Bile ’em Cabbage Down

Your first tune!

What You’ll Learn

In this lesson, you’ll learn to play Bile ‘Em Cabbage Down by breaking it into small, learnable chunks. With warm-ups, simple rhythms, and playful variations, you’ll build confidence and get the tune flowing.

I’ve probably played this tune thousands of times, but when a new student gets it to flow with good sound, it still brings me joy.

Key Tips

  • Learn one quarter of the tune at a time—each one is a mini victory!

  • Warm up with the D string mini-scale and short intervals (like D2–3).

  • Use the “Tucka” rhythm to keep each phrase steady and groovy.

  • The first and third quarters are the same—yay, less to memorize!

  • Don’t worry about reading music—focus on sound and feel.

  • Play with a D drone or backing track to improve tuning and timing.

  • Try fun variations: whisper-volume, go slow or fast, sing then pluck.

Common Questions

Do I need to read sheet music for this?
Nope! You can use tabs, audio, and play-alongs to learn by ear and feel.

What if I can’t get the whole tune right away?
Totally normal. Just loop one quarter until it feels smooth, then move on.

Why should I repeat the beginner part if I know the melody?
It builds backup skills and rhythm feel—super useful when playing with others.

Learning Chunks™

In the FiddleHed course, tunes are broken down into quarters. I then systematically prepare you for each quarter with warm-ups. I want you to slowly learn each little thing well. These small wins will set you up for the bigger win of playing the whole tune.

Preparation

Review the Bile ’em Cabbage down from the Beginner Duets With Bowing lesson.

Next, let’s practice our ‘mini-scale’ with two plucks:

D0-1-2-3, two plucks

 

First Quarter

Warm up to the first quarter by playing the D2-3 interval.

Interval: D2-3

↓

Just add the tucka rhythm to the interval for each quarter of the tune

First quarter: D2-2-2-2 3 3

Second Quarter

Interval: D1-2

↓

Second quarter: D2-2-2-2 1 1

Third Quarter

Third quarter: D2-2-2-2 3 3

Same as the first quarter.

Fourth Quarter

Intervals

D1-2

D0-1

↓

Fourth quarter: D2-2-1-1 0 0

Full Tabs, Audio & Sheet Music

First quarter: D2-2-2-2 3 3

Second quarter: D2-2-2-2 1 1

Third quarter: D2-2-2-2 3 3

Fourth quarter: D2-2-1-1 0 0

Play along track – full tune

Play along track – full tune, no fiddle

Jam mix – 60 bpm

Jam mix – multi-tempo

I include full sheet music for those who can already read and for those who are learning to read. If you are an absolute beginner, I suggest you don’t worry about note-reading just yet. Focus on getting a good sound.

Return to the duet

Now you can play the melody part of the duet you learned earlier.

I think it’s still a good idea to play the beginner part because it prepares you for playing backup.

First Quarter: D0-0-0-0-G0-0

Second Quarter: D0-0-0-0-A0-0

Third Quarter: D0-0-0-0-G0-0

Fourth Quarter: D0-0-A0-0-D0-0

Sing, then play

Learning and singing the lyrics will help you to learn and remember the tune.

Bile ’em cabbage down

Bake them hoecakes brown

The only song that I can sing is

Bile ’em cabbage down

You can also practice the whole tune at your own pace with a D drone:

Practice can be approached as a game. If practicing is fun, then you’ll want to keep playing forever. Try playing your first tune in different ways:

  • Play it very quietly, like a whisper. Then play it loudly.
  • Play it very slowly, then play it fast.
  • Try to sing a line, then pluck it on the fiddle.

OK, awesome work. In the next series of lessons, you will integrate bowing with fingering, learn another tune and continue to make the fiddle an extension of your voice.

Continue to Fingering With Bowing >>

Return to top of Module 1.1 >>

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Leave a Reply

22 responses to “Bile ’em Cabbage Down”

  1. I’m confused by the “arranged for fiddle students” sheet music, did I miss an explainer? I don’t need it, though. Almost every “D” label, and every “A” label, is over a note that is either “F” or “E”…

    1. Great points, Adam. The sheet music was compiled in a manner specifically for this program, that’s why it’s dedicated to students/members of FiddleHed. And great point about the letter labels – those indicate chord progressions.
      The ‘Support’ tab has great info, including more on this topic – under ‘Fiddle Questions’ there is a drop down tab titled ‘Note Reading’, which has some sections to support you further. Thanks for mentioning it.
      Reach out anytime 🙂

  3. Hi…Enjoying this step by step approach. Thanks for making it easier! Wondering two things…My bow is making more scratchy-squeaky sounds than it did on open strings. What’s that about? Also sometimes the bow just bounces. It will go away a bit if I put more pressure on, but I’m wondering if that’s the thing to do. Thanks!

    1. Hi Claudia, thanks for reaching out. Wondering how this is going for you now?
      Please consider submitting a feedback video so we can more easily see what’s going and provide some ideas to support you. Here’s the page for more details on this: https://staging.fiddlehed.com/support/video-feedback-lessons/
      Please also check out the ‘Support’ tab, and ‘Fiddle Questions’ page. Within there, the ‘bowing’ drop down section can support both of these questions you have further. Here’s the page link for easy reference: https://staging.fiddlehed.com/fiddle-questions/
      Also, can be handy to tune into the interactive group sessions to address these items together live. The ‘Community’ tab and ‘Group Lesson Central’ page gives further details on these sessions. The Office Hours, Open Practise, and Beginner Group sessions are all good ones for interacting on these topics.
      Be great to hear how this is going for you some months later. Thanks for Fiddling with us!

  10. I have a question about the sheet music. The notes are correct, but the letters above them do not correspond with the notes being played or the strings, what are the letters supposed to indicate? I feel like I’m missing something really obvious …

  11. I’m having fun playing this tune and am proud that it kind of sounds like music! I start out sounding good but by the end of the tune my bow is wandering back to the bridge. I’m sure it’s like patting your head and rubbing your tummy, I just need to concentrate on bow, strings and sound all at the same time. Thanks for making the lessons fun and easy to understand for a “senior” beginner like me!

  13. I’ve been enjoying this lesson series so much! However, I’m noticing especially in this exercise that the sound of my fiddle becomes increasingly strangled and buzzy as I move up the scale with fingering. I also find myself accidentally hitting adjacent strings much more often with fingering than I ever did on open strings. I’ll admit that I’m not working with top of the line equipment and the tone problems may have something to do with that, but is there something I can practice to help keep a robust sound even on those F sharps and Gs?

    1. Hi myArmCanFly,

      Do you have finger tape on the fiddle? If so, that can cause buzzing with plucking.

      If that’s not the case, then try to isolate each note to see if you can work out the kinks. Then play intervals like D1-2, D2-3.