Mandolin sheet music

Violin music works, with two caveats

Pitch for pitch, a violin part transfers directly. What does not transfer is anything that depends on the bow: long sustained notes have to be tremoloed, and slurs indicate bowing rather than anything a plectrum can do. Double stops mostly work, since the mandolin has paired strings and a flat-ish fingerboard.

This is why the classical mandolin catalogue looks thinner than it is. Vivaldi and Beethoven wrote for the instrument directly, but the practical repertoire is far larger than that once violin editions are included.

Tablature and standard notation

Bluegrass, folk and popular mandolin music is usually published as tablature — four lines representing the courses, with fret numbers — often alongside standard notation. Classical mandolin music is published in standard notation only.

Tablature tells you where to put your fingers but not how long to hold them, so tab-only editions rely on you already knowing the tune. If you do not, buy an edition that prints both.

Mandolin orchestra: mandola and mandocello

A mandolin orchestra has parts for mandola (tuned like a viola, notated in treble clef despite the viola parallel) and mandocello (tuned like a cello). Buying a "mandolin orchestra" score gets you all of them; buying "mandolin 1" gets you one line. Listings are not always explicit about which.