Look what Santa got me for father's day...

[mmuller]

https://www.johnhartford.com/product/john-hartfords-mammoth-collection-of-fiddle-tunes/

Where there's a fiddle, a mandolin can't be too far behind. Great stuff. John Hartford is an American treasure.

[LadysSolo]

Congratulations! There will be a lot of fun learning all those tunes!

[multidon]

Santa? Father’s Day? :confused:

[Mark Wilson]

St. Pappy's day?

[Roger Moss]

That fat old elf really gets around.

[Todd Bowman]

What fun! Thanks for posting. I ordered one for myself.

[Ian Young]

Ok hopefully not too dumb of a question and not inappropriate for the thread, but are fiddle tabs and mandolin tabs written identically?

[Roger Moss]

Ok hopefully not too dumb of a question and not inappropriate for the thread, but are fiddle tabs and mandolin tabs written identically?

Not that I know for sure, but they are both (usually) tuned the same, so there should be some correlation. An actual fiddle player should be able to give a definite answer.

[multidon]

They are not the same. There are similarities, though. You still have the same 4 Strings GDAE, but mandolin Tab numbers indicate what fret to play. Fiddles are fretless, so the numbers indicate what finger to use 1= index, 2= middle, 3=ring, 4= pinkie. There are differing systems but most include some indication as to whether the finger is high or low, or maybe not (knowing the key can possibly be enough information to figure out which strings use high fingers and which use low). There also has to be an indication of some sort if need to shift to a higher position. Not that common in most fiddling.

I think they could be converted. For example, on the fiddle, 2nd finger on the fiddle D string could be “low” to play an F or “high” to play an F sharp. In mandolin Tab those notes would be indicated by a 3 for F (3rd fret) and a 4 for F sharp (4th fret). In fiddle Tab those notes would both be indicated by a 2 (for 2nd finger).

[mmuller]

BTW, this book is in standard notation (actually written by hand by him!). No tab. They'll play the same on a fiddle as on a mando.

[Ian Young]

BTW, this book is in standard notation (actually written by hand by him!). No tab. They'll play the same on a fiddle as on a mando.

Thanks! Yeah I did see that, just got me thinking...

[V70416]

I got John Hartford's auto graph at a show. Such beautiful penmanship! Flowing,artful lines...
He tried to steal my pen;but,all in good fun. (It was a very nice pen.)