looking for songs for a learning mando player

[Poohblah]

Hi all, I'm a beginner on the mandolin. I got mine a few weeks ago from a local luthier (though my mando is simply a Kentucky that they had in stock). I've never owned an instrument before, but I can read sheet music, so I started off by learning some classical songs for the violin...

anyway, long story short, I'm looking for some rock songs to learn as well, hopefully something challenging but not difficult. Wading through all the guitar tabs out there trying to find something that translates well is quite time-consuming and not really worth the effort IMO. But so far, I've found the following to be right up my alley:
Wish You Were Here
Sunshine Of Your Love
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
(oddly enough, I figured out the first two on my own, only to realize later that there are tabs for them on this website)

The Stairway to Heaven intro is not too hard either, but a bit boring/commonplace I think. In any case, I welcome your feedback!

[man dough nollij]

Hey Poohb, welcome to the Cafe. I have two words for you: Jim. Richter. (http://www.youtube.com/user/JimRichter)

http://www.jimrichter.com/

[Poohblah]

Thanks for the reply, I've checked out his website before but my computer crashes every time I try to open a .pdf and for whatever stupid reason, it won't let me install the newest version of Reader either.

I can certainly try to figure things out from the videos and by ear, too :)

[Jon Hall]

An easy one that sounds pretty good on a mando is Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door" in D.
D - A - Em or Em7
D - A - G

[Wendell Jeong]

Check out the tabs on the Home page here. It's a good starter for some ideas. I play almost only rock. Here is Iris if you like Googoo Dolls and Mr Bojangles. Listen to the Byrd's version of Bojangles for some nice mando playing.

Wendell

[AlanN]

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

You can do it the Beatles way, or you can grass it up in 4/4, as Jimmy Gaudreau did long ago and far away on a II Generation LP. I liked Jimmy's version, and he takes a neat little break on it.

[Matt DeBlass]

I've got a few I do already, a couple Beatles songs (Hide Your Love Away, I've Just Seen A Face, etc.), and some less obvious ones like Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open The Door" or Tom Waits' "Downtown Train."
I think a lot of Grateful Dead stuff will translate very, very well, too. Right now I'm looking at "Scarlet Begonias and wondering whether I want to play it in the original E or drop it down to D to get more open-string goodness.

[Wendell Jeong]

Here are a couple of more songs that work nicely on the mandolin... Dead Flowers and Long May You Run.

Anyone... shareum if you've gotem. I'd like to see some single sheets of your favorites with chords on them.

Wendell

[EdHanrahan]

Not trying to be picky, -and- I haven't heard it in years, but I always thought that "we missed that SHIFT on the long decline. Long May You"...

Thanks for the songs!

[JEStanek]

There is a selection of Rock/Popular songs on Mandozine.com (http://www.mandozine.com/music/zipfiles.php). You'll need the TablEdit Viewer (http://www.tabledit.com/tefview/) to use them but it's free!

Jamie

[Matt DeBlass]

Jamie,
I downloaded Tefview, but it only does tabs for guitar, bass and banjo, is there another download/way to set it up that you know of to make it work for mando?

[Wendell Jeong]

Not trying to be picky, -and- I haven't heard it in years, but I always thought that "we missed that SHIFT on the long decline. Long May You"...

Thanks for the songs!

Oh it all makes sense now... after all these years. :))

[Poohblah]

There is a selection of Rock/Popular songs on Mandozine.com (http://www.mandozine.com/music/zipfiles.php). You'll need the TablEdit Viewer (http://www.tabledit.com/tefview/) to use them but it's free!

Jamie

thanks a ton, this has helped me out quite a bit!

I've also found a few songs on my own that translate well to the mandolin - my favorite being Title And Registration by Death Cab For Cutie

[Ivan Kelsall]

Do what i did to stretch your 'chord knowlege',buy yourself an Eagles song book & go through the ones that you like.If you go through 'em all,you have enough chords for a lifetime. I already had one because i play most of them on Guitar already,but it was all new on Mandolin,
Ivan

[jefflester]

I've got a few I do already, a couple Beatles songs (Hide Your Love Away, I've Just Seen A Face, etc.)...
Norwegian Wood works well on mando.

[Poohblah]

Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly works well too

it goes something like this:



E----------------|3-2-------------|----------------|----------------|
A--2-5-555-7-5-2-|----7-777-5-7-5-|--2-5-555-7-5-2-|3-2-0-000-2-0---|
D5---------------|----------------|5---------------|----------------|
G----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|



E----------------|3-2-------------|----------------|----------------|
A--2-5-555-7-5-2-|----7-777-5-7-5-|--2-5-555-3-2-0-|000-2-0---------|
D5---------------|----------------|5---------------|--------555-7-5-|
G----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|


and the chords for the verses seem to be G - Em - C - Em - D

I play Em as:



E-0-|
A-2-|
D-2-|
G-0-|

and that seems to work very well.