Transcribing from guitar to mandolin?

[MSGrady20]

I have a few guitar music books (Phish and Led Zeppelin to be exact) and I want to transcribe the guitar notation into mandolin notation. I am new to mandolin and don't really have a full grasp on how to do the transcription myself, so does anyone know if there is some sort of program around that can can do the transription for me? Thanks!

[John L]

Sorry about not answering the question, but a comment I wanted to share from someone that also began as a guitar player. I found my mandolin playing moved ahead significantly when I stopped thinking in guitar and translating to mandolin. My $0.02 - the sooner you start "thinking in mandolin" the better.

[Chip Booth]

Tabledit will allow you to enter notation (and import MIDI files) and it can create tablature for any instrument you want from that. I haven't tried any others but I would guess that most commercial tablature programs can do something similar.

Keep in mind that guitar music often can't be physically performed verbatim on the mandolin so you will likely have to make adjustments.

[wommbatt]

my two ideas:
if the books are in standard notation you can snag up a mando fretboard diagram and write out the mando version yourself. thats my best suggestion anyway.
another way would be to just write down the guitar chords and then find their mando equivalents. ive done this a couple of times, but find that the first idea i mentioned is much simpler
and like chip said, the music doesnt always translate nicely but you can get close and make small changes as you go, good luck 8]

[mandocrucian]

You haven't said exactly what type of guitar parts or the complexity level you want to put on the mandolin.......just chords? rhythm riffs? electric guitar solos? Or is it just a simple melody line?

If it's the more complicated stuff - rhythm grooves or lead solos, do you want it to sound "convincing" or are you OK with something far less (corny)?

Do you play guitar already, and can you play the stuff on a guitar? Can you learn it on guitar and get it "in your head" and then follow your ear enough to put that onto a mandolin?

If it is something beyond a single line part or a melody line, the guitar tab to mando tab, or notation to mando tab conversion result of a Tabledit type program will probably give you something pretty mediocre. It'll probably put the notes in the 1st position and give you a dummies version that is likely to sound corny, especially if there was any substantial amount of slurring (hammers, pulloffs, bends), doublestops and across-the-guitar-strings (single line)passages. You can put the notes of a rock guitar solo onto any instrument; put it on accordion...but will it sound like a Weird Al comedy routine?

I'm not saying that a guitar solo or rhythm part can't be convincingly put onto the mando, but if you are looking at something along the lines of Santana, SRV, Hendrix, Richard Thompson, Clarence White, Knopfler, BB King, etc. you will really need to be able to move fluidly around/up/down the neck, have control of hammer-ons/pull-offs/slides (and bends), have coordination to play doublestops or triplestops with any combination of fingers, use pick+finger(s) with your RH, be able to add vibrato, and... well you get the picture, you're gonna need a lot of chops and have some techniques not usually associated with mandolin playing.

Niles H

[Jim]

Tabledit will do the job and get you close, however, the education I've gotten from transcribng first on paper using a fretboard diagram and later doing it in my head has been good for both my Guitar and Mandolin playing.

[CelticDude]

Most of these books use standard notation in addition to "guitar" notation (tab), don't they? (At least, all mine do.) The easiest strategy is to just learn standard notation on the mandolin. Any good beginner book will help you (eg. "Beginning Mandolin" by Greg Horne). Then, you just read the standard notation from any music book. The challenge is finding where the notes fit on the mandolin, as a guitar goes below the range of the mando.

[mandroid]

Pre computer minded, still,
I was thinking standard notation, guitar and piano scores
will give you the relative musical information
Notation of pitch, chords, and time ..

May just be in a different Octave from the Mandolin.

so pick up a Music book I guess there may be Books
with the songs from the Phish LPs on them Zep, certainly.

[Cwat51]

I see some many are recommending the Tabledit and I find it doesn't have the mandolin listed. It claims to have the mandolin as one of the string instruments. My other problem is how to find the country music I want and save it to MIDI File? Would like any suggestions please. Thanks

[Explorer]

Michael, I'm going to suggest something a little different.

I'm assuming you mean "tablature" when you write "notation." Tablature has lines representing strings, and numbers representing frets. Standard notation is the staff and musical notes.

I recommend you get a decent book on playing mandolin which teaches you how to read standard notation on mandolin. It might seem daunting at first, but it's just a matter of practice.

Then, you can use any book with standard notation with your mandolin.

You'll also be using different techniques on mandolin than you can on guitar, like light finger slides instead of bends.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

[Jim Garber]

Just so everyone is aware (and this does happen often here in the Forums) this is a thread started over 4 years ago. That doesn't mean that the subject is outdated or uninteresting, just be aware that the OP might have moved on or found answers to his original question.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I see some many are recommending the Tabledit and I find it doesn't have the mandolin listed. It claims to have the mandolin as one of the string instruments. My other problem is how to find the country music I want and save it to MIDI File? Would like any suggestions please. Thanks

There's no easy answer to this. You will have to find a converter to transpose MP3 and WMA files to MIDI. I have found this to be frustrating in the past.

[HmnBrd62]

True that and yet today I got answers to the same question. Thanks for your replies and suggestion no matter the year!

[Simon DS]

Maybe the most productive way with this nowadays is to search for a Youtube mando lesson on your favourite song.
Another is musescore.org,
and learn FFcP and scales, one song by Led Zep is quite simple if you know the scale of F/Dm and just play the scale over the song for example.