time signature 6/8 is often used to give music a light, buoyant feel, so it’s a good meter for jigs and marches.
Play this song using natural minor scale in 7th position, starting with the 1st finger. Other than the initial finger-hop (playing two consecutive strings at the same fret with the same finger) you must perform in bar 1, this song is fairly easy to play. The second half of the tune is very close to the first half. The difference is that it has slight rhythmic variations.
