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Thread: Beginner song list?

  1. #1

    Default Beginner song list?

    I really did try the search function but it doesn't seem to find my word choices.

    I would like to start with some tame songs that I can find music/tab for that is not blue grass standards. It's not my style and most seem to be rather fast paced. I think celtic/irish/scottish stuff is more my goal as well as pop/jazz stuff.

    Is there a place in the forums to find this sort of thing?

    As an example, I found a tune called Red Haired Boy that sounded cool but wasn't screaming fast.


    I'll have to learn this one, because it made me start thinking about picking up the mandolin.



    So, if you could point me in the right direction, that would be quite helpful.

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  3. #2
    Registered User Bren's Avatar
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    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    John,
    If you click on that cog-wheel icon , bottom right of the screen on the first video, just left of the YouTube logo, you'll see options for "playback speed".

    Click image for larger version. 

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    You can use that as a learning aid.

    For Irish tunes, I recommend Cafe contributor Aidan Crossey's series of videos at The Irish Mandolin .
    The tunes are played clearly and simply without much ornamentation, perfect for learners.
    Many of the videos display tab and/or notation on-screen throughout.
    Combine that with the playback speed option and you're on your way.

    I recommend Soldier's Joy, probably the most widely-played tune across all "North Atlantic" (UK-Ireland-Scandinavia-North America) Fiddle traditions, as a good one to start with.
    Bren

  4. #3
    Resident Hack
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    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    Also look up more than one artist version. Some will be screaming fast and filled with improv and some won't. Readhaired Boy is not too tough for a beginner.

    https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...inner+mandolin

    For an absolute beginner, I would also recommend Arkansas Traveler and Cripple Creek
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    not a donut Kevin Winn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    MandoLessons.com

    Tons of lessons on bluegrass, old time, and Celtic fiddle tunes
    "Keep your hat on, we may end up miles from here..." - Kurt Vonnegut

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    Registered User Marcus CA's Avatar
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    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    Quote Originally Posted by JohnW63 View Post
    I would like to start with some tame songs that I can find music/tab for that is not blue grass standards... As an example, I found a tune called Red Haired Boy that sounded cool but wasn't screaming fast.
    Any Celtic fiddle tune or bluegrass standard can be tamed, so think about the tunes that you enjoy listening to, and then learn them at a moderate pace. I've heard Red Haired Boy played screaming fast, and I've heard really nice versions of Whiskey Before Breakfast and Cherokee Shuffle played at a moderate lilting tempo.
    still trying to turn dreams into memories

  7. #6

    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    "think about the tunes that you enjoy listening to, and then learn them"

    To be honest, I was never a big fan of Mandolin tunes. Mostly, I guess because most of what I heard was rather frantic bluegrass tunes. However, sometimes you can stumble onto things on the YouTube side bar which then triggers other finds. I ended up with a little unexpected money and thought another instrument would be a nice present to myself. The mandolin came to mind with stuff like I posted above. Now I'm just having fun with it. Last night the song I was trying to discover chords and notes to go with, while the video was playing, was a Donald Fagen song from his solo career.



    A mandolin has no real business blending into this song, but, I was having fun trying to find solo bits and chords to it anyway.

  8. #7
    Registered User Ed McGarrigle's Avatar
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    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    As a beginner myself, I’ve found focusing on Irish tunes exclusively very helpful.
    I strongly endorse Aidan Crossey’s The Irish Mandolin website and The Amazing Slow Downer app.
    A few beginner tunes: polkas: Britches Full of Stitches, Peg Ryan ‘s. Jigs : Six Penny Money, The Lilting Banshee. Reels : O’Connell’s Trip to Parliament, Tommy People’s
    Hornpipe (I think) Napoleon Crossing the Rhine
    Most of these tunes are on TheIrish Mandolin website
    Have fun

  9. #8
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    Just an additional resource you might find of use: There is a Song-a-Week Social Group here at the cafe. You can get there by clicking Learn/Listen and following the links. The group as participants at all levels, and lots of great great tunes. Many feel motivated to learn a tune and post a video of their playing, many others just like to listen and learn.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  10. #9
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Beginner song list?

    Many of you know this, but for those who might find this helpful:

    I don't think there is any such thing as mandolin tunes. In the US, and other places of course, bluegrass kind of dominates the scene, but I am willing to bet that while popular, less than half of all mandolinists are bluegrass pickers.

    The mandolin can do anything - everything. If you can read standard notation you can buy any fake book of any genre of music and immediately have a gizzilion tunes to work on. And there are fake books for beginners as well, to be able to more quickly get something playable and fun into your hands. Anything written for violin can be played on the mandolin, and just about anything written for anything can be worked on for fun.

    Its all just music, and if you play it on the mandolin, it becomes mandolin music.


    I have fakebooks of modern country music hits, old country music hits, cowboy tunes, broadway show tunes, Christmas music... My pile of fakebooks is a catalog of my random interests. All of it becomes mandolin music as soon as I dig in and try it out.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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