Suggestions for beginner celtic tunes

[molecan]

Could people make some Tab suggestions of easy to learn celtic/irish tunes for a beginner to work on?

I'm an abject beginner, with not much more musical background than the day a Nun drew the staff and G clef on the chalkboard in school some 25+ years ago, and told us to memorize it. (I'm still not sure why, we never did have any music classes)

I started learning the Wild Rover last night and am having good fun with it. I think recognizing the sounds of a song I've heard all my life is making the process of stumbling along through it a lot easier.

I've been trying to work my way through the Mandolin Primer, but find the excercises more frustrating than rewarding and tend to lose my inspiration before much time passes.

I know a few good mandolin players locally who have offered to teach me, but want to become at least a bit capable at picking before taking lessons from people I know and respect.

-Coleman

[feniansons]

My progress has been lackluster at best... so I will be watching this post...Im the front man in The Fenian Sons, and I don't play anything, so I;d like to learn a little mando......we shall see

[ardbeg]

There are a fair amount of beginner tunes in Tabledit format on the commando website. You will need to download the free Tabledit viewer, but it is a great way of getting started playing some tunes.


http://www.mandozine.com/music/tabledit_search.php

[glauber]

The Comhaltas Session Books (http://www.comhaltas.com/seisiun/foinn.htm) are IMHO the best way to learn tunes, because they're arranged by sets. You should always try to learn Irish tunes in sets, instead of individual tunes, because that's how they're played. I don't have right now a source for the books (and the CDs that go with them) in the US, but i could probably find one if there is interest (PM me).

Note: the books are in standard notation, not mandolin tablature.

[molecan]

"The Comhaltas Session Books are IMHO the best way to learn tunes.. "

Are these TAB or notation?
The comhaltas site doesn't mention that they are, nor are they stated as specific to the mandolin, so I assume they are just standard notation.

[Avi Ziv]

They are in standard notation. TAB is not a popular way to communicate Irish Traditional Tunes. ABC is fairly common though.

Avi

[Avi Ziv]

You can look here (http://music.celtic.ru/Session_Tune_Sets/index.htm) to see a good selection of the comhaltas sets. In.....Russian too....

Avi

[MandoJon]

There is an endless source of Celtic music on The Session (http://www.thesession.org/) website (thousands of tunes). Again, the tunes are in ABC and you can use a free ABC untility such as ABC Navigator (http://abcnavigator.free.fr/) to convert the ABC format into standard notation and play a midi sound. I think that Table Edit will read ABC and show your the TAB but I'm not sure - you'll need to check that. Also see Scottish ABC (http://softflute.co.uk/music/abc/index.htm) for STM (for a slight change from ITM).

So, with thousands of tunes to choose from which do you go for? Good question. You can look at what other beginners are learning from sites like these:
Traditional Music Page (http://www.nigelgatherer.com/index.html) (mostly mandolin with a good tune list and check out the slow or beginner groups to see what they are learning - They have standard notation, TAB and midi audio files. Nigle Gather is quite well known in these parts).
Small Circle Tune Learning Session (http://www.slowplayers.org/SCTLS/playlist.html) (mainly standard notation with some mp3 files which are prefered for learning by ear).
Also you could sign up to The Session (free) and simply ask the question or see if anybody else has in the discussion forum.

The gold standard for learning Folk music (especially celtic folk) is to do so by ear and not to read. This is a different skill to reading and one I'm working on. If you go to a pub session it's a skill you'll need. It is challenging but rewarding and anybody can learn it. See here (http://www.slowplayers.org/SCTLS/learn.html) for reasons why it's a good skill to acquire.

Don't be scared by either trying to learn by ear (ABC Navigator, Table Edit and Audacity (for sound clips only) will all slow things down for you without distorting the pitch) or learning standard notation. I wouldn't rely on TAB though. It's a handy aid but will not take you as far as standard notation for reading and not help you as much as your ear for learning folk tunes (or any tune come to that).

I hope that helps.

[Aidan Crossey]

Coleman ... the biggest collection of Irish music available in tablature form is available here, right at the mandolincafe. #Simply go to www.mandolincafe.com/tabarc.html and begin searching through the hundreds of hornpipes, jigs, polkas, slides, waltzes, mazurkas, etc on offer!

As for easy tunes ... well, there's a few things to remember:

The tunes are all easy when you know them!

And sometimes the tunes that are easiest to play are hardest to listen to!

(But that's just me being facetious, so pay me no mind ...)

