Your First Tune

[abusemonkey]

Hello all,

I'd first like to blame/thank you all for inciting a raging desire to learn the mandolin. #I had decided to try my hand and learning an instrument after being away from music for a long while and came across the cafe here. #Stopped looking elsewhere immediately. #I've been lurking for quite a few weeks now and have learned alot. I'm basically starting from scratch and the resources here and the links have been spectacular. #Not to mention the enthusiasm conveyed by all of you who post, which provides quite a boost for a shy Canuck like me.

So as a beginner, I thought it might be fun (and potentially usefull) to ask what the first tune you learned? Either as an outright beginner like me, or just new to the mandolin.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

I would suggest getting the book "Mandolin Primer" by Bert Casey and just working your way through it. One of the things I like about that book is that it teaches you technique by teaching you songs. Sure, the first song is "Yankee Doddle", not a song you usually hear at a bluegrass jam, but you have to start somewhere right? By the time you get through the book you will know quite a few standards like Soldier's Joy, Blackberry Blossom, and so on.

It also comes with a CD with backing tracks for every song at a slow, medium, and up to tempo speed. It's a great resource. But most of all, just have fun.

[JeffS]

Red Haired Boy. It was by accident though. I was actually playing a lot of tunes from tab and was set on learning either Rocky Top, Irish Washerwoman, or Sailor's Hornpipe as a first tune. I had run through Red Haired Boy a few times a few times but was never really intent on learning it. So I'm sitting in the Lazee Boy one night just picking around some scales and I hit on part of the melody. Next thing I know I'm playing it from memory. I wish everything was that simple but it has not been. I'm still a newbie, only been playing mandolin for a few months but really like it. I own 3 guitars and never touch them, but I hadn't touched them in years anyway.

Right now I'm working on not using tab. I can read music as I played trumpet for many years. With guitar I only played chords and used tab for melodies so I really know very little about the fingerboard. I don't want to do that again. So I am trying to learn the fingerboard and the notes. If anyone knows of any good instructional material for this I'd appreciate it. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Lessons are what I really need but my work schedule just won't allow it.

[Bobbie Dier]

The first tune I learned was the gospel tune "Farther Along".
ima

[lownote]

I'll Fly Away. #I remember thinking how cool it was laying down the melody with an open G chord. That was about 2 years ago, and I still like playing the old song.

Lee

[Michael H Geimer]

Monkey,
I was sitting around with friends the afternoon I first got a mandolin. I was just messing around trying to make sense of the 'fifths', trying to suss out some scales. Well, my buddy thought it sounded a lot like Beethoven's 9th. It wasn't, but with little effort I did manage to sound out the main melody ... so I guess the first thing I ever learned was The Ode to Joy. It's still great fun to play, and a good test of your alternate picking skills!

- Benignus

[beachbum]

Hey Jeff S, the Hal Leonard Mandolin Method by Rich Del Grosso teaches you to read music. Make sure you get the copy with the CD.

[Tom C]

My very first tune was Golden Slippers.
Every year Barry Mitterhoff has his students over for a student recital. The only rulse is if you go, you have to play. I was playing for 2 weeks before I had to play in front of people. Arrrrg.

[Coy Wylie]

'Bile them Cabbage Down.

[neal]

That Popeye song. Here's a link to a song by a new mandolin player, just a kid around 14, been playing for 2 years or so, listen to what can be done with practice and patience.(and a wee bit o' talent ) Josh P (http://www.brentrup.com/mandolincafe/pinkham.mp3)

Enjoy and welcome aboard!

[Wadefox]

"Sandy Boys"

It was a great boost when I was starting out, because it was easy to learn quickly. I don't play it much anymore, though.

[onlyagibsonisgoodenuff]

Actually learned Huckleberry Hornpipe, then Limerock. Both took way too long to learn as a beginner, but then again what's time to a hog?

[Keith Wallen]

My first tune was "We Live in two Different Worlds" I think that is the name of it. Does anyone know if that's right? I went to my Great Uncle to see if I could borrow one of his mandolins to get started and he gave me his Gibson A5 and taught me that tune and one other that I can't think of right now.

[John Flynn]

I learned my first tune on the mando about 12 years ago on a "Lotus" brand Pac Rim "plywood special." The tune was "Woody's Rag" by Woody Guthrie. Apparently, even though Woody was most often pictured with a guitar, he a was a mando player also. I learned the tune from Jack Tottle's "Bluegrass Mandolin" book.

[thistle3585]

Yanke doodle from Bert Casey's book.

[mandocaster]

My first tune was Donna Lee, fourteen years later I decided to switch to Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Really - my first tune was Over the Waterfall.

[John Rosett]

my first tune on the mando was " sweet georgia brown". i bought an old stradolin at a junk store in ft lauderdale, fl. shortly before i fled florida. i picked out the melody while sitting beside the highway south of atlanta waiting for a ride.
john

[mingusb1]

"Liza Jane"

Straightforward and pretty. #

Gals like that get me, too!

