Handy tunes for student mandoliner

hitman__

Hi all,
Taken up the mandolin for playing at local sessions, (too many guitars, incl me). Just looking for a few (fairly easy, not TOO fast) tunes to add to my limited list.
Play by ear (tab sometimes for first few notes or complicated ones :-).
Have:
Ashokan farewell
Roisin Dubh
Finnegans Wake
Rose of Allendale
Wild Mountain Thyme
Foggy Dew
Erin's green shamrock shore
Nation once again
Maries Wedding
Believe me if all those endearing young charms
and a few others ... any other ideas.
Currently trying to get my head around jig/reel style/speed on the mando....
Thank you.
Ern

Blade

Well what I do and I think you should too, is record your regular sessions and practice at home the "songs" people there tend to sing. Songs are slow and like me you can obviously pick them up by ear. Theres not much point in anyone here suggesting songs or tunes that may rarely come up at your particular session. Tunes like jigs and reels etc. are harder and I personally still need sheet music for them.

fh041205

Blade wrote: »

Well what I do and I think you should too, is record your regular sessions and practice at home the "songs" people there tend to sing.

+1

I do that as well. Plus if you know the names of tunes check out Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes . I use it all the time, and sometimes just go through it listening for tunes I sort of know.

hitman__

Thanks for that guys, i'm bringing a small recorder to the next couple of sessions. Should have thought of that myself

tarbolton

• Find a good teacher. You can do it on your own but learning from an experienced teacher is exponentially better.
• Don't worry about speed. Focus on developing proper technique and precision at slow speeds. Speed will come by itself. Eventually!
• Join a support group. Find or start a group of learning musicians who will provide mutual support for each other. Trying to join a full speed session can be intimidating for a starter. Ceoltoiri Chluain Tarbh run one such group on Dublin's Northside. Details here. There are others throughout the country.
• Starter tunes. Here's a few great tunes that are very common and pretty easy to get you going. The notes for these and other tunes can be found on the internet at sites like thesession.org or the ceoltoiri chluain tarbh site
  • Jimmy Wards Jig
  • John McHughs Jig
  • The Kesh Jig
  • Young Tom Ennis
  • The lilting banshee
  • My Darling Asleep
  • The hag at the churn
  • Out in the ocean
  • Rolling in the ryegrass
  • The merry blacksmith

hitman__

@tarbolton

Thanks for that.

seachto7

download audacity. you can slow down tunes on it, but keep the pitch. I have done that to learn some luke plumb stuff, and it seems to work for me anyways. actually learning the luke plumb stuff is the hard part though!!

sensibleken

inisheer is a beautifull mandolin song, very easy too. you can find it on thesession.org