#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

Cigar Box Nation is sponsored by C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply, your one-stop-shop for Cigar Box Guitar parts and accessories!

Collection of tunes for my 3-String Diatonically Fretted Cigar Box Stick Dulcimer.

Hi All.

I like to "play" ( pick the melodies of ) folk music. This is just a start. I plan to add additional songs to this post so I can have a copy of my song tabs that I can share with you all. My cigar box guitars tend to be diatonically fretted as are stick dulcimers (strum sticks) and mountain dulcimers. You can also find a lot of easy-to-play music by searching "strum stick" and "mountain dulcimer" web sites. My favorites I'll put here using a "play by numbers" format (listing the lyrics of the first verse and placing the fret number to stop above each word or syllable). If you are familiar with the tune, it should be real easy to learn to play.

Note: When searching the Internet for mountain dulcimer tabs, you need to swap around the tab lines for the bass string and the melody string; as the melody string is usually the bottom tab line on mountain dulcimers (but is the top line for strum sticks, guitars and many other instruments.). This just reflects how the mountain dulcimer is strung up, with its bass and melody strings reversed from how we normally expect them. With my simplified "play by numbers" method, you won't have to worry about this.

My instruments are usually tuned to one of the 1-5-8 tunings (usually D-A'-D' or G-D'-G') or the 1-5-5 tuning called D-A'-A'. My instruments also include the "six-and-a-half fret" (commonly abbreviated "6.5", "6+" or "6*"). This "optional" fret comes from the mountain dulcimer world, too. It functions to provide all the notes in the D-Major (or G-Major) scale. From the perspective of the major scales, it seems to me that fret 6 is the odd-ball fret, and that fret 6.5 should be standard. However, I don't like renaming it "fret 7" and incrementing all the subsequent fret numbers like McNally does on his Strumsticks as it just confuses everyone all that much more. Now this is an issue each time you find new tabs on the Internet. Fortunately, you can usually hear the problem if you are familiar with the tune. The song will usually sound "off" when they say to stop "fret 7" but really mean to stop "fret 6+".

Well, here's what I got so far. You can search the Internet for the full set of lyrics (and there usually are various versions of each song). This should get you started. Enjoy...

Well, it seems the blog post editor strips out multiple spaces in a row. Darn thing.

NOTE: The Ning software filters out spaces, so the
play-by-numbers list of numbers won't be positioned over the word or
syllable correctly. The best way to fix this is to copy the
play-by-numbers fret numbers and lyrics over to Notepad (or other text
editor) and re-enter spaces, moving the numbers over until each word or
syllable has one fret number over it. Then save this for a local copy of
the song. A bit of work, but if you like the song, it's an easy way to
get it.

==============
All For Me Grog
==============

  0   0   5   4    3
 It's all for me grog,

  2    1    2     3    1    0
 Me nog-g'n, nog-g'n grog.

  7     7    7     7     6   5    5    4
 All gone for beer and te- bac- co,

   5    6   7-8    7   5   3
 For I've spent all me tin

    3    2    1     4     3    1    0
 With the las- ses drin- k'n gin,

    3   4     5     7     6      5   5    4   3   2     4    3
 And ac-cross the wes- tern o- cean I must tra- vel.

Note: In line 4, the two notes specified by "7-8" are played for the word
"spent", almost like it were sung with 2 syllables.

===========
Barbara Allen
===========

0 2 3 4 3 2 1 0
In Scar-let Town where I was born,

1 2 4 7 7 6+ 4
There was a fair maid dwel-ling.

6+ 7 5 3 4-5 4 2 0
Made ev-ry youth cry well a day
.
1 2 4 5 4 2 0
Her name was Bar-bry Al-len.

=====================
Boil Them Cabbage Down
=====================

2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1
Went up on a moun-tain give my horn a blow, blow.

2 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 0
Thought I heard my true love say, "Yon-der comes my beau."

Chorus:

2 2 2 2 3 3
Boil them cab-bage down, down.

2 2 2 2 1 1
Turn them hoe-cakes 'round, 'round.

2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3
The on-ly song that I can sing is

2 2 1 1 0
Boil them cab-bage down.

Additional Verses:

Pos-sum in a 'sim-mon tree, Ra-coon on the ground.
Ra-coon says, you son-of-a-gun, throw some 'sim-mons down.

