Easy songs for Newbies?

[Garden Music]

Hello everyone,

In the Newbies Social Group we are trying to find some easy songs for us to learn together (kind of a "Junior Song of the Week Club").

We are looking at Greensleeves as a good starter song. What other tunes would be good for us that we can easily locate? All suggestions are appreciated.

And Newbies, please come on over to the social group and join in!

[recon]

Arkansas Traveler and Amazing Grace were two of the earliest tunes I learned on the mandolin.

[Mike Bunting]

Here's one.

http://www.freeguitarvideos.com/mand...m-cabbage.html

[Charley wild]

"Bury Me Beneath the Willow" is easy and fun. A double stop/tremolo version is pretty easy to work up. "Nine Pound Hammer", "Banks of the Ohio" are two that you can do easily or make them a bit more difficult with double stops and/or tremolo. One of our members "Tonedr" has a couple of videos on YouTube of "Willow" and "Hammer" which are great for beginners! I can't link but just search "Tonedr".

[Ed Goist]

...snip...What other tunes would be good for us that we can easily locate? All suggestions are appreciated...snip...

Hi Karen:

Here's a great rock n' roll tune for beginners:
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Key of G):
chord sequence (repeat throughout):
G - D - Am7 (or Am)
G - D - C
G - D - Am7 (or Am)
G - D - C

G = 0-0-2-3
D = 2-0-0-2
Am7 = 2-2-3-3 or 0-7-3-0 (Am = 5-2-0-0)
C = 0-2-3-3 or 0-2-3-0
Strum pattern: down-down-up

I LOVE the way this sounds on mandolin. I play it just about every time I pick a mandolin up.

Although I think Am7 is technically the correct chord, the tune sounds just fine with the easier two-finger Am chord listed above played in the sequence in place of Am7.

For the melody, play around with the notes in the G major scale that sound like the vocals of the song.

[rico mando]

boil them cabbages down has a very easy melody and chord progression

[raulb]

Angeline the Baker

[Mandobart]

Find some two-chord songs. Some I play are "Angeline the Baker", "Rex's Blues", "Swallowtail Jig" (not too hard if you slow it down a little). There's lots more. Someone once posted a link to a whole book of two-chord songs.

[George R. Lane]

Go on Mandozine.com and checkout the tablEdit files for beginners.

[Aisha]

Find some two-chord songs. Some I play are "Angeline the Baker", "Rex's Blues", "Swallowtail Jig" (not too hard if you slow it down a little). There's lots more. Someone once posted a link to a whole book of two-chord songs.

If someone could repost this link or the post it would be highly appreciated . One very cool easy song that I've just learnt (the melody at least) is "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" -can't stop playing this one once I start. This made me want to watch that movie with John Wayne again (The Horsemen Soldiers).

I actually found it here http://www.jaybuckey.com/free_tablature.htm
Great tunes on this site, some for free and you can download the MP3s to play along (with mandolin, only accompanying instruments, etc.).

[JEStanek]

I'll add that some of my favorite songs to play are easy Christmas carols. Most likely you've known the tune (in your head and voice) since you were a kid. That's half the battle I think, if you can hear it in your head you can eventually get it on the fingerboard. There are many volumes of Christmas books out there with notation and/or Tab. Butch Baldassari's Evergreen is good as is Allan Alexander's book of Christmas music (also has a book of duets with mandolin and guitar Christmas music if you have a partner). Both volumes (Butch and Allan) have the arrangements simple enough to learn and then you can embellish as you like.

If you still play like a novice (like me), you can get these under your belt pretty quick and as you practice between now and the Christmas Season, you can get them sounding very nice.

The Mandozine TablEdit files are a great resource too.

Jamie

[thistle3585]

I don't know what qualifies you as a "newbie" but I'd suggest taking a common, simple song and try working it out by ear without tab. I'd start with something like Happy Birthday or Mary had a little lamb then progress to more difficult songs. I know my playing improved tremendously after having done this for awhile. Specifically, I was able to learn songs quicker.

