Transcribing/ Getting Started
I’ve been playing guitar for about 12 years, and always wanted to play the mandolin. Last summer I decided it was time to get started in earnest and signed up for lessons. Things started out well, and I was learning a tune a week, and more importantly I was learning how to actually play the mandolin and not treat it like a tiny guitar. My teacher would play a tune in the lesson, and I’d spend the next week transcribing and learning how to play it alternating between the melody and changes. Unfortunately his schedule was too varied to have regular lessons, so after only a few lessons, we weren’t able to keep it up. I’ve been stuck the last several months just chugging my way through Whiskey Before Breakfast (in D) and Cherokee Shuffle (in A). I thought maybe picking up some books would help. I bought most of John McGann’s books since I had a couple classes with him when I was in school, and Andy Statman’s Jesse McReynolds book since I came across a reasonably priced copy. Even with these I still feel like I’m not really learning how to play bluegrass. My goal is to be able to play at the local bluegrass night here, which has been described to me as a very tough room, without embarrassing myself. I was thinking that I’d keep on the track that I started with my lessons in trying to learn a tune a week, but I don’t know what versions I should be looking to transcribe. Here’s a short list I’ve compiled looking around here, are there any specific versions I should be looking at? Do you have any tips?
Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
Old Joe Clark
Nine Pound Hammer
Red Haired Boy
I am a Pilgrim
Billy in the Low Ground
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Blackberry Blossom
Wayfaring Stranger
Gold Rush
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Bill Cheatham
Bury Me Beneath the Willow
St. Anne’s Reel
In te Pines
Cherokee Shuffle
Big Sciota
Sitting on Top of the World
Beaumont Rag
Little Maggie
Man of Constant Sorrow
Temperance Reel
If I Should Wander Back Tonight
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Originally Posted by Perry
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