Here are links to a few tunes that came easy to me ...

The Hole In the Hedge (one few regularly played tunes in C) http://www.mandolincafe.com/tab/hedge.txt

The Lilting Banshee http://www.mandolincafe.com/tab/liltingbanshee.txt

The Lark In The Morning http://www.mandolincafe.com/tab/lark.txt

The Wind That Shakes The Barley http://www.mandolincafe.com/tab/windshakes.txt

The Earl's Chair http://www.mandolincafe.com/tab/earlschair.txt

The Dunmore Lasses http://www.mandolincafe.com/tab/dlasses.txt

Remember that these tabs are mere signposts ... I doubt very much that I'd ever play many of these tunes in these prescribed settings!

[Joe Mangio]

Go to Home of the Cafe, go to resources, go to tablature,
Jigs, Reels, and much more that will keep you busy.

[EdSherry]

Irish Traditional Music (ITM) is typically played with others (at sessions, in bands, etc.), so I'd recommend finding others in your area who are interested in playing it, and find out what tunes are common in your area (it varies from session to session). #

I think you'll find it more enjoyable (at least in the beginning) to learn tunes that you can play with others in your area.

Usually, someone at the session will know the names of the tunes being played. #If you can, I'd recommend taping sessions and making sure to get the name of the tune if possible, so that you can look it up later.

In addition to the other sources listed in this thread, the Mandolin Player's Fakebook has good tab versions of a lot of "standard" (and some not-so-standard) tunes.

Molecan, I would also strongly recommend that you take people up on their offer to help, even if you feel shy at first because you don't know much at this point. #It is all too easy to get into bad habits at the beginning that are difficult to break later (believe me, I know firsthand!). #In my experience, a little "technique" feedback early in the game (especially on good right hand picking technique and good left hand fingering technique) is invaluable.

[jmcgann]

This will allow you to convert your tab reading skills to standard notation reading skills. (http://www.johnmcgann.com/TabReadersGuideToStandard.pdf)

Then, you can get tunes from anywhere.

Of course, by ear is better http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif If you don't already play the style, written music in any form is the WORST way to learn what makes a style unique. None of the important stuff other than notes and timing are on paper. The FEEL is so important, and otherwise, the notes are a dead thing IMHO.

Listen to the great players, then: Listen to the great players, then: Listen to the great players, then: Listen to the great players, then: play along with them. Use the slowdowner, etc. go one note at a time, realize it's gonna take a long time, and that once you get one tune sounding good, the next 5 are easier, and then: the next 5 are easier, and then: http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[MandoJon]

...don't keep me in suspence... what about the five after that?

[jmcgann]

There are only 10 tunes in Irish music not counting the first one which is too simple http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[EdSherry]

John -- Reminds me of the old joke: #"How do you tell different Irish tunes apart?" #"By the names." #

Or: #"Some of them go diddle-ee-diddle-ee-diddle-ee-dee and the others go di-diddle-i-diddle-i-diddle-i, except for the ones that go paddy-o-rafferty-paddy-o-rafferty" (or, here in California, patio-furniture-patio-furniture).

[molecan]

Aidan, Ed, John,

Thanks for the pointers, I appreciate it quite a bit.

I've been over to mandozine, and thesession,but somehow missed the tab collection here. duh.
I agree w/ya John, about learning by ear, and having a FEEL of what you are playing.
For a lot of tunes, I can think it, I can feel it, I can hear it note for note (well, at least MY notes) in my head, but my fingers need to learn what to do.

"realize it's gonna take a long time"
Yeah, I think I lost sight of that, and have been getting too impatient.

"I would also strongly recommend that you take people up on their offer to help, even if you feel shy at first because you don't know much at this point"
I agree, it's time to check in w/some of the players I know and see what they can help me with as well. Its stupid to get hung up just 'cause im totally incompetent! Now I have to decide which doorstep I darken...

On another note, I realized I have a Beacon Hillbillies CD, 'More Songs of Love and Murder' in the stack on my desk while reading this thread. Gonna throw it in and drive it around the block for a bit. Great work on that, John.

[MandoJon]

The good ol' BBC has a 'Virtual Session' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/) - if you can have such a thing.

If finding other people to play with is a problem or you want to have a go learning by ear. It's worth a try, especially as it is real musicians who are playing and not a midi file.

[Chadmills]

The BBC "Virtual Session" is good fun. Hopefully they have corrected it by now but there was at least one item where the notation was in a different key from what was being played.