[ColdBeerGoCubs]

thistle, approximately how long did it take you to listen and tear apart to your first song, if you don't mind me asking?

[thistle3585]

I started with songs that I basically had heard all my life. I think the first song was happy birthday and it took me about an hour or so. I tried Mary Had a little Lamb but I couldn't get Stevie Ray Vaughn's version out of my head so I gave up on it. I think the Star Spangle Banner took me a week, practicing a half hour to an hour a day, as did Puff the Magic Dragon. I intermingled scale work in there too which I think helped considerably. I also went through a bit of the "Brad Davis Learn by ear CD" but I really struggled through it. My big leap was the intro to Intimo off the "Hold on we're strumming" album. The first few measures were pretty easy but I gave up once the second mandolin came in.

I had really let my playing lapse over the last couple years as I was spending my extra time building instruments. I've recently gotten back to a bit more structured playing and have been trying to get back to where I was a couple years ago. I have to know a song well enough to be able to "sing" or hum the notes before I can even try to figure it out on the fretboard. I've also been less fragmented in what I practice. When I first started playing I was all over the map trying to learn different genres of music and I think that hindered my progression.

[thistle3585]

I wanted to follow up with this excerpt from CoMando by Mike Stangeland several years back. This spurred a contest on the list to come up with different versions of Happy Birthday.

"Learn to sing what you're playing, slowly play and sing the notes to happy
birthday in D then G then A. Do this with a 100 other simple melody lines.
Establish the relationship between ear/tone/string/finger position. Now you
have the basis of building a break around a melody (most good vocal breaks
are melody based)."

The topic was "learning breaks" and the archival discussion can be found at http://listserv.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe

[Denny Gies]

The first fiddle tune I learned was "Old Joe Clark". It is easy, in the key of A. And the recommendation about Christmas songs is good; "Jingle Bells" is fun to find in the key of D. Have fun.

[mandroid]

Song means you Sing it right? then you play something like the melody of the song for the instrumental break.

so first sing the song . learn what key your voice wants to sing in.

learn 3 chords , in that key , 1,4,5th covers oodles of songs as common chord structure like GCD, CFG, ADE, etc.

if you can sing and hum the melody, then the hands need next to find the notes on the fingerboard.

[Brent Hutto]

You're getting a range of responses that don't necessarily share a common assumption of just what you mean by learning a song...

Are you wanting to play a melody?

Play a melody in unison with other players and/or instruments?

Play accompaniment+breaks for singing?

Swap off playing "breaks" and "backup" in a jam-session kind of thing?

Play worked-out arrangements for a small group, like chamber music or in a band?

Play by ear vs. by sheet music or tab?

How to get where you want to go depends very much on where you want to go, you know!

[Garden Music]

Thank you, everyone, for the excellent suggestions--for songs, for song sites (very helpful), and for learning techniques. I think we are off and running!

[jaycat]

boil them cabbages down has a very easy melody and chord progression

Yeah, but that one makes the baby cry.

[Capt. E]

Here are a few easy ones I like

"In the Pines"
"Hard Times Come Again No More" (and almost anything else by Stephen Foster)
Most cajun waltzes: such as "Je Passant devant ta Port" (I passed by your door)
"Arkansas Traveler"
"The Eight of January" (also known as "The Battle of New Orleans")
try Dean Martin's old signature song "That's Amore", great for tremelo practice.
Also "Louise" (every little breeze seems to whisper Louise...)

[Michael Nelson]

Yeah, but that one makes the baby cry.

"Bile dem Cabbage Down" makes me cry too, especially since it runs incessantly in the background of one of the California gubernatorial political commercials here.

[Picker Jim]

I have found the easiest songs are simple songs you already have in your head and work them out....usually songs from your childhood. Row Row Row Your Boat, Amazing Grace, Happy Birthday, etc.