Songs · Banjo · Beginner
Boil Them Cabbage Down (clawhammer)
Traditional (American) · Old-time song and fiddle tune, also called “Bile ’Em Cabbage Down”
Banjo · old-timeclawhammerG major2/4 time8 barsopen G tuning
Arranged: Teddy Rook Book: the chorus melody in basic clawhammer, one melody note a beat with the brush and the 5th-string thumb between.
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About this piece
A cheerful old-time song about a simple supper, and one of the first tunes most banjo players learn. Every bar is one bum-ditty: strike the melody note with your fingernail (S), brush down across the top three strings (D), then catch the 5th string with your thumb (T). The melody lives in the strikes.
What it practices
- bum-ditty
- striking single strings
- the brush
- the 5th-string thumb
- G, C and D chords
Chords in this song
Each link opens the chord finder with more ways to play that chord.
Where the notes come from
Melody checked note by note against the tab printed in Wikipedia’s article “Boil Them Cabbage Down” (its fiddle and chromatic-instrument versions agree), moved to G on the banjo’s 2nd and 3rd strings. We keep one note per beat, so the repeated eighth notes of the tune become one strike and a brush. Chords are our own (G, C and D, the usual ones for this tune).
How to practice with it
- Listen first. Press Play and follow along. The note being played lights up in the tab, in the notation and on the fretboard, and the chord being played lights up in the row of chord diagrams.
- Learn the chords. Press each diagram to hear it, then practice changing between them slowly.
- Slow it down. Use − and + to set the tempo. 60% is a good place to start; the notes keep their pitch.
- Loop the hard part. Under More…, turn on Loop, pick the bars, and play them a few times in a row. Count-in gives you a bar of clicks before it starts.
Click a bar in the music to start from there. Space plays and pauses. Left-handed? Turn on the left-handed view: the chord diagrams and the fretboard are mirrored to match your instrument. Tab reads the same either way: the top line is always the first (highest) string.