Mandolin Trainer Tunes
Mandolin tunes
One page per tune, free to read and free to print: standard notation with mandolin tab underneath, chord letters over the bars where the chord changes, and a button that plays the melody so you can hear the shape before you pick it apart. Every setting here is one we play through first, so the list grows slowly and on purpose. If it is the backing you are after rather than the melody, the mandolin chord chart has the shapes these tunes are built on, and Jam has the chords a circle plays behind them, with a band to play them with.
No tune matches.
Air on the G String
Bach's slow air in his own key of D, long notes to tremolo and turns in between.
Tab and notationAmazing Grace
Five notes, no sharps to worry about, and the best place there is to start learning tremolo.
Tab and notationAngel Band
The gospel song a bluegrass band ends the night on, written from the 1862 hymn it came from.
Tab and notationAngeline the Baker
Two chords, nothing past the fifth fret, and a melody everybody at the jam already knows.
Tab and notationArkansas Traveler
The tune from the old comedy skit, with the low part and the high part playing both halves of the joke.
Tab and notationThe Ash Grove
A Welsh air from 1802 that America learned as a hymn, and its first strain comes around three times.
Tab and notationAuld Lang Syne
The New Year's song in G, verse and chorus on the pentatonic Scots tune, for mandolin.
Tab and notationAve Maria
Schubert's song of 1825 in D, the voice's melody for one verse, long notes and quick turns.
Tab and notationBanks of the Ohio
The murder ballad Bill Monroe brought into bluegrass, as a sixteen bar mandolin break in G.
Tab and notationBe Thou My Vision
The Irish air SLANE in D, sixteen bars in 3/4, the tune the old Irish prayer is sung to.
Tab and notationBeautiful Dreamer
Stephen Foster's 1864 serenade in D and 9/8, the verse for mandolin with fills where the singer holds.
Tab and notationBig Sciota
A crooked Hammons family tune squared off in a Nashville studio, and the version every jam calls.
Tab and notationBill Cheatham
The bright one among the A tunes, with a B part built out of arpeggios.
Tab and notationBilly in the Lowground
The one tune in C that every bluegrass jam already knows, from the open G course to the seventh fret.
Tab and notationBlackberry Blossom
The G tune every contest calls, a cascade down two octaves with the chords moving twice a bar.
Tab and notationBoccherini's Minuet
The minuet everybody half remembers, both strains in A, light and a little detached.
Tab and notationBoil Them Cabbage Down
The first tune most people ever learn, and the easiest one here to trade at speed.
Tab and notationBourrée in E minor
Bach's most borrowed dance, the upper voice lifted an octave to sit under a mandolin hand.
Tab and notationBrahms' Lullaby
The cradle song everyone can hum, Brahms's Wiegenlied of 1868, moved to G and played softly in first position.
Tab and notationBuffalo Gals
The one everybody already knows, and a first lesson in turning a song into a fiddle tune.
Tab and notationBury Me Beneath the Willow
The Carter Family's 1927 song in G, on the most common changes in bluegrass, and a chorus that starts a third higher.
Tab and notationCamptown Races
Foster's 1850 minstrel song, sixteen bars in G, with a chorus that jumps an octave and walks back down.
Tab and notationCanon in D
Eight chords on a loop, and four entries each moving twice as fast as the last.
Tab and notationCarol of the Bells
Leontovych's Shchedryk in E minor, the four-note figure and the lines the choir sings over it.
Tab and notationCello Suite No. 1, Prelude
All 42 bars of the most tabbed piece of classical music there is, sitting on the mandolin's open G course where the cello's own bottom string sits.
Tab and notationCherokee Shuffle
Tommy Jackson's rewrite of Lost Indian, still two bars longer in the second strain than anyone expects.
Tab and notationCluck Old Hen
Six notes, one C natural, and the whole flavor of mountain minor.
Tab and notationCold Frosty Morning
Henry Reed's dorian reel, two chords and a bright F sharp, filled the way a mandolin plays it.
Tab and notationConcerto for Two Mandolins in G
Vivaldi's concerto for two mandolins in G, the first part from the opening to its first solo.