CHORUS

Some-one stole my old coon dog. Wish they'd bring him back.
He chased the big hogs thru the fence, and the little ones thru the crack.

CHORUS

Met a pos-sum in the road, blind as he cold be.
Jumped the fence and whipped my dog and brist-led up at me.

CHORUS

Butter-fly, he has wings of gold. Fire-fly, wings of flame.
Bed-bug, he got no wings at all, but he gets there just the same.

(Many more verses)

=====================
Bonnie George Campbell
=====================

3 1 0 0 1 3 4 3 4 5
High up-on Hie-lands and laugh up-on Tay,

3 1 0 0 1 3-4 5 4 5 8
Bon-nie George Camp-bell rade oot on a day,

9 8 5 8 5 4 5 4 3 1
Sadd-led and brid-led and read-y rade he,

3 1 0 0 1 3 9 8 5 4
Hame cam' his guid horse but nev-er cam' he.

Additional Verses:

My barn is to build, my baby's unborn,
But Bonnie George Campbell will never return.

Well, high upon Highlands, low upon Tay,
Bonnie George Campbell rade out on one day.

All saddled, all bridled and booted rode he,
And home came the saddle, but never came he.

Home came the saddle all bloody to see,
And home came the good horse, but never came he.

Note: This song was probably meant to be played with your drone strings.
So feel free to experiment with strumming strings 2 & 3 while playing the
melody. Imagine it as a sad song (lament) played to bagpipes.

=============

Mattie Groves

=============

2/1   1  1   1    1 2  1   0
A    ho-li-day,  a ho-li-day,
1    1    1    1    3   4    5
And the first one of the year.
  5      7    7     5     5     4  2   1      0
Lord Dan-iel's wife came in-to the church
 0     1     3    0  2   1
The gos-pels for to hear.

2/1   1     1      1    1   2   1     0
And when the meet-ing it was done
 1      1    1   1  3  4  5
She cast her eyes a-bout
  5      7    7     5    5   4   2   1      0
And there she saw lit-tle Mat-tie Groves,
   0     1  3   0   2  1
Walk-ing in the park.

Come home with me little Mat-tie Groves,
Come home with me to-night
Come home with me lit-tle Mat-tie Groves
and sleep with me to-night.

More verses can be found here: Yet Another Digital Tradition Page

=======================
Oats & Beans & Barley Grow
=======================

4 4 2 0 3 5 4
Oats and beans and bar-ley grow.

4 4 2 0 3 5 4
Oats and beans and bar-ley grow.

4 7 7 6+ 6+ 5 5 5 4
Do you or I, or an-y-one know

4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0
How oats and beans and bar-ley grow?

===========
Old Joe Clark
===========

===============
Polly Wolly Doodle
===============

3 4 5 5 3 3 4 5 5 3
Well I went down South for to see my Sal,

3 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 4
Sing-ing "Pol-ly Wol-ly Doo-dle" all the day.

2-3 4 4 2 2 4 4 2
M-y Sal, she is a spun-ky gal.

4 4 7 7 7 7 6 6 4 4 3
Sing-ing "Pol-ly Wol-ly Doo-dle" all the day.

Chorus:

3 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 5 5 6 5 4
Fare the well, fare the well, fare the well my Fair-y Fay

2 3 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 2 2
For I’m go'n to Lou-si-an-na for to see my Su-si-an-na.

4 4 7 7 7 7 6 6 4 4 3
Sing-ing "Pol-ly Wol-ly Doo-dle" all the day.

================
Quare Bungle Rye
================

0 3 3 3 1 0 0 3 3 5 7
Now Jack was a sail-or who roamed on the town

7 8 6 6 7 5 3 5 3 1 0
And she was a dam-sel who skipped up and down.

3 3 3 3 3 1 0 3 3 5 7
Said the dam-sel to Jack as she passed him by,

7 7 8 6 6 7 5 5 6 5 4 5 3 1 0
Would you care for to pur-chase some quare bun-gle rye-rud-dy-rye?

7 8 7 6 6 4 2 0 1 2 3
Fol-de-did-dle rye-rad-dy rye-rad-dy rye----------.

==================
Sailor Went to Sea, A
==================

3 6 3 4 3 1 1 1
A sail-or went to sea, sea, sea

3 6 3 4 4# 5 5 5
To see what he could see, see, see.

