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Thread: Best fiddle tune book?

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    Default Best fiddle tune book?

    Any recommendations for a mandolinistic fiddle tune book? I know a number of fiddle tunes on guitar and have adapted a few of them to mandolin (Salt Creek, Old Joe Clark, Red Haired Boy, Soldier's Joy). While it is really fun to pick out the tunes myself and I think I learn them better that way, this approach has its limitations. I am trying to incorporate a few licks I've learned that are mandolin specific (like sliding up into unison notes) but I don't know enough yet to really play these tunes in a way that takes advantage of the mandolin as opposed to just shifting the notes across instruments and "playing guitar on the mandolin". I'd like to get a fiddle tune book for mandolin but I want one that will help me learn the instrument. Any recommendations?

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    Registered User Pete Summers's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Miller View Post
    Any recommendations for a mandolinistic fiddle tune book? I know a number of fiddle tunes on guitar and have adapted a few of them to mandolin (Salt Creek, Old Joe Clark, Red Haired Boy, Soldier's Joy). While it is really fun to pick out the tunes myself and I think I learn them better that way, this approach has its limitations. I am trying to incorporate a few licks I've learned that are mandolin specific (like sliding up into unison notes) but I don't know enough yet to really play these tunes in a way that takes advantage of the mandolin as opposed to just shifting the notes across instruments and "playing guitar on the mandolin". I'd like to get a fiddle tune book for mandolin but I want one that will help me learn the instrument. Any recommendations?
    The "Mel Bay Deluxe Bluegrass Mandolin Method," I think it is called, by Ray Valla has some excellent mandolinish arrangements of about 30 common fiddle tunes and comes with a cd that is quite good IMO. Also, Oak Publications "Bluegrass Mandolin" by Jack Tottle is very good and gives mandolin style versions of Bluegrass tunes and some common fiddle tunes. It discusses tremolo technique and backup playing, for instance, and has a nice appendix section.

    My experience with most fiddle tune books, though, is that they give just the basic melody and chords and expect the player to add the frills and style themselves.

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Don't know if it's the best one but check out the brand new one highlighted on our home page. Judging by its title, "Fiddle Tunes for Mandolin", it could be just what you're looking for. It has 50 well known tunes in both notes and TAB. Don't know f there's anything like ornaments, double stops, and such in this one but part of the fn is figuring out stuff like that for yourself IMHO.
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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    I would also mention there is a ton of free fiddle tunes in standard notation on the web. The tabledit files here are an incredible source of well-known and even less well-known (to me) ones. Hope this helps.
    Daniel Kaufman

  5. #5

    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Mandozine's tabledit collection is very impressive.

    When I started out one of my favorites, despite the implication of the title, was the Mandolin Picker's Fake Book by Oak Publications. The tabs are consistent and there's a nice selection of "rags." I'm quoting the word because of the recent fascinating discussion on what is and what is not a rag.

    I found One Thousand Fiddle Tunes (notation only) a bit old-fashioned with a large proportion of tunes I've never heard of. Both of these are fun to play through.

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    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Do you need tablature, or just notation? Are you looking primarily for bluegrass-friendly fiddle tunes, Irish traditional, old-time, etc.?

    You could spend years learning all the tunes in the Mandozine TablEdit database.

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    In my area the most common book I've found at slower jams or workshops is "The Fiddler's Fakebook: The Ultimate Sourcebook For The Traditional Fiddler." Link below. I think there's a mandolin version of this, but I've never seen it (other than on Amazon, I think). bb

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Fiddlers-F.../dp/0825602386

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tobin View Post
    Do you need tablature, or just notation? Are you looking primarily for bluegrass-friendly fiddle tunes, Irish traditional, old-time, etc.?

    You could spend years learning all the tunes in the Mandozine TablEdit database.
    I can read music laboriously, but prefer tab since the idea is to learn from someone with good ideas about how tunes lay on the mandolin. I'm mainly interested in American traditions, but of course those derive from Irish etc so a mix is good. And I know there are lots of online resources, but I like to get away from the computer sometimes, so I was looking for a book. Thanks for all the suggestions, folks!