Tab and notationCooley's Reel
The reel every session opens with, two chords the whole way, and nobody agrees who wrote it.
Tab and notationCotton-Eyed Joe
The Texas dance-hall breakdown in A, older than the Civil War, and the first bar puts the open A on every upstroke.
Tab and notationCripple Creek
Three chords, two parts, and the first tune half the room ever learned.
Tab and notationCumberland Gap
The Wilderness Road reel, a low strain and a high strain in G, filled the way a mandolin plays it.
Tab and notationDanny Boy
The Londonderry Air in D, one pass of sixteen bars, and every long note is a tremolo.
Tab and notationDeck the Halls
A Welsh New Year's air, in print since 1794, as the carol is sung now, in G.
Tab and notationDevil's Dream
A Scottish reel that crossed the Atlantic and came back wearing a different name.
Tab and notationDown in the Willow Garden
The murder ballad bluegrass sings as a waltz, in G, with a long note in every line to tremolo.
Tab and notationDown to the River to Pray
The spiritual from the O Brother soundtrack, the traditional tune in D, a verse and a chorus.
Tab and notationDrowsy Maggie
The reel every session knows, a four bar first strain on the low E, and one finger that stays put across two courses.
Tab and notationDurang's Hornpipe
A hornpipe written for a dancer in 1785, played the way the Southern fiddlers turned it around.
Tab and notationEighth of January
The fiddle tune under The Battle of New Orleans, in D, with a low strain that crosses back to the open D on every other note.
Tab and notationEine kleine Nachtmusik
Mozart's most famous opening, the rocket up the G chord, on the open strings of a mandolin.
Tab and notationElzic's Farewell
The soldier in the title is a story. The goodbye underneath it was real, and it was to a dying mother.
Tab and notationThe First Noel
The Cornish carol in D and 3/4, every phrase ending on the third, printed in 1823 and 1833.
Tab and notationFisher's Hornpipe
A hornpipe from the London stage that American fiddlers made their own, in D.
Tab and notationFlop Eared Mule
Eight bars in D, eight bars in A, and the second half is the first half slid up one course.
Tab and notationFlowers of Edinburgh
A Scottish reel printed around 1737, still called by the same name at bluegrass jams.
Tab and notationForked Deer
Printed in 1839, and the second strain still parks on the A chord for three bars at a time.
Tab and notationFür Elise
Four notes almost anyone can hum, and on a mandolin they are one finger and one open string.
Tab and notationThe Girl I Left Behind Me
The old soldier's march in G, both strains filled the way a jam mandolin plays it.
Tab and notationGod Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
The one carol in a minor key, and the comma in the title is not where people think it is.
Tab and notationGolden Slippers
James Bland wrote it in 1879, and the Mummers have been marching to it ever since.
Tab and notationGreensleeves
Older than the story about Henry VIII, and the two different Cs in it are the ear training.
Tab and notationGrey Eagle
The contest tune named for a horse that lost, and no two fiddlers have ever played it the same way.
Tab and notationGymnopédie No. 1
Satie's slow piece of 1888 over two rocking chords, and on a mandolin, long notes built for tremolo.
Tab and notationHard Times Come Again No More
Stephen Foster's 1854 song in G, a verse and a chorus for mandolin, slow enough to sing along.
Tab and notationHarvest Home
The hornpipe sessions pair with The Boys of Bluehill, in D, and a bar of open strings to find the hornpipe bounce on.
Tab and notationIn the Pines
The Appalachian song Bill Monroe and Lead Belly both recorded, as the eight bar waltz a bluegrass jam sings, in G.
Tab and notationIn the Sweet By and By
The gospel standard Webster wrote in half an hour in a Wisconsin drugstore, in G, three chords, no sevenths.
Tab and notationThe Irish Washerwoman
The most borrowed jig in the world, and eight bars of pure crossing practice in the second strain.
Tab and notationJesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
A line of even eighths that never stops moving, all of it in first position.
Tab and notationJingle Bells
The sleigh racing song of 1857, in G, carrying the chorus people actually sing and not the one Pierpont printed.
Tab and notationJoy to the World
The carol that opens on a whole octave of the D scale, which on a mandolin is one four-fret shape played on two courses.