3 5 3 4 3 0 3 3
But all that he could see, see, see

3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 7 6 6
Was the bot-tom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.

Note: On line two, you have a sharp ("4#") which should be played
by "bending" string 1, which is to say you push the string to one side
(or the other) as you press string against the fret. This will make the
note sound a bit sharper. With some practice, you should be able
to get something close to the "4#" note.

===============
Waltzing Mathilda
===============

5 5 5 5 4 4 3 4 5 3 1 2 3
Once a jol-ly swag-man camp-ed by a bil-la-bong,

0 3 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Un-der the shade of a coo-li-bah tree,

3 4 5 5 5 4 4 3 4 5 3 1 2 3
And he sang as he watched and wait-ed til his bil-ly boiled.

0 3 5 7 6 5 4 4 4 3
Who'll come a waltz-ing ma-til-da with me?

Chorus:

7 7 7 7 5 10 10 10 9 8
Waltz-ing ma-til-da, Waltz-ing ma-til-da,

7 7 7 8 7 7 7 6 5 4
Who'll come a waltz-ing ma-til-da with me?

3 4 5 5 5 4 4 3 4 5 3 1 2 3
And he sang as he watched and wait-ed til his bil-ly boiled.

0 3 5 7 6 5 4 4 4 3
Who'll come a waltz-ing ma-til-da with me?

===============
Wild Colonial Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . (C-G-C Tuning)
===============

4 0 2 4 4 5 3 1
There was a wild Co-lon-ial boy,

0 2/2 2/0 2 1 0
Jack Du-gan was his name.

2 3 4 4 7 6+ 6+ 5 1
He was born and raised in Ire- land,

1 2 3 4 6+ 5 4
In a place called Cas-tle-maine.

4 4 7 7 6+ 6+ 5 1
He was his fa-ther's on-ly son,

2 3 4 6+ 5 4
His mo-ther's pride and joy.

4 0 2 4 4 5 3 1
And dear-ly did his par-ents love

0 2/2 2/0 2 1 0
The wild co- lon-ial boy.

Note: This song uses two notes from the second (middle) string ("2/2" and "2/0").
The notation used to name these notes includes the string number followed by
as slash (/) and the fret number. So, If your instrument is tuned D-A'-D', then "2/0"
would correspond to the " A' " note and "2/2" would correspond to " C' " note.
This is a commonly used notation scheme.

=============
The Wild Rover
=============

3 3 4 3 3 0 5 5 4 5 6
I've been a wild ro-ver for ma-ny a year

6 6 7 5 5 5 4 3 0 5 4 3
And I spent all my mo-ney on whis-key and beer.

3 3 4 3 3 0 5 5 4 5 6
And now I'm re-turn-ing with gold in great store

6 6 7 5 5 5 4 3 0 5 4 3
And I ne-ver will play the wild ro-ver no more.

Chorus:

2 3 4 4 2 0 5 5 5 4 5 6
And it's no, nay, ne-ver. No, nay, ne-ver no more,

5 6 7 5 3 2 1 0 0 5 4 3
Will I play the wild ro-ver, No ne-ver no more.

Tags: 1-5-8 Tunings, 3-string diatonic stick dulcimers, D-A-D, Folk Music, G-D-G, tabs

1 member likes this

Comment

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Comment by Rand Moore on October 20, 2010 at 9:14am: Hi Jef Long.

Thanks for the feedback.

As I am not well versed in music theory, the idea of renumbering the frets so they are consistent with the "degrees of scale" is a new one to me. I guess some day I should start learning my scales and such, but it's so much more gratifying learning to play simple tunes. If others think this (the idea of renumbering the frets so the nut is fret 1) is a good idea, then I'd be willing to make the change. But, from my point of view it is just one more system to confuse novice players. And I'd say ditto for the 6.5 fret. But I do value your feedback and would like to know what others think about this issue.

Sincerely,

-Rand.

Comment by Rand Moore on October 20, 2010 at 9:01am: Hi Diane

I glad I was able to introduce you to a good website (Yet Another Digital Tradition Page) that's new to you. I think folks who play 3-stringers should enjoy the site. I hope you will enjoy it, too. You always have so much good, useful input on the various CBN group discussions. Thank you for that. And you seem to be quite an accomplished builder. Are you building them as a full time job?

