Converting Guitar Tab to Mando Tab

[Huda]

I have seen several posts mentioning how they converted guitar tab to mando tab. Is there an easy way to do this?

I have experimented with the following techniques, but it takes forever:

I take the 2nd guitar line (the B string) and adding 2 to all of the the tab numbers to make it equivalent to the mando's A string.

I take the 3rd guitar line (the G string) and adding 5 to all of the the tab numbers to make it equivalent to the mando's D string.

I take the 4th guitar line (the D string) and adding 7 to all of the the tab numbers to make it equivalent to the mando's G string.

I erase the bottom two guitar lines (the guitar's A and E strings).

There's gotta be an easier way!

[Pedal Steel Mike]

There's gotta be an easier way!

There is. It's called LEARNING HOW TO READ MUSIC !!!!

I don't understand this reluctance on the part of so many people to learn this skill. It true that there are those who can ONLY read, and use written music as a crutch instead of a tool, but these people never learned to play by ear. They didn't forget how once they learned to read.

Being able to read helps me play by ear better, and being able to play by ear helps me to be a better reader. The 2 skills are not only not mutually exclusive, they compliment each other.

[kudzugypsy]

yeah, i gotta agree with you, in that there is a better way
and also side with mike, that there is really no reason to be afraid of standard notation. reading standard notation for the mando is really quite easy - FAR easier than guitar - because you can reach 7 frets easily in one position, so the whole tune can often be played in one position without moving the hand.

the question is - what are you tring to get from guitar tab? are you after guitar licks? remember, stuff that adapts to guitar (tuned in 4ths) will often not be so efficient on a mando (tuned in 5ths) --ie, its hard to do a short 2 string barre on the mando, while often used in guitar. plus guitar players play in completely different "lick boxes" than mandolin players - for a reason.

if you are after fiddle tunes, there is a large canon of tab already out there.

if i was gonna transcribe from guitar tab over to mando (i have done this often on django tunes) - i would use my ears and knowledge of both instruments to do it. what i mean, is somethings will work, and some have to be adjusted.

[Huda]

OK, so what would be the "lick box" for the mandolin?

[Jim M.]

Although I agree about learning to read music, the easy answer is that Tabledit will show you tab for any instrument -- sitar, erhu, waldzither, etc. -- if you have it in a file that Tabledit can read. If you don't know Tabledit, go to www.tabledit.com

All the Co-mando tab files are in tabledit format.