Tab and notationJune Apple
Two chords, a flat seventh, and the high saw that comes straight out of Round Peak.
Tab and notationKaty Hill
The breakdown Monroe took at a gallop in 1940, and it was already old when he got to it.
Tab and notationKeep on the Sunny Side
The 1899 Sunday school song the Carter Family made their theme, verse and chorus in G for mandolin.
Tab and notationThe Kesh Jig
The jig every session in the world knows, and the cleanest place to learn what a 6/8 lilt feels like.
Tab and notationKitchen Girl
Two strains, two modes, and one note is the whole difference between them.
Tab and notationLeather Britches
The contest tune that came from Scotland backwards, and the trip down to the open G course.
Tab and notationLiberty
An American reel with no composer, equally at home at a contra dance and a bluegrass jam.
Tab and notationLittle Liza Jane
The eastern Kentucky one out of the tangle of Liza Janes, and the whole tune is five notes.
Tab and notationLittle Maggie
The bluegrass standard on G and F, with a long flat seventh under the F chord and a blue third on the way home.
Tab and notationLiza Jane
The plain one out of a very tangled family, and the same eight bars twice at two heights.
Tab and notationLoch Lomond
The Scottish song in G, verse and chorus on the same eight bars, printed in Edinburgh in 1840.
Tab and notationMandolin Concerto in C, first movement
The concerto Vivaldi wrote for this instrument, from the hammered opening to the solo's first entry.
Tab and notationMinuet in G
The classical tune a mandolin can walk straight into, no transposing and no shifting.
Tab and notationMississippi Sawyer
A river name, a top-two-course tune, and all the drive an old-time jam wants.
Tab and notationMorning Mood
Grieg's sunrise in D, the flute's theme and the oboe's answers, rocking in two.
Tab and notationMorrison's Jig
The E dorian jig named for the Sligo fiddler who recorded it in 1936, and he learned it from his accordion player.
Tab and notationNew River Train
A Virginia railroad song, on record since 1924, as a sixteen bar mandolin break in G.
Tab and notationNine Pound Hammer
A Southern hammer song, and one of the first things a bluegrass jam calls, as a sixteen bar break in G.
Tab and notationOde to Joy
The easiest page on the shelf, and a fair candidate for the first tune you ever learn.
Tab and notationOh! Susanna
Foster's 1848 hit, the song the Gold Rush walked to California singing, in sixteen bars and three chords.
Tab and notationOld Joe Clark
The tune everybody knows the words to, and a flat seventh you can hear from across the room.
Tab and notationOver the Waterfall
One borrowed bar of C natural, and it is the bar everybody remembers.
Tab and notationOver the Waves
The circus waltz every old-time jam knows, and the best place on this shelf to learn to count in three.
Tab and notationPlanxty Irwin
Carolan's toast to a Sligo colonel, and the natural second tune after Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór.
Tab and notationPrelude in C
The prelude everybody knows through the Ave Maria, all 35 bars of it, with the hand going up the neck for the top of each figure.
Tab and notationRagtime Annie
One of the six Eck Robertson cut in 1922, minus the third part in G that jams quietly dropped.
Tab and notationRed Haired Boy
The Little Beggarman in Ireland, Red Haired Boy at the jam, and the same key in both rooms.
Tab and notationRed Wing
Schumann wrote the verse without knowing it, and a hundred years of square dances did the rest.
Tab and notationRights of Man
The minor-key hornpipe every session plays, named for Thomas Paine's book, and the place to learn the hornpipe bounce in E minor.
Tab and notationRondo alla Turca
Mozart's Turkish march from K. 331, the A minor theme and the A major refrain, an octave down on the mandolin.
Tab and notationSail Away Ladies
Uncle Bunt Stephens' 1926 reel in G, the tune under Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O, filled for mandolin.
Tab and notationSally Goodin
On the record the country music business started with, and still the emptiest frame in the key of A.
Tab and notationSalt Creek
Salt River when it was older, Salt Creek since Monroe, and the same reel either way.
Tab and notationSarabande in B minor
Bach's B minor sarabande for violin alone, its top voice right where Bach wrote it, since the mandolin is tuned the same.