As for my playing style/skill, I pretty much a novice and a slow learner, so straying much from 1-5-8 or 1-5-5 tunings is all new uncharted territory for me. I don't know anything about minor tunings like DAC and DGC, but I guess when I have time I can use the above mentioned website to experiment with them. I do like old Appalachian tunes like Cluck Old Hen. Since becoming active on CBN I have been focusing more on 3-string diatonic scaled stick dulcimer like instruments, and experimenting with double course melody stings. And of course that's leading me down the roar to double course 3-stringers (6 stings all paired), which I'm working on now. I have made only a few CBGs and the "short necks" all have nylon strings and the "long necks" all have wire (banjo) strings. I'm planning one 4 stringer long neck to be a tenor guitar with 4 guitar strings. But, it will be awhile before all these are built (I'm a slow builder, building for myself and enjoy playing them as well.) I wish I had a real workshop and more sophisticated tools. My most sophisticated tool is an electric hand drill. I'm also planning to build some additional "jigs" to help me make my work more reproducible/uniform/good quality, etc. The first one will be a 15 degree (and maybe 75 degree) miter box for making scarf joints (a common source of grief). Coming by good wood in China is difficult, so I laminating my necks now from 1/4" stock. It produces a nice strong neck, and I can cut off sections an glue them on in different places to help make the headstock or to make the part that goes through the cigar box. I posted an blog article on my personal CBN blog about that. Well, I'm rambling on.

Have a good day.

Sincerely,

-Rand.

Comment by The Phrygian Kid on October 17, 2010 at 5:15pm: Good work...
if u will allow me a constructive criticism...
try to alter ur system (and thinking) so u express the open string (nut) as 1 rather than zero..
although this may seem counter-intuitive, u are now counting the frets as the actual degrees of the scale that they are, and will be on the way to understanding the music, achieving good relative pitch, and the ability to work these out for urself and no longer needing an internet database of them at all ;)

with regard to the 6 & 6+ quandry I recommend counting BOTH as seven and letting ur ears decide whether u are after the natural or dominant 7th (and are in the Ionian or Mixolydian mode)

Comment by Diane in Chicago on October 17, 2010 at 12:10pm: Thanks, Rand! that's a new site for me. I just dug out my favorite strummer, and was having fun working out some new tunes I'd just learned on the fiddle. Once it is in your head, it sure is easier to get it out of your fingers!

I'm more the other way, I tend to play the melody on all the strings, mostly because I don't like to leave "first position." I was just noodling on the idea of trying DGd tuning, so as to be able to play G tunes with my little jam group, and starting the melody on the middle string.

Plus I love those minor tunings where you run the melody up the high string and let the others drone out, either DAC or DGC. Rakes of Kildare and Star of the County Down and Cluck Old Hen and on and on!

Comment by Rand Moore on October 15, 2010 at 10:32am: Thanks for the tips, Roger & Diane. But I actually have no shortage of songs, although putting them in good form (arranging them for my instruments) is a bit time consuming. Here's another links I like to use to get lots of tunes: http://sniff.numachi.com/ (Yet Another Digital Tradition Page).

This site is somehow related to The Mudcat Cafe (http://www.mudcat.org/) and features a large database of tunes. In addition they have an experimental program for generating tabs for almost any possible tuning of a 3-string mountain dulcimer, so I can "experiment" with different tunings to find the few which work best on my instruments (I prefer arrangements where all the notes are played on the melody string). It's fun to play with. The database is arranged alphabetically by song title and when you press a letter, say "B" for all the songs that begin with the letter "B", you'll get a long list. Those marked "With Tunes" will have additional links you can follow to come up with dulcimer tabs. Check it out. Also, if you see 3 vertical Xs, that note was not found for that tuning. If you can't make a substitute and have the song work for you, try to have it generate new tabs for other tunings. Also, if you get more than a few "tripple Xs", it's time to try another tuning.

Comment by Diane in Chicago on October 14, 2010 at 8:37am: There's also this:

http://www.harpkit.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=...

and this:

http://www.strumstick.com/html_pages/Strumstick%20Songs.htm

Comment by Roger Morin on October 14, 2010 at 6:48am: Hi Rand, I have one of tinyguitars big stick strummers. I have a book I bought from Lew Dite in Canada. He put togeather a book of abour 68 songs for less than $20.00. If your interested go to youtube look up Lew Dite, one of his videos shows him talking about the book and how to order.