View Full Version : need tabs for hymns
The problem is a friend needs tabs for hymns to join in at church . We play the old hymns and he has tried but can't master notation . Does anyone know of a site that has the old time hymns in tab form so I can get him started . If not a free program that will create tabs . Any help wil be greatly appreciated .
mounmon
Jun-28-2006, 12:32am
Does your friend need actual melody lines, or just chords to accompany the hymns? If it's chords, there are tons of resources out there.
"What A Friend" in C is a good, simple one.
mounmon , he would like the melody lines . I was hoping I wouldn't have to sit down with pencil and paper to create a file for him.
Alan , that was about the first song I learned on the cornet . Tried it in C and you are right . I always play it in G .
jmcgann
Jun-30-2006, 6:51am
Another idea is if he can sing the melodies, he should be able to find the notes by ear...
gnelson651
Jul-01-2006, 7:09pm
It would probably take your friend less time to learn standard notation then the find hymns in tab. There just isn't that many mandolin tabbed gospel books.Instead, get him a beginning violin book and have him start learning. It took me all of one to two months to learn to read music to practice for our church band. I then was able to play along with the melody if I wasn't chording along. During that 1-2 month learning period I would chord, or as John suggest, learn the melody by ear.
The only hymnal book I know with mandolin tab is Steve Kaufman's "Flatpicking the Gospels." He provides an easy version and an advance version for each song.
I have seen the Kaufman book and had a copy of the guitar version . I am still working on ear training which for me is hit or miss , somedays on somedays off . He is a former guitar player maybe if I can encourage him to use his skills and knowledge of chords he may do fine with a little tweaking here and there.
I appreciate your responses .
gnelson651
Jul-04-2006, 9:13am
What I did to learn the hymns that we did in church before (and after) I learned enough notation was to record our sessions on a mini-cassette recorder. I could then listen over and over until I learned it by ear. Also, my little $30 Radio Shack recorder has variable speeds so I would record at the fastest speed, then slow it down to follow along.
Here is a good opportunity to start learning by ear. I've found that most hymnals are simple enough to aleast get the basic melody. Another suggestion is go to Gospel Music Achieve (http://www.gospelmusic.org.uk/) and get the chords to help in learning it by ear.
JEStanek
Jul-04-2006, 10:51am
What about learning to transcribe them? I'll post a scale chord sheet below, match the notation up with the fingerboard below and viola'.
The fingerboard is above, the 1, 2, 3, 4 above the staff show where the open string on the 1 (G) 2 (D) 3 (A), and 4 (E) strings are on the staff. DOn't forget to note your sharps and flats on the staff.
Jamie