Tab and notationShady Grove
The minor tune everybody at the jam already knows the words to.
Tab and notationShall We Gather at the River
The Brooklyn hymn John Ford kept putting in westerns, with a long note in every phrase to practice tremolo on.
Tab and notationSí Bheag, Sí Mhór
Carolan's first tune by tradition, and the best reason on this shelf to learn tremolo.
Tab and notationSilent Night
Twelve bars, three chords, and a held note at the end of every phrase to practice tremolo on.
Tab and notationSimple Gifts
The Shaker dance song of 1848 in G, the melody people sing, and not the one Lord of the Dance borrowed.
Tab and notationSkye Boat Song
A Gaelic rowing song, new words in 1884, and the lilt of oars in every bar.
Tab and notationSoftly and Tenderly
Will Thompson's 1880 gospel hymn in G, rocking in 6/8, with a refrain that steps down through c sharp to c.
Tab and notationSoldier's Joy
The reel nearly every jam knows, and one of the first worth having under your fingers.
Tab and notationSonatina in C for Mandolin
The sonatina Beethoven wrote for the mandolin, the opening theme in C, arpeggios under the pick.
Tab and notationSourwood Mountain
The old-time song tune with a high strain that rocks on the open E and a low one that drops to the bottom of the neck.
Tab and notationSouthwind
An Irish song air to the south wind, and a long note on nearly every downbeat for the tremolo.
Tab and notationSpring (The Four Seasons)
The opening everyone knows, dropped an octave so the whole ritornello stays in first position.
Tab and notationSquirrel Hunters
A Pennsylvania fife tune John Hartford brought to the jams, all A and G, filled the way a mandolin plays it.
Tab and notationSt. Anne's Reel
A Quebec reel that ended up at every bluegrass jam, with one G sharp doing all the work.
Tab and notationStar of the County Down
The Irish ballad on the Dives and Lazarus tune, sixteen bars in E minor built from one phrase said four times.
Tab and notationThe Swallowtail Jig
Everybody's first jig, and the down up down of the pick hand is the actual lesson.
Tab and notationSwing Low, Sweet Chariot
The spiritual the Fisk Jubilee Singers took around the world, in D, on three chords.
Tab and notationTemperance Reel
The Teetotaler's Reel in Ireland, the Temperance Reel at an American jam, one tune either way.
Tab and notationTennessee Wagoner
A breakdown in C, the rare key at a jam, and by one account the first tune Uncle Jimmy Thompson played on the radio.
Tab and notationToccata in D minor (opening)
The opening of BWV 565, mordents, runs and the diminished chord, as one line a mandolin can play in first position.
Tab and notationTurkey in the Straw
Everybody already knows the first two bars, and those two bars are most of the tune.
Tab and notationWabash Cannonball
The train song every jam knows, carried as a room sings it, with the 1904 print it came from still to be checked.
Tab and notationWater Music Hornpipe
Handel's river party in D, the strings' opening strain, long notes and a kick.
Tab and notationWayfaring Stranger
A natural minor air with one big lift in the middle, and every long note is a tremolo lesson.
Tab and notationWe Three Kings
The carol that turns from E minor in the verse to G in the refrain, picked down, up, down like a jig.
Tab and notationWestphalia Waltz
A Polish drinking song that became a Texas fiddle standard, and the best tremolo practice on the shelf.
Tab and notationWhat a Friend We Have in Jesus
The hymn from 1868 that bluegrass bands kept recording, moved to G so every line lands on a note worth a tremolo.
Tab and notationWhiskey Before Breakfast
A Canadian fiddle tune that settled into every old-time jam, and it uses most of the mandolin without a shift.
Tab and notationWildwood Flower
The song the Carter Family fixed in every picker's hands, written as the jam sings it.
Tab and notationWill the Circle Be Unbroken
The gospel song every jam ends with, written from the 1907 hymn the whole thing came from.
Tab and notation
Reading a tune is only half of it
Mandolin Trainer listens through your microphone and grades every note as you play, so you find out where the tune falls apart before the jam does. A handful of these are on the app's Tunes shelf to be graded, and the rest are here to read and play. Free while it is in beta.
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