# Music by Genre > Old-Time, Roots, Early Country, Cajun, Tex-Mex >  Baby Please Don't Go

## Mark Gunter

My first beginner mandolin tab, Baby Please Don't Go by Light'nin' Hopkins. I really like playing this tune in E on the guitar, so now I'm learning mandolin I had to work out an arrangement of it. I wrote it in D Maj in order to make use of the open D for bass.

This tab is in PDF format. I don't have a paid tabledit prog yet, so this is in a text format without standard notation. Sorry about all the limitations.

I tried to indicate some of the technique I'm using, and there is a key near the bottom for de-ciphering what I've written. While this arrangement is a long way off from the same timing and licks that Light'nin' plays, it plays fairly close to the spirit of his song. I suggest listening to and watching him play the song if you're not familiar with it, to get a feel for the shuffle beat and the original guitar licks. Lightnin's guitar is tuned a step high, so he is playing here in F#




If you put my tabs into tabledit, be sure to set the syncopation to 2 so you hear the shuffle somewhat in the MIDI playback.

If you improve on this, or develop your own arrangement, please share it with me. At present, I am unable to provide a video or mp3 of this arrangement. To download the PDF, click on the black box below:

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## Mark Gunter

BTW, just noticed an error in the last measure, open G string is tabbed on first beat, should use it on down beats 2 & 3 as well.

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## Mark Wilson

I would transfer into tabledit for you out of song curiosity but the pdf looks a bit challenging to decipher tbh. 

If you decide to go with a full version of tabledit I doubt you'll miss the $60. I finally got it to edit mandozine tabs down to my level and preference and wound up using it regularly.  The midi feature is hokey sounding but essential for proofing your creations or understanding someone else's intentions.

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## Mark Gunter

Hi Mark, so, I guess my text tabs are too hard to read, sorry, I have it split into two tabledit files, so I'll post them here. Maybe someone can get a use out of it. The $60 is not a problem for getting the program, just a little light on funds now; I plan to buy it a little later in the week.

I probably should have waited to post this tab until I had pretty one made, just excited about the mandolin progress over here.

Baby_Please_Don't_Go_Part_2.tef

Baby_Please_Don't_Go_Part_1.tef

Wow, first two files I uploaded were wonky, wrong key signature and other inconsistencies. I'm swapping them out for cleaner files.

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## zedmando

> Hi Mark, so, I guess my text tabs are too hard to read, sorry, I have it split into two tabledit files, so I'll post them here. Maybe someone can get a use out of it. The $60 is not a problem for getting the program, just a little light on funds now; I plan to buy it a little later in the week.
> 
> I probably should have waited to post this tab until I had pretty one made, just excited about the mandolin progress over here.
> 
> Baby_Please_Don't_Go_Part_2.tef
> 
> Baby_Please_Don't_Go_Part_1.tef
> 
> Wow, first two files I uploaded were wonky, wrong key signature and other inconsistencies. I'm swapping them out for cleaner files.


I'm not able to open those, is it possible to provide this in a different format?

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## Mark Gunter

> I'm not able to open those, is it possible to provide this in a different format?


Those are Tabledit files, you can get a free Tabledit viewer to open them, or click the black box in my original post to get a PDF with a text-based tab version.

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## bluesmandolinman

Thanks markscarts for the TABs and Tabledit files !

Your efford is much appreciated !

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Mark Gunter

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## jefflester

Minor point, but there is a "Blues" genre category that might be a better fit for this topic (or other blues tunes in the future).

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Mark Gunter

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## Mark Gunter

Thanks for sharpening that point, Jeff, I did realize too late that I had posted this in the wrong place, and with other blues tunes I'll try harder to post it in the blues cat or in the collaboration area. I am making many _faux pas_ with this first tablature post, but I am definitely a beginner here. Your point is well taken, my apologies are offered, and perhaps a moderator could move this lest any Old Time, Roots, Early Country, Tex-mex, Cajun aficionados be offended.

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