Ideas for well-known standards for mando

[blowtorch]

Hi guys, first post here.

I'm just starting out and I'm looking for ideas for well known songs, that would work well on mandolin, that I could learn that folks are generally gonna know, these are some ideas I already have:

hotel california
wicked game
shipping up to boston
dream on
while my guitar gently weeps
wild horses
angie
morning has broken
here comes the sun
I'll remember you
she talks to angels
patience
coconut grove
black magic woman
dance the night away
yesterday
sweet child o mine
seminole wind
edmund fitzgerald

any input appreciated, thanks!
and, nice joint you got here

[crisscross]

R.E.M.:Losing my Religion, Man on the Moon
Bowie:Heroes, Space Oddity
Neil Young: Heart of Gold
Hendrix:Hey Joe
Elton John:Rocket man
Kinks:Sunny Afternoon, Death of a Clown
Madonna:La Isla Bonita
Beatles: Eight Days a Week
Kansas: Dust in the Wind
Styx:Boat on the River
Stones:Sympathy for the Devil
Lynnard Skynnard: Sweet home Alabama

[Mark Wilson]

Here's ten

[blowtorch]

Mark Wilson yes, I'd seen that clip. It's kinda what got me to thinking about this. There are some good ideas there

crisscross, I think dust in the wind is a great idea. Somehow the droning quality of the mando's sound seems to lend itself very well to songs with a poignant, melancholy feel, and that one fits the bill well

[JeffD]

There is very little iconic mandolin music in the grand scheme of things. And outside of bluegrass and a few Italian tunes not much at all.

That said there is a lot of music out there. And the mandolin can do it all. Just anything you like, from pop, rock, folk, classical, traditional, whatever. Even commercials and movie music.

A list of tunes that would sound good on the mandolin would be endless. Any tune I could name at all, would be on that list. Any tune at all.

Just play stuff you like, or that you hear, or that is on the radio. Anything at all.

While the mandolin probably can't do everything - its easier to assume that it can and just deal with the occasional exception.

[blowtorch]

See I'm planning on going busking. This weekend. Mostly instrumental, although I figure I'll sing along to a couple things (Folsolm Prison, Copperhead Road, Seminole Wind) So anyway yeah they gotta be mostly songs people are gonna recognize melodically.
I am really hoping at earning a solid 3 dollars this saturday

So far I've got like 10 highly recognizable tunes down pretty well, add to that 3 or 4 things of my own, and I think I've got enough to cycle through a few times without boring myself too incredibly

[avaldes]

Led Zeppelin, Battle of Evermore. This was actually conceived on John Paul Jones' mandolin by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. I guess JP left the room and Jimmy could not resist. Weber Gallatin A Oval, the day after I got it.
https://youtu.be/IRblaZuqCxc

[fatt-dad]

google jim richter on youtube.

f-d

[JeffD]

I think you could pick your music based entirely on the needs of a street musician - recognizable, quickly gets to the point, sounds fun... etc. And then pick stuff from that you want to do on the mandolin.

I think there is no need to limit yourself to stuff that has been done on the mandolin, or that a mandolin is associated with. Because the average person walking past you won't even know what instrument you are playing.

[jaycat]

I don't know why this classic continues to receive short shrift, when it encapsulates the Human Condition so neatly in 2:22:



But I will say, Coconut Grove is a a great choice.

[Timbofood]

Jaycat, wasn't that the "B" side of "Wooly Bully"?

[jaycat]

Jaycat, wasn't that the "B" side of "Wooly Bully"?

The B side of Wooly Bully was Ain't Gonna Move.

Ring Dang Doo was (deservedly) an A side; its B side was Don't Try It.

I remember reading somewhere, when they finally broke up, Sam said, thank God, now I can finally take off this damn turban!

[Timbofood]

I bow to the expertise of a "Sam" fan!
I had heard the turban reference too!

[JimRichter]

Here is Dream On

[JimRichter]

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

[Tom Hart]

Don't forget Rundgren's "Dust in the Wind" from Something/Anything. Lots of fun to play.

[StuartE]

Corrina, Corrina has been a blues, western swing, country, folk and r&b standard.

I like Merle Haggard, but Bob Dylan, Big Joe Turner and many others have done it.

[No Way Dave]

Every once in a while, I learn a non mandolin having song, on mandolin. For a brief moment I feel like maybe the song was written on a mandolin. ( I know it wasn't ) But some songs sound so good on a mandolin, and are so easy to hit what you need to hit.
BUT IS SO DARN FRUSTRATING, when you find a song like that, and it is impossible to sing, or it's just TOO #^%*^%# high for me to sing.

[DavidKOS]

Cool posts - but the thread title misled me.

Where I come from, "standards" means tunes from the Great American songbook, tunes from shows and Tin Pan Alley, the stuff jazz guys play all the time.

So I was expecting to see lists of songs like "All the Things You Are" and such, not classic rock and pop tunes.

I guess times have changed!

[dwc]

One song I never see mentioned that has prominent mandolin is "You Are the Everything" by REM. It was off of Green, and remains one of my absolute favorite songs.

[Explorer]

Starting with Seals and Crofts, I normally play through all kinds of songs which were known as AM radio gold.

I really like Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest on mando.

Given the initial list, i assume this is about songs one would sing while also playing. In that case, just about anything would work.

[crisscross]

So I was expecting to see lists of songs like "All the Things You Are" and such, not classic rock and pop tunes.

"All the things you are" might be a little too complex harmony-wise. But "Autumn leaves" should be playable for mandolin players with a basic chord knowledge

[David L]

Cool posts - but the thread title misled me.

Where I come from, "standards" means tunes from the Great American songbook, tunes from shows and Tin Pan Alley, the stuff jazz guys play all the time.

So I was expecting to see lists of songs like "All the Things You Are" and such, not classic rock and pop tunes.

I guess times have changed!

Times haven't really changed that much, "standards" still means the same. BUT, this is the rock and folk rock department at Mandolin Cafe.

[Emmett Marshall]

Nice thread. I learned "Sweet Home Alabama" from the video posted above. Since then, I've been able to "embellish" it quite a bit. I'm not sure that he's got a few things "exactly right," but it's close enough to get a handle on it. I would listen to Skynard play it and then go back and make your own changes. Battle of Evermore is on my list as well, but I think Nancy Wilson (Heart) plays it better than Jimmy Page. Have fun!

[Barry Wilson]

yer so bad, Tom Petty works well
Galway girl
Ophelia
Can't you see
Knocking on heaven's door