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    There seems to be vastly more books of Irish traditional tunes out there than American or Old Time traditional. Here are some of the tunebooks I own:

    The Portland Collection -- 3 volumes; a mixture of American/OT, Irish, French Canadian, and various other trad style tunes, but no bluegrass.
    Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes -- an older collection and mixture of traditions, reissued as Ryan's Mammoth Collection.
    The Fiddler's Fakebook -- includes bluegrass tunes.

    Some popular books of basic Irish session tunes:
    Irish Session Tunes, by Dave Mallinson, 2 volumes.
    Irish Trad Music Session Tunes, by Anthony Sullivan, 3 volumes.
    Mel Bay's Irish Session Tunebook, by Cari Fuchs.
    Allan's Irish Fiddler.

    Larger Irish Collections:
    O'Neill's 1001 -- Dance Music of Ireland (1001 Gems).
    Ceol Rince na hÉireann (Dance Music of Ireland), 5 volumes, by Breandan Breathnach.
    Last edited by WW52; Jan-01-2016 at 4:00pm.

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    Registered User Pete Martin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Quote Originally Posted by WW52 View Post
    Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes -- an older collection and mixture of traditions, reissued as Ryan's Mammoth Collection.
    This wont have the common bluegrass type tunes, but for a great fiddle tune collection, this is the best I've seen. I have learned a TON of tunes from this, especially hornpipes and reels. Lots of fiddlers call this book the Fiddlers Bible.

    You can tell who collected the tunes was probably a good player as all the tunes are very strong versions. I cant really say that about a lot of fiddle tune books.

    You can also look at my books, available as free PDF downloads. A number of books of different degrees of difficulty.
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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    "The Fiddler's Facebook..." and the "Mandolin Picker's Facebook" are quite similar in content, though not song-for-song identical. Both are spiral bound. The mandolin version is only TAB, the fiddle version is only notation and for some reason I don't understand, opens vertically, like a steno pad. BTW, Cole's 1000 fiddle tunes is dense, but (most of ) the notation isn't terribly challenging.

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    Registered User Tom Sanderson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    here's a link for a free download of "Ryan's Mammoth Collection"

    http://violinsheetmusic.org/collecti...collection.pdf

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Miller View Post
    I can read music laboriously, but prefer tab since the idea is to learn from someone with good ideas about how tunes lay on the mandolin. I'm mainly interested in American traditions, but of course those derive from Irish etc so a mix is good. And I know there are lots of online resources, but I like to get away from the computer sometimes, so I was looking for a book. Thanks for all the suggestions, folks!
    All the TablEdit files on Mandozine can be printed to PDF. I have several 3-ring binders full of music from there. Sometimes I will even change the tabs to suit me better, and I can format the pages however I want (size, measures per line, etc.). I put them all in plastic sleeves in the binders for ease of changing or removing them.

    Which is to say that I don't like being in front of a computer either when I'm playing.

    For American fiddle tunes, the Milliner-Koken collection is hard to beat. It's just notation, but they are easy to put into tab using TablEdit. I post them occasionally in the Old-time forum (see the "what's your new fiddle tune" thread).

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    I would recommend the late Butch Baldassari's "30 Fiddle Tunes for the Mandolin". It comes with two CDs. It's great for learning to play the mandolin if you come from another stringed instrument. Nice selection of tunes, tasteful arrangements, detailed explanations and backup tracks. I've listened to the CDs for hours and hours while in the car - very enjoyable!

    The CDs are also very good for learning to play by ear, as he also provides a slow version for most of the tunes.

    You can't go wrong with this book, in my opinion.

    Peter

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    You want EVERYTHING? Milliner-Koken collection. Expensive, but well annotated, and has everything.

    The Link

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    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    I am only a beginner to mandolin, and only a little way further along the road in bluegrass, but I recently picked up this one for only £3 on amazon, which seems pretty good - CD gives a clear run through of each tune and book is in tab and notation with guitar chords: http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Kaufmans...2%3AB00MI8R6SG

    As I progress, I will look at the other volumes too.

  19. #18

    Default Re: Best fiddle tune book?

    Dan Levenson has two books "Old-Time Festival Tunes for Fiddle and Mandolin" and "Old-Time Favorites for Fiddle and Mandolin" which correspnd to his other two books of the same collections but for Clawhammer banjo. I know that these are not Bluegrass but the way he has set up both of these books is geared especially for the learner. All of the tunes (100+) in each book have the audio files for banjo, mandolin and fiddle. I really enjoy them and recommend them highly.
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