Green Valley Waltz — Mandolin Tab

Mandolin tab and sheet music with synced audio · Key of C · 120 BPM · 4/4 time · Old-timey · Intermediate

Chords used in this arrangement: C, Am, G, F.

Green Valley Waltz has a little mystery to it. Most sources trace this tune back to Tennessee's Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, but a recording by east Tennessee fiddler Jimmy McCarroll with the Roane County Ramblers was cut for Columbia Records all the way back in October 1928 and never got released, so it just disappeared into a vault somewhere. The version that actually stuck around came through Arthur Smith, and Mike Seeger once noted that Smith had this quirky habit of singing in vocal harmony with his fiddle on the final lines, something Seeger said he'd never heard another fiddler do. Playing it on mandolin in C keeps things very singable and the melody flows naturally across the neck, so let the phrasing breathe and enjoy the gentle waltz lilt — this is a tune meant to feel unhurried.

This page includes mandolin tablature, standard music notation, and a chord chart — printable as PDF and playable in sync with the original recording. Change the key, slow the tempo down, and loop the bars you want to practise.