Christian Mandolin Tabs?

[Bitterroot]

Hello.....this is my first post in this room. I am one of those guys that bought a mandolin a month ago....a nice Micheal Kelly.....than after learning "Old Joe Clark" went back traded his mando and every piece of unused musical equiptment I owned and bought a Weber Bitterroot. Now the pressure is on to actually learn it. I love the fact that the instrument so far makes sense to me and sometimes my fingers know what to do before my brain. And with the shorter days approaching I look forward to the practice.

I have recently joined our church worship team as the Mano/guitar player. I would love to be able to find some Christian songs with tabs(for some solos) online or even in a book but can't seem to find anything. I did however find a few gospel songs on co-mando site...does anyone have any or know of any place I might find them.

If someone has some and wouldn't mind scanning them and sending to my email songboy_love@yahoo.com that would be awesome. Thank you and I enjoy reading your posts in here.....PEACE

[Windflite]

As a start, you might want to check the tab section of www.co-mando.com # # Lots of good stuff; including links to the free tab player software 'tabledit'. # Secondly, I noticed in the latest issue of Mandolin Magazine a nicely tabbed out 'chord' version of 'What a Friend we have in Jesus'. #I am hesitatant to scan and send it to you without permission from the magazine as I am sure it is copyrighted material, however, you can get more info about the publication from www.mandolinmagazine.com #

Hope this helps and welcome to the cafe!

[ShaneJ]

There are a few at AllTabs.com too. If you have TablEdit, you can find a tab or even a MIDI file for guitar or any instrument and convert it to mandolin.

For me, Gospel songs are the best for ear training and improvising, etc.... If you REALLY know a song well (like most old Gospel songs you grew up singing in church), it's very easy to pick it out by ear and improvise around the melody. Well, maybe not always "very easy", but much easier than it is on songs you don't know so well. When the ear in your head is hearing the familiar harmonies and backing parts that are going on behind the melody, you can find those fairly easily on the fretboard too.

Hopefully that makes sense. The short version of what I'm trying to say is this: Grab your mando and start picking out the tunes. I grab my old church hymnal and turn to a song I like, figure out what key I want to play it in (and the chords), then just start picking it. Sing with the chords, then pick the melody. repeat....

Lots of fun! Welcome aboard too, by the way!

[Bradley]

Steve Kaufmann has a nice book..I think it is "Picking the Gospels". It has alot of the traditional songs in it.(which I deem as the good stuff )

If you are going to play the new Praise and Worship stuff that is a whole different ball game.You will probably need to find the guitar tab and transpose it to the mandolin.

Heres aplace to go to find some goodies;

http://www.christianmusicweb.com/songs/

Good Luck [U]

[gnelson651]

I play in a Church band and found that tab for praise music is hard to come by. I do like Kaufman's "Flat Picking the Gospels" and it has both standard notation and tab. There are two versions to each song, beginning and advanced (and I mean ADVANCED in that these versions are quite challenging and I am an intermediate player). Be sure to get the CD to help you learn the advanced songs.

However, my suggestion is to learn to read standard notation. All the music for our group is in standard. Buy yourself a beginning violin book to start. It only took me about 3 months to get comfortable playing standard notiation. In the meantime, learn your two-finger chords and chord along until you can either read the music or learn it by ear.

Good luck

[John Flynn]

I have played mandolin at church, doing mostly P&W music, for nearly 15 years and played the guitar in church for 15 years before that. I agree that learning notation is a key. However, something that equally useful is ear training and singing the melodies. If you can sing the tune, you can figure it out on the mando and you get so much repetition through the course of a year at church, the melodies will burn into your brain if you let them. Then, if you learn some basic techniques for tastefully embellishing melodies, you can do great solos and fills in church. It does take time, though, and church is no place to do a lot of experimentation.

Please always keep in mind that your first priority is to support the worship service. If you want to do the "rock star" thing, find a jam or start a band! That's what I have always done.

[PCypert]

For me playing in church was helped greatly by learning the nashville numbering system or whatever they call it. Most worship leaders love their open chord sounds...hence they love the capo. I've been in one too many situations where I had my part down and they slid the cheater bar around a bit throwing me for a loop. Learn your I IV V and all that and you'll be able to move around more and play more. At a couple churches I've been to everyone but the lead person's music has key at top and nashville numbering system on the page...

Paul

[PCypert]

Oh,
If it's PW stuff learn G, C, and E and you're set 90% of the time. They find the key they sound good in and stick around for a while
Paul

[glauber]

Rather than looking for Christian stuff, learn how to play the mandolin, learn different styles, and apply what you learn to the Church stuff. See if you can get some recordings of Bill Monroe doing Christian music, always fun. Butch Baldassari has a nice CD of hymns. The stuff from "Oh Brother" always goes well. Etc... Listen to as many different styles as you can; it's all good.

[csstanley]

Glauber hit it hard I believe.

I got Bill Monroe's "Bluegrass Spirit" and have just about memorized every song on there. I try and play rythm with my guitar and mando and it has helped me tremendously.

Here's a good one for ya. I may be taking an Assistant Pastor's job back in my hometown of Mt. Airy. They already have a group playing. They have a bassist, two guitars, piano, auto harp. All they are missing is a mando.

I just may fit right in.

[Nathan Sanders]

Here's a site which has many Praise and Worship songs with chords: http://www.praisetown.com/

As some have said, just learn to play, learn your chords. Maybe just try to be "rhythm mandolin" for a while. The more familiar and confident you get, the more you can throw in some lead stuff. But remember, you are part of a group, a team, so remember to blend. Have fun too.

[glauber]

More unasked-for advice: don't make your church the sole outlet for your music. Learn to play, play with others, play in church when they let you, because that's great, but don't let the church be the only thing. This way, when your church hires a new music leader who doesn't like mandolin (or doesn't like you!), you'll still have your jams, sessions, your band, etc. where you can play. The church is not there to be your creative outlet; that's not its main function.

[mrmando]

I just started writing a mandolin column for Worship Musician! magazine (worshipmusicianmagazine.com). I'll echo the comment about learning to read notation, but the ear training is even more important in a band like mine, since the vast majority of our charts just have chords and lyrics. There isn't a lot of dissonance in contemporary worship music. Your melodies are mostly chord tones. So once you learn to spell chords, you can use the chord progressions to help you learn the melody.

If there's anything in particular you'd like to see me address in my column, let me know.

[Bitterroot]

I've read your posts. Some of the comments made me go back and read my post to make sure I didn't imply anything I didn't mean. I use to be in a college band playing at keggers as the rhythm guitar guy/singer. I just got the mandolin, and was asked to please come play at church. I quickly learned the basic chords that a lot of songs use......I just assumed that I was suppose to do more because "I'm the mandolin" player now. I was suppose to be able to do individual notes at lightning speed without getting my fingers stuck under the strings. My hometown and church is so small. There is three people in "our" worship team. Guitar, bass, and me. Unfortunately it probably is my only time to play with others, since the pickens is slim. I don't ever want to make myself look like the service is about me. I don't ever want to lose focus on the reason I'm even in the chruch. At the same time I'd like to play the best I can for God, and push my potential as a player. I'd like the worship team to be tight..and an inspiration to the members. I'm sure its a fine line...and I hope God smacks me in the head if my head starts to swell with mando power.......

[mrmando]

Well, then, if you know chords but not how to spell 'em, learn to spell 'em. If you don't know notation, learn it. If you sing well enough to carry a tune, then practice playing the tune on your mandolin while singing it. As you get better at this, move it from individual practice to band practice, and eventually from band practice to performance.