Cripple Creek

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Cripple Creek

I got a girl and she loves me,
She’s as sweet as sweet can be.

She’s got eyes of baby blue,
Makes my gun shoot straight and true.

Goin’ up Cripple Creek, goin’ on a run,
Goin’ up Cripple Creek to have a little fun
Goin’ up Cripple Creek, goin’ in a whirl
Goin’ up Cripple Creek to see my girl.

Cripple Creek’s wide and Cripple Creek’s deep,
I’ll wade old Cripple Creek before I sleep.

Roll my britches to my knees,
I wade old Cripple Creek when I please.

Cripple Creek’s wide and Cripple Creek’s muddy
I’m

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Cotton-Eyed Joe

Cotton-Eyed Joe

Eighteen, nineteen, twenty years ago
Daddy worked a man called Cotton-Eyed Joe

Where did you come from,
Where did you go?
Where did you come from
Cotton Eyed-Joe

Cornstalk fiddle and a shoe string bow
Couldn’t play nothin’ but Cotton-Eyed Joe

Woulda been married a long time ago
Hadn’t a been for Cotton-Eyed Joe

Chicken in the bread pan peckin’ out dough
Grannie will your dog bite, no child no!

Eighteen feet of sleet and snow,
The roof caved in on Cotton-Eyed Joe.

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus coverInstruction on how to play this song can be found in Wayne Erbsen’s book:Clawhammer

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Columbus Stockade Blues

Columbus Stockade Blues

Way down in Columbus, Georgia,
Want to be back in Tennessee.
Way down in Columbus stockade,
My friends have turned their back on me.

Chorus:
Go and leave me if you wish to,
Never let me cross your mind.
In your heart you love another,
Leave me darling I don’t mind.

Many a night with you I’ve rambled,
Many an hour I’ve spent with you.
Thought I’d gained your heart forever,
Though you have proved false to me. (Chorus)

Last night while I lay sleeping,
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke I

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Colleen Malone

Colleen Malone

© by Pete Goble & Leroy Drumm,
Brandykeg Publishing (BMI) Used by Permission

It’s been ten years and three since I first went to sea,
Since I sailed from old Ireland and home,
But those hills lush and green were a part of my dreams,
When I dreamed of my Colleen Malone.

On the day I returned to my sorrow I learned,
That the angels had called her away,
To a grave on a hill overlooking the mill,
That’s the place where she’s sleeping today.

Chorus:
As the soft breezes blow through the meadow I go,
Past the

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Bury Me Beneath the Willow

Bury Me Beneath the Willow

My heart is sad and I am lonely
For the only one I love,
When shall I see her, oh, no never,
‘Til we meet in heaven above.

Chorus:
Oh bury me beneath the willow,
Under the weeping willow tree,
So she will know where I am sleeping,
And perhaps she’ll weep for me.

She told me that she dearly loved me
How could I believe her untrue.
Until the angels softly whispered,
She will prove untrue to you.

Tomorrow was our wedding day
God, oh God where can she be?
She’s out a-courtin’ with

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Buffalo Gals

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Buffalo Gals

As I was lumb’ring down the street
Down the street, down the street
A handsome gal I chanced to meet
Oh she was fair to view.

Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight
Come out tonight, come out tonight
Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight
And dance by the light of the moon.

I asked her if she’d have talk
Have a talk, have a talk
Her feet took up the whole sidewalk
As she stood close to me.

I asked her “would you want to dance”
Want to dance, want to dance
I  thought that I

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A Word About the Free Bluegrass Guitar Tabs

Flatpicking Guitar for the Complete Ignoramus! instruction book by Wayne Erbsen

Howdy!

These free bluegrass guitar tabs are written out in my unique tab system that I invented after teaching guitar for fifty years. Instead using numbers on the strings to represent the fret that you play, I put the name of the note that you play on the string.

This method does require you to learn the names of the eight notes of the scale, and where to find them on your guitar. This may seem like a “royal pain,” but trust me, this will give your music a BIG BOOST.  You absolutely need to know the name of the

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