# Song and Tune Projects > Song and Tune Projects >  Ashokan farewell

## sanctuary13

Hey all. #Brand new to the mandolin, but played fiddle and a little guitar for years. #I tried tabbing this with TablEdit, but the demo version is being ornery about the file size, so here it goes:

This is the beautiful fiddle tune Ashokan Farewell by Jay Ungar. #It was written in 1982, but really hit it big in Ken Burn's 1990 documentary, The Civil War. #This was and is my favorite song to play on any instrument, and whenever I begin to learn a new instrument, this is the first song I try to figure out. #Since the violin and mandolin are so similar, this came naturally and definitely inspired me to learn more about the mando. #Unfortunately, my ability to read music has suffered over the years, so its best to listen to the song for the timing and note duration.

<span style='font-family:courier'>Pt 1.
&#124;---------------------------------------------------2-2-3-2-0--------------------
&#124;--0-4-5--4-2-0---------------------------------0-5------------------------------
&#124;----------------4-2-4-5-4---2-0-----0------0-4----------------------------------
&#124;----------------------------------4---4--2--------------------------------------


&#124;----------------------------------------------2----------------------------------
&#124;--0-4-5--4-2-0----------------------------0-5---0-4-7-5--------------------------
&#124;----------------4-2-4-5-4-2-0---0-----0-4----------------------------------------
&#124;------------------------------4---4-2--------------------------------------------


Pt 2.

&#124;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
&#124;-------0------5--0-2-4-5-0-----------------0-0---------0-3-5-2-4-5-0------------
&#124;---4-5-0--4-0--------------4-2-4-2-0-----------4-2-0-4---------------4--0-------
&#124;-------------------------------------4-0-2--------------------------------------


&#124;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
&#124;---------0-5--------------------------------------------------------------------
&#124;-----0-4-----4-2-0---0----------------------------------------------------------
&#124;---2---------------6------------------------------------------------------------</span>

this is my first tab ever, so please be gentle, and i hope you enjoy it.

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Chuck Holton

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## JEStanek

Welcome to the Mandolin Café, Matthew. That looks ok. Perhaps one of the best sources for mandolin tab (free) is Mandozine.com run by John Baxter. He has several versions there you can compare your arrangement with. This is one of my favorite pieces to play.

Jamie

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## Rick Parrish

Great tune! I just downloaded the tabledit files the other day after hearing Floyd, VA guitarist Bernie Coveney play it at a birthday party for local fiddle builder Arthur Conner (who just turned 84). The Mandozine site has an easy version and an intermediate version. Both sound beautiful, even when played by a beginner (me).

Rick

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## PaulD

This is a great tune... such a stirring melody. It's also a good candidate for playing as written or playing around with ornamentation. My daughter is currently learning a version similar to what you've tabbed on her fiddle and we've been having fun doing double fiddle and fiddle/mando duets. 

Floyd, VA. is a _very cool_ town! I've only been there once... a year and a half ago when my wife and I were doing a belated honeymoon on Hatteras, NC and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. A friend told us to make sure we were in Floyd on a Friday evening with our instruments... what a great time! We were flying out of Norfolk at 10:00 AM Saturday morning but we couldn't quit pickin' Friday night, then had to drive like crazy through the night to catch our flight but it was worth the stress. If we'd known better we would have booked a flight out of Roanoke. 

I picked up a pristine Bill Monroe LP at the bookstore, then ducked upstairs for coffee to find that they were serving coffee roasted in a little town in Northern Utah where I went to college. My only complaint was that we went to dinner at some restaurant across from the bookstore/coffee shop... I can't recall the name... and we weren't on the "buddy" list so our service was horrible. People came in after us and got seated first, then the staff were sitting down with various folks while we waited forever to get served so we could get back to pickin'. That's the only business I checked out in town that I won't visit again. Everything else about the town and the shops was outstanding.

I'm really looking forward to getting an opportunity to spend more time in that area of the country.

Paul

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## JeffD

Ashoken Farewell is a lovely tune. That and "Lovers Waltz" are two of the best waltzes for solo fiddle, or mandolin, that there are. Its a tune that responds well to being played well. The tune encourages good playing.

But, because of its beauty, the tune so over played in some places that one can develop a real antipathy.

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## Eddie Sheehy

Anyone got a link to a sound clip of it? Being a furriner I've never heard it....

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## man dough nollij

Here's one

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## Doug Hoople

In a thread earlier this year, we were talking about taking simple tunes and turning them into chord melodies. I sent in the sheet music to my arrangement of Ashokan Farewell. Bits of chord melody, but mostly drones and melody. 

Seems like a good place to add a link to it. The sheet music is attached about two-thirds of the way down the first page.

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## phiddlepicker

Great tune, I much prefer playing it on my fiddle though. Especially on my electric rig. Yeah, I'm goin to hell I know I know. 
If ya like that one, try Jay Unger's version of "Give Me Your Hand"

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## PaulD

"Give Me Your Hand" is another great tune but I've never heard Jay Ungar's version of it. It's much more obscure... and old Scottish air IIRC. I rarely find anyone who knows it to play along with, but it's another one that's fun for double fiddle harmonies. Another waltz that's common and is great to play on fiddle, mando, and octave mando is "Midnight On The Water."

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## brunello97

My mother was from up in the Catskills and we stomped around Esopus Creek a lot as kids. My uncle always reminded us not to pee in the water saying some fellow in NYC would be drinking it.  She is buried within a long throw of the Ashokan Reservoir. 

I play this a lot just because. Always makes me kind of misty.

Mick

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## Gutbucket

A few years back, I had the pleasure of picking with Jay and Molly Ungar at his camp. He'd lead a medium jam after supper, and play the most beautiful Civil War era songs. We always finished with this song. Jay has a way with writing the most beautiful waltzes. Always a great way to end a fine day at Ashokan Fiddle and Dance camp.

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## Mattg

you gotta make a funny face when playing this song. I've heard it refered to as Ashokan face. I didn't make this up.

By the way, it's a great tune. I think the accidental note tends to trip up folks who are learning it. I'm trying to add more double stops infuse more chords between the notes for a sort of single duet style. There is a lot you can do with the song and still reflect the melody.

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## JeffD

> you gotta make a funny face when playing this song. I've heard it refered to as Ashokan face. I didn't make this up.


That was mentioned in the thread on the songs you hate the most. Ashokan Farewell was described as the "Kumbaya" of fiddle tunes - and people got all serious and profound looking when they played it.

Its a great tune, its just that these days it is played to death.

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## Mattg

I had heard it mentioned at a jam too. I've also heard that it was overplayed but I have yet to hear it more than just a few times at jams. Must be a regional thing.

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## PaulD

[QUOTE= (JeffD @ Aug. 29 2008, 09:30)]


> Its a great tune, its just that these days it is played to death.


So is that why I've also heard it referred to as _A-Chokin' Farewell_?

pd

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## JeffD

[QUOTE= (PaulD @ Aug. 29 2008, 13:31)]


> Originally Posted by Mattg,Aug. 29 2008, 11:12
> 
> Its a great tune, its just that these days it is played to death.
> 
> 
> So is that why I've also heard it referred to as _A-Chokin' Farewell_?
> 
> pd


Oh yea. Also:


Ash Can Farewell

I Sure Can Farewell

I Sure Can Play Well

Your Jokin Farewell

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