In the Mandolin II class at Celtic week, with David Surette, we learned a few tunes by ear, a few by tab, and also focused on how to make accompaniment with the mandolin interesting. I had to leave “the gathering” earlier today, to visit the in-laws, and so have had some time in the car to tab a few of the tunes for you. Click on the links below for the mandolin tablature for the irish tunes of (reel) Devanney’s Goat, (reel) Poor Old Woman, and (slip jig) Hardiman the fiddler.
Dorm Room at Celtic Week 2011 - Guitar, Mandolins and Kettlebells, what else do you need?
Mandolin (tab) tablature & standard notation
Now that I’ve found myself exploring the guitar again, I’ve also created flat picking tablature for the tunes above. Here they are:
Guitar (tab) tablature and Standard Notation for Flat picking
Devanney’s Goat in Standard Tuning
Poor Old Woman in Standard Tuning
Hardiman the Fiddler in Standard Tuning
We also learned a great tune called The Reverend Brother’s Jig (called the Monk’s Jig on thesession.org) and a number of Breton Tunes. Great class, good teacher, learned a lot.
Asheville Mandolin 
Cool site and I will share it with my father who is a mandolin player. I grew up watching him play most of my life so I definitely love the instrument.
Take Care,
Brian
Wow, can you actually learn the mandolin by ear?
It just takes practice, and lots of patience.
Excellent information. I really appreciate the Mando Tabs. I have been trying to teach my self to play the mandolin, but I think I am going to need a couple of lessons at least to unlearn the bad habits
Lessons are helpful. A teacher can see what you are doing (or not doing) that you might miss.