Z

[mandough]

The first tune I learned was also " 'Bile Them Cabbage Down". And let me tell you, when I learned that little tune, I "'Biled Them Cabbage Down" for like a week straight. I mean night and day! I was so enamoured with myself! Unfortunately, I think I also 'Biled my Girlfriend's Nerves Down as well http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[Joe Mendel]

Liberty, it's still one of my favorites 20 years later.

[LeftCoastMark]

My first tune on mandolin was "Pretty Little Blanco River Waltz" by Peter Rowan off of "Bluegrass Boy." Great Tune.

I still play it at contradances, and the other guys are still trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

[craig]

Ashokan Farewell (first tune i really learned--memorized)
--great starter song.
--instantly gratifying.
--slow tempo (it's a waltz).
--you can play along with the "Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza" CD which makes it all the more satisfying.
--free sheet music for it at www.co-mando.com

[ira]

ole joe clark
and the bass line from steve miller :the joker

[harwilli55]

The first tune I picked by ear was "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain" in G http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

The first tunes that I practiced to learn was "Irish Washerwoman" and "Over The Waterfall"

You will have a blast and should be able to find your way in the beginning around the keyboard easily. I have never played an instrument that lends itself so well to learning by ear. I am starting to practice scales and find it also a more natural fit.

Have fun....you'll be addicted in no time

Harlan

[JiminRussia]

Cripple Creek, and I still can'tplay it coretly.....Doh!

[merv]

Have to say first i ever played was Wild Wood Flower .

[Jaded]

Salt Creek

[mandomiss]

Arkansas Traveler

[Yonkle]

Swallowtail Jig First tine here!

[Ranger]

Cripple Creek and my favorite, Garryowen...
Ranger

[Peter Hackman]

My first tune was "We Live in two Different Worlds" I think that is the name of it. Does anyone know if that's right? I went to my Great Uncle to see if I could borrow one of his mandolins to get started and he gave me his Gibson A5 and taught me that tune and one other that I can't think of right now.
That's a song that Fred Rose wrote for Roy Acuff, way back.

I didn't start with any particular tune. As I already
played an instrument I just borrowed a mandolin,
studied the fretboard and started looking
for things in various keys.

Just as I was getting started I attended
a BG jam with a couple of friends. The
guitarist position was already occupied
but there was
a mandolin lying around

so I picked it up and delivered a nice, fairly inspired
solo on one song, in the key of G.
That prompted my decision to
study the mandolin a bit more seriously.


And the song was "We live in two different worlds" ...

[Bandersnatch Reverb]

On mando? Steve Croppers "Dock of the Bay"!

[futrconslr]

Ill fly away followed by Liberty

[GTison]

"wheel hoss" using the wrong fingers but making sure i used my pinky. on a kM-75 or km90. army-navy style kentucky. when i was single and bored.

[abusemonkey]

Thanks folks. I'm officially mangling Irish Washerwoman as my first and feeling completely justified in my weeks of desire for this wonderful little instrument.:D

[AmosMoses]

The Girl I Left Behind Me.
and
Liberty

[smilnJackB]

Amazing Grace was the first song I chorded on mando and the first song I picked. If there could be only one song, Amazing Grace would get my vote.
Jack

[chipotle]

My first song was Buffalo Gals, which I just understood today. I am a raw beginner and it was like a light went off in my head. Of course I am still trying to play it cleanly...:p

[levin4now]

The four BG tunes in the back of my beginner's mandolin book:
Soldier's Joy
Arkansas Traveller
Sally Goodin
Whiskey Before (hic!) Breakfast

[Staramouche]

Uncle John's Band

[sandcastlefaith]

I learned two songs real early, though I can't remember which. They were Flop Eared Mule, and Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, by Bach.

[mandolman]

Down by the Sally Gardens (D)

Easy
You can sing with
Work the D scales

[withak]

Fishers Hornpipe, I think.

[Trip]

cant remember first song I chopped to(but I bet it ws a GCD song), but my first lead I learned was Old Joe Clark.......still adding notes to that basic melody line

StrangerStringBand (http://www.strangerstringband.com)

[jim simpson]

The "8th of January/Battle of New Orleans" taught to me by our band's mandolin player circa 1974. Years later I impressed our mandolin player in our band by playing that. She didn't know that it was the only thing I could play. She eventually split the group, couldn't find another mandolin player, had an extra guitar player so I had to take up the mandolin - I haven't looked back!

[ebert5150]

Also Yankee Doodle from Bert Casey's book. It was really great to go from picking that song VERY slowly to actually being able to play some songs at speed. Have fun.

[SmallFry]

Skollays Reel...i first played it in orchestra in 3rd grade. I havent heard of anybody knowing it since then though. It might be Irish but i really have no idea.