the first 3 tunes you learned?

[Steve Williams]

Buffalo Gals
Chinese Breakdown
Liza Jane

[Greg H.]

My first songs (i.e. fiddle tunes)on guitar were '8th of January', 'Arkansas Traveler', and 'Cross the Big Sandy' thirty some years ago. When I switched over to mandolin (a few decades later)it was just a matter of transposing between guitar and mando, so pretty much anything I knew on guitar could be translated into mandolin (with some notable exceptions--that required the lower strings on guitar as drones etc.).

[Brad Weiss]

Fisher's Hornpipe
Yankee Doodle
Simple Gifts

[Aran]

Heres my 2 cents.

Blackberry blossom (very first tune, Should have known better than to go straight in on page 89 of Tottle's book)

Cripple Creek
Soldiers Joy

[MOP]

Soldier Joy
New campton races
out of join

[Stephanie Reiser]

I had gone out and acquired Thiles intructional Cd, which came with sheet music. Therefore, my first were:
Red Haired Boy, Swallow-tailed Jig, and Hop the Fence.

[Taube Marks]

Angeline the Baker
June Appal/Apple
Miss McCleod's Reel

(on violin, aged 9)Mary Had a Little Lamb


Taube

[AlanN]

8th of January
Arkansas Traveller
- can't remember -

[MandoJon]

Guitar:
12 bar blues in A
12 bar blues in D
12 bar blues in E
(four more and I would have had the complete set!)

Mandolin:
Teir Abhaile
Pat's Top Coat
As I Roved Out
(Some of you will now know EXACTLY which book I first picked up!)

[Jim Yates]

When I got my first mandolin, a 1918 Martin bowl-back for $20 at a "WE BUY SELL ANYTHING" joint circa 1963, I thought it sounded oriental, so I learned SAKURA. I soon after learned MY GAL from the first Jim Kweskin Jug Band record. I think the next tune was THE WRECK OF THE OLD 97 from a Patrick Sky record.
I know my first flat picked guitar tune was WILDWOOD FLOWER and the first finger picking tune was RAILROAD BILL.
The first banjo tune, of course was CRIPPLE CREEK.

[bluesmandolinman]

Midnight Special (my very first song ... with chords only)
Cripple Creek (melody)
Whispering ( melody )

[billkilpatrick]

the songs i listed earlier were the first songs i learned on the mandolin. i can't remember the first songs i learned on a guitar some 40-odd years ago - something folksy, to be sure - but whatever they were ... until recently, i was still playing the same monotonous, dirge like chord changes i learned them in.

when i discovered the mandolin i discovered music.

[Joe F]

Golden Slippers
The Girl I Left Behind Me
Soldier's Joy

[Mando4Life]

Red-Haired Boy
Cripple Creek
Brilliancy

Talk about a steep learning curve But well worth it for sure.

WBL

[glauber]

I started on mandolin last December. My first 3 tunes were: Kesh (jig), Morrison's (jig) and The Maid Behind the Bar (reel). Mrs McLeod's (reel) was one of the next ones. I know quite a few Irish tunes on flute, and they translate well to mandolin.

My first instrument was classical guitar, way back when, and my first important tune there was Greensleeves.

[groveland]

On guitar ca. 1966. I'm surprised a similar list hasn't been posted yet...
Louie Louie
Gloria
House of the Rising Sun

Mandolin was something my uncle played back in the Ukraine.

[Slim Pickins]

Solders Joy. I now use Wheel Hoss. I love the sound of the G string on my Weber. A good drill.

[John Ritchhart]

Arkansas Traveler
Old Joe Clark
and then the **!!@@ gave me Blackberry Blossum after which I didnt play for five years.

[otterly2k]

Over the Waterfall
Banish Misfortune
Whiskey Before Breakfast
...then I got really ambitious (after an Andy Irvine concert) and spent a summer trying to figure out Smeceno Horo...

[fatt-dad]

(Also from the Tottle Book)

Boil 'em Cabbage Down
Old Joe Clark
Cripple Creek

f-d

[straight-a]

Bile Them Cabbages Down
Ragtime Annie
Chinese Breakdown

[mandodebbie]

Ode to Joy
Wildwood Flower
Liberty

[rmcintos]

First tunes on the whistle were Fool's Jig and Fisher's Hornpipe.
First tunes on the mando were Liberty, Fisher's Hornpipe, and from Rich DelGrasso's book Old Joe Clark.

Not to hijack the thread, but how many tunes do you know? You don't have to list them all, just give a number.
I think I know about 35 or so...

[cbarry]

On guitar 25 years back:
Salt Creek
Devil's Dream
Sailor's Hornpipe

On mandolin--Fall of 2004:
Ashokan Farewell
Tennessee Waltz
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (for Christmas--forgot it already!)

I think I can stumble through about seven to nine tunes so far.
Chuck

[luckylarue]

Guitar: I Don't Live Today - Jimi
Fly By Night - Rush
Livin' Lovin' Maid - Led Zep
(What do ya expect at 15?)

Mando: Arkansas Traveler
Soldier's Joy
Old Joe Clark