# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  easy beginner songs

## stu87

does anybody know of any easy songs that i can get my teeth into and improve upon??? been trying to play blues but am only 21 and havnt been through enough to really feel the blues and love celtic as i am indeed a celt
stu 87 :Mandosmiley:

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## Matt DeBlass

A really easy way to start out and build some confidence is to learn some basic 2-finger chords and learn to strum some accompaniment. A lot of pub songs can be played with either D, G and A or G, C and D. Do a search on the Cafe here for "two-finger chords." Easy ones to start our with are stuff like "Mursheen Durkin," "Hills of Connemara" or "I'll Tell My Ma" for example.

There's also a good selection of tablature here. I think the first tune I learned/ figured out on the mandolin was "Road to Lisdoonvarna," because I knew it on other instruments. 

I work semi-professionally as a pub singer, feel free to private message me or whatnot if I can help with a few more suggestions (bear in mind, I've been doing Irish music for years, but I'm pretty new to the mandolin).

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## Jill McAuley

Check out www.mandolinsessions.com and then scroll down and click on the link for "irish/celtic" - there's a bunch of lessons geared at folks who are new to playing mandolin and new to playing irish/celtic tunes on the mandolin - all free, plus there are sound files to go with each lesson so you can hear the tunes at a slow pace for learning, and then at a more up to speed pace. There's also information about technique and how to play ornaments etc.

Cheers,
Jill

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## Rick Schmidlin

Get the last issue od Acoustic Guitar, great begiiner stuff and stories

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## billkilpatrick

celt - schmelt ... check out:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/group.php?groupid=67

... simple songs - on a weekly basis - which will stand you in good stead in any tradition.

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## thesubliminalman

Hey STU87, I think I am about where you are as far as my mandoskillevel.  Kingston trio "the man who never returned", and several others that are 3 or 4 chord songs are a nice place to start.  I didn't enjoy MelBay guitar books when I was growing up cause they made me play scale exercises but now I realize you gotta do that too.  But to keep your interest you need a song or to that is recognizable.  "London Calling" by the clash is basically Am F C G not quite in that order all the time.  I love playing blues guitar but I have to learn a bunch to get to where it comes freely on this thing.  Like a previous post said grab the two finger chord stuff and get inventive.

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/song_2351023

This is song total junk but after owning a mandolin for about 3 weeks I was proud as punch with it.  Now that it's been about 3 months I can do it without most of the timing flaws and a few more trills and cleaner chords. I am as happy as I can be and I am getting better.  My guitar playing has been at a standstill for about 10 years and it's not cause I can't get better it's just cause I'm bored.  This lil thing is so new and exciting it just never gets old.  It's almost like I am sane but different.

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## O'Cearnaigh

> does anybody know of any easy songs that i can get my teeth into and improve upon??? been trying to play blues but am only 21 and havnt been through enough to really feel the blues and love celtic as i am indeed a celt
> stu 87


Another good one that hasn't got a mention yet is "star of the county down" Some simpler jigs that I found helpful in dealing with steadily more complex arrangments are Old John's and the slip jig Drops of Brandy (watch how you pick this one; I learned the hard way that there is a right way and a wrong way to pick Slips...I had it sounding like it was running out the door and down the road and not sort of "bouncing" for lack of a better word!) Also, Polkas are often easy to learn and can help with your technique.

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## brennan

i just started playing the mandolin my self and come across songs i can play in my first month of playing althogh if you play the guitar then you bound to pick these chords up quite easy there easy 2 finger chord songs and genraly nice tunes based around G D C E A chords the songs are 

half the world away. R E M  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLMnpB51vVM
winter winds .mumford and sons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KCg_QEHtkY
you are the everything.R E M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-3JA750Zxc
Boccherini.master and commander (film) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZg02IqJyHM

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## Loretta Callahan

Since I'm still close to the "rank beginner" stage, I can remember the songs that I learned first.  I've found these the easiest Celtic tunes to play right out of the gate:

Road to Lisdoonvarna
Lilting Banchee
Saddle the Pony

Once I got better, I got that pinky working up the E string with

Kesh Jig
Wind that Shakes the Barley
St. Anne's Reel

All of these tunes can be found at The Session, as Jill mentions.

Once you go Celtic, you sometimes go back ~ and forth.

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## Ben Cooper

Ok, i have the tab for picking Hills of Connemara, but what are the "simple" chords?

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