Songs · Banjo · Beginner
Boil Them Cabbage Down (three-finger rolls)
Traditional (American) · Old-time song and fiddle tune, also called “Bile ’Em Cabbage Down”
Banjo · bluegrassthree-finger rollsG major4/4 time5 barsopen G tuning
Arranged: Teddy Rook Book: the chorus melody inside forward rolls for three-finger (Scruggs-style) banjo, with a first and second ending.
Loading the music…
About this piece
The same tune as the clawhammer version, now with three fingers and picks. Most of it is the forward roll started from the index finger, I M T, I M T, I M, so the melody notes on the 2nd string (B and C) come out on the beat and just after it, with the open 1st and 5th strings ringing around them. Play it twice: the first time take ending 1 back to the start, the second time skip to ending 2 and finish with a pinch.
What it practices
- forward roll
- melody on the 2nd string
- G, C and D chords
- a pinch to end
- 1st and 2nd endings
Chords in this song
Each link opens the chord finder with more ways to play that chord.
Where the notes come from
Melody checked against the tab printed in Wikipedia’s article “Boil Them Cabbage Down” (the same notes as our clawhammer version, in the same octave). The melody notes fall on the first beat of each half bar or within a beat after it, inside the rolls; the roll notes between them are ours. Chords are our own (G, C and D).
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.