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
===========
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
=====================
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
=====================
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:
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
=======================
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
===============
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
================
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
==================
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
===============
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:
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)
===============
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
=============
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.
