I'll second Jacob's post above. I used Tab notation exclusively when I played guitar, because especially with fingerstyle playing there is more than one place to play the same note, and it helps figure out how someone is playing a certain tune.
That still applies to a certain extent on mandolin. I remember when I was first learning mandolin it helped to see Tab notation of a tune, but I very quickly moved on to standard notation because I was playing "fiddle tunes" -- OldTime and Irish -- that were linear melodies, mainly in first position, and there is no ambiguity about where the notes are on the fingerboard.
If you can read standard notation it opens up a gigantic trove of tunes you can find online, like the database on
thesession.org for Irish, Scottish, and related traditional tunes. There is no Tab there, only standard notation (and ABC notation, a kind of shorthand ASCII version). Of course this also opens up the world of Classical music and other "World music." Any standard notation for violin can be played on mandolin.
I use the free
MuseScore program to import tunes in ABC or standard notation, where I can edit notes to match local versions of the tune. MuseScore also has a Tab function but I've never messed with it. Maybe someone else can comment on that if you still want to stick with Tab notation.
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