Chords for Cripple Creek for 5 string Banjo - 3 Finger Bluegrass Style

Tempo:
120.2 bpm
Chords used:

G

A

C

E

D

Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Show Tuner
Cripple Creek for 5 string Banjo - 3 Finger Bluegrass Style chords
Start Jamming...
You probably [A] recognize that as Cripple Creek, the first banjo song that almost every banjo picker learns.
Years ago when I started teaching,
you taught this song first, and you gave the students some tablatures, sent them home, critiqued it when they came back.
We've changed our approach to teaching over the years,
especially as in regards to this song, because a lot of younger students had never heard it before.
You know, in the [D#] 60s when I learned to play,
Cripple [C] Creek, Foggy Mountain Breakdown,
Ballad of Jed Clampett, everybody knew those songs.
Today, you might have a young student who knows doing [A] banjos,
the rest doesn't.
What's Cripple Creek?
What's Hee Haw?
Anyway, we'll look at this song today.
It's a wonderful
[G]
starting point for strike style banjo playing, [F] and I learned it from a very unique source.
There was a PBS [G] documentary on the man, on Earl Struggs, in [E] which he slowly demonstrated how to play this song.
So this is probably of all the things that I play pretty close to what Earl does.
This is probably the closest.
[B] Okay, thank you.
I'm Jim Pinson.
Welcome back.
I'll look at Cripple Creek right in the left hand here.
[B] [E]
Okay, here's the left hand of Cripple Creek.
It starts with a pinch of the one and five string and a slide [F] from the second to the fifth fret,
but you hold that first note,
retard that [G] first note as a half note.
[D] Then a
[Am] backwards roll 5 1 [G] 2 open.
[F#] Then a forward roll with a partial C chord,
[C] forward roll
5 2 1 5,
[G] then open second string or first [D#] string.
[C] [D]
[A] Then the
[D#] ubiquitous and difficult to master Scruggs slide.
[A]
[G] Notice how little my fingers [C#] moving when I do that.
I start with a firmly fretted
third string in the second fret and move it just up over the third fret while not [D] fretting the third fret.
[A] [F#] [B]
Second string completes the trick.
[G] [Am] [G]
Now here's the tricky part of the song.
This is where the dynamics come in.
We've got a pull [F] off on the three,
[G]
fretted [E] fourth,
[C] open to hammered [Em] fourth,
[G]
but that's filled in with open [F] strings, and we'll see that with the right hand here in a little bit.
[Em]
[E] [G]
[D] That's the verse.
Chorus is just a series of three [E] Scruggs slides,
[G]
open third, pinch one five,
then the tail end [A] of the A part, [C] same as the tail [A] end of the B part.
[G]
[D] That's it.
Here comes the right hand of Cripple Creek.
[G]
[C]
I'm sorry, 3 2 5 1.
[G]
[E] And the chorus [C] is just three Scruggs slides,
[A] [G] [A]
[G]
then the same thing as the tail end [E] of the A part.
[G]
[Em] [G]
Sorry, I left the Scruggs slide out of there.
[Em]
[D] [G] [Em]
[Gm]
That's [A] it.
Key:  
G
2131
A
1231
C
3211
E
2311
D
1321
G
2131
A
1231
C
3211
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
You probably [A] recognize that as Cripple Creek, the first banjo song that almost every banjo picker learns.
Years ago when I started teaching,
_ _ _ you taught this song first, and you gave the students some tablatures, sent them home, critiqued it when they came back.
_ _ We've changed our approach to teaching over the years,
_ _ especially as in regards to this song, because a lot of younger students had never heard it before.
You know, in the [D#] 60s when I learned to play,
Cripple [C] Creek, Foggy Mountain Breakdown,
Ballad of Jed Clampett, everybody knew those songs.
Today, you might have a young student who knows doing [A] banjos,
the rest doesn't.
What's Cripple Creek?
What's Hee Haw?
Anyway, we'll look at this song today.
It's a _ _ _ wonderful
_ _ [G] _
starting point for strike style banjo playing, [F] and I learned it from a very unique source.
There was a PBS [G] documentary on the man, on Earl Struggs, in [E] which he slowly demonstrated how to play this song.
So this is probably of all the things that I play pretty close to what Earl does.
This is probably the closest.
[B] _ Okay, thank you.
I'm Jim Pinson.
Welcome back.
I'll look at Cripple Creek right in the left hand here. _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, here's the left hand of Cripple Creek.
It starts with a pinch of the one and five string and a slide [F] from the second to the fifth fret,
but you hold that first note,
_ retard that [G] first note as a half note. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] Then _ a
[Am] backwards roll 5 1 [G] 2 open. _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ Then a forward roll with a partial C chord,
[C] _ forward roll _
5 2 1 5, _ _ _ _
[G] _ then open second string or first [D#] string. _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ Then the _
[D#] ubiquitous and difficult to master Scruggs slide.
[A] _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ Notice how little my fingers [C#] moving when I do that.
I start with a firmly fretted
third string in the second fret and move it just up over the third fret while not [D] fretting the third fret.
[A] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ _ Second string completes the trick. _
_ [G] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ Now here's the tricky part of the song.
This is where the dynamics come in.
We've got a pull [F] off on the three,
[G] _ _
_ fretted [E] fourth, _ _ _ _
[C] open to hammered [Em] fourth,
_ [G] _ _
_ but that's filled in with open [F] strings, and we'll see that with the right hand here in a little bit.
_ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] That's the verse.
Chorus is just a series of three [E] Scruggs slides,
_ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
open third, pinch one five,
_ then the tail end [A] of the A part, [C] same as the tail [A] end of the B part.
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] That's it. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Here comes the right hand of Cripple Creek.
_ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I'm sorry, 3 2 5 1. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ And the chorus [C] is just three Scruggs slides, _
[A] _ _ [G] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
then the same thing as the tail end [E] of the A part.
[G] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
Sorry, I left the Scruggs slide out of there. _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ That's [A] it. _ _