The Fiddle Tune

"Arkansas Traveler" started out as a song (with lyrics) played in minstrel shows, but today it is mainly played as a traditional fiddle tune. The best place to start is with a fiddle version of this song. Click on the link below to hear the basic tune.

Fiddle Recording Listen to Audio Clip



Once you have listened to the audio clip the next task is to transcribe it. How do you do that? Because may fiddle tunes are played at fast tempos, we often have to slow down the playback so that you can tab out the notes being played. The product we use for this is the Amazing Slow Downer by Roni Music.

Tab Paper

You can use any blank tab sheet you like to write out the notes for the tune. There are many guitar staff manuscript paper products available commercially. You can also download and print out our free Blank Tab sheet.

Here is our tab for the basic Arkansas Traveler melody from the fiddle tune recording above. Notice that it is organized into an "AABB" form. The A part is played twice and then the B part is played twice. Both the A and B parts are 8 bars long.

Melody from Fiddle Recording View/Play Tab | Download PDF

Finding the Key

The next thing to figure out what key it's played in. You can do this by playing chords along with the recording until you find the right key. Most fiddle tunes have a standard key they are played in. Among the best places to look this up is at the Fiddler's Companion and the Traditional Tune Archive. In the case of our Arkansas Traveler study tune, the key is D.

Assigning Chords

Once you have the key, the next thing to do is to figure out the chords that go with the tune. We recommend that you learn the basic melody enough so that you can sing it (or hum it). Break up the tune into small sections ("phrases") that are easily remembered. Don't make these sections too long; two measures works well in most cases. Then while you hum the melody for these sections, play chords in the right key on your guitar and how they sound. Start out with the major chords for key: the I, IV and V chords (these are D, G and A for the key of D). If there are phrases where these chords don't fit, try the minor chords for the key: II, III and VI. These are Em, F#m, and Bm chords in the key of D.

Learning the chords this way is hard when you first start out, but the more you do it the easier it becomes. There is also a major benefit for doing this: you begin to hear the chord changes in the tune. As you work through the phrases, write the chords on the tab sheet you created when you figured out the basic melody. Then, play back the recording of the tune and listen to how your chords sound. If you find spots where something doesnt sound right, go back to those sections and use the humming technique with other chords to find a better fit.

Basic Arrangement of "Arkansas Traveler" with Chords

We added chords to our basic melody using this technique and published it here in both Scorch and PDF formats. The arrangement is in the key of D, and includes both standard notation and TAB.

Guitar Arrangement in D View/Play Tab | Download PDF

Are Your Chords Different?

The chords you come up with might be different from the ones we show. Does that make one correct and the other one incorrect? Not necessarily! As long as the chords sound good with the melody they're fine. In a two-player setting (one person playing melody and the other chords), this is great. However, in a band setting with more players it's essential for everyone to play the same chords. The main point here is that the chords can vary from one arrangement to another.