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3All songs / Cotton-Eyed Joe
Number tabs for the steel tongue drum
Cotton-Eyed Joe
Free number tabs for Cotton-Eyed Joe on the steel tongue drum. 28 notes, C Major scale, Intermediate level — play it instantly in the free Tongue Drum Online player.
The tab
5
55
56
65
53
32
23
33
35
55
56
65
55
5•1
8•1
87
76
65
53
32
23
35
56
65
53
32
25
51–7 scale note• above = higher octave• below = lower octaveabc = key in the app
▶ Play it in Tongue Drum Online
Open the free player on the C Major scale, then tap the petals or press these keyboard keys in order, following the tab above:
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Cotton-Eyed Joe is a high-energy American folk and work song with roots reaching back before the Civil War, famous for its irresistible drive on the dance floor. On a steel tongue drum the fast tempo and syncopated eighth-note patterns bring out the instrument's rhythmic capability in a truly exciting way. It rewards players with a confident sense of timing and the coordination to keep the beat dancing while navigating the quick note changes.
How to play Cotton-Eyed Joe on a tongue drum
The numbers above are the standard tongue-drum number notation. Each digit is a note of the C Major scale, counting up from the lowest tongue. A dot above a number raises it one octave; a dot below lowers it. The small teal letters show the matching key in the Tongue Drum Online player.
Start slowly, one phrase at a time. Let each note ring out fully before striking the next — the long decay is the whole character of the instrument. This is a intermediate arrangement and a simplified, single-instrument version of Cotton-Eyed Joe.
About this melody
American folk/work song.