Earl Scruggs - Eighty four and still pickin’
- Earl Scruggs - The Master
I recently had the opportunity to see Earl Scruggs perform - Wow, he can still play like his fingers are on fire. Even at the age of eighty-four, he still picks with authority. The tasteful, articulate and of course, powerful style of Earl Scruggs has inspired more than a few pickers and this night was no exception.
The song selection was fantastic - from Lonesome Rueben to The Ballad of Jed Clampett, a lot of classic Bluegrass was enjoyed. Foggy Mountain Breakdown always gets me going and I wasn’t alone this evening - the audience ate it up too. FMB was written way back in 1949, and has been drawing new fans to Bluegrass and the banjo ever since. Thank you Earl Scruggs.
Before I leave you, I have to mention Jerry Douglas - Jerry and his band pushed the limits of Bluegrass, but at the same felt at home doing traditional tunes. Not to take anything away from Jerry, but Earl`s dobro player, Jennifer Meredith, has a few moves that will make your head spin too. Hats off to Earl, Jerry and their great bands - keep it up, you are our inspiration.
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Janet Beazley
I have recently gone to a 3 day bluegrass workshop and it was fantastic. My instructor was Janet Beazley and I have nothing but positive words to say about the weekend. From the great instructors to the non-stop jamming, a fun weekend was had by all.
Janet plays banjo in the group - Chris Stuart & Backcountry and also has a fantastic solo album called 5 South. Give a listen to the song Run away, Sally Ann (5 South)- this song caught my attention the moment I heard it on Sirius 65 (Bluegrass 24 hours a day!!). Janet teaches at the University of Southern California and has a doctorate in early music, but what impressed me is her teaching style; supportive and easy going with a solid basis in the fundamentals. Our class had ten people in it and Janet had encouraging words for everyone, she helped each student with a trouble spot and really tried to help us be better players.
The forward roll - simple right? The forward roll is the fundamental building block in most banjo playing, especially bluegrass. Almost every instructor stresses this roll and surprisingly, many of us have just glossed over it and moved on to the next thing. Janet stressed the importance of playing this roll strongly and demonstrated it very clearly with some Ron Block tracks. Using the original Pro Tools tracks, Janet highlighted the banjo and it showed how much a gifted player like Ron uses the simple forward roll. The moral of this story: Strong fundamentals will lead to great banjo playing.
Take some time and look through banjoblogger.com, and bring the basics back to your practice schedule.
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The Key of E for the 5-String Banjo - Part One.
When you first start to learn the banjo, you end up playing in the key of G or the key of C. As you learn new material you run across the keys of D and A, but what about the key of E? The key of E can be a little tricky to figure out, but I’m going to enlighten you a bit in this post.
Of course you can just locate the I, IV and V chords of the key of E and start experimenting with the different chord shapes. The I chord is E, the IV chord is A and the V chord is B. These three chords show up all over the fretboard as you can see. Here are three different E chords.
To add to the confusion, here are three A chords you can use.
Finally, we have three different B chords.
One of the problems with the key of E is the fifth string, G doesn’t fit well in this key, so you have to avoid the fifth string or re-tune it. The most common 5th string tunings are B - capo or hooked at 9th fret and G# - capo or hook at 6th fret. I like the sound of the B, it fits well with the B and E chords and gives the banjo a bluesy sound.
This post has covered playing in the key of E with only your fifth string re-tuned. In the next post I’ll show you two more ways to handle the key of E.
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Gibson Banjos
The Gibson name has been associated with Bluegrass from the beginning, with names like Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs and J.D. Crowe to name a few, it’s not hard to understand why. A lot of the top pickers use Gibsons, and they use them for a reason - great sound.
Here are a few Gibson Banjos to look at and admire - or buy if you so desire.
Gibson RB
Gibson RB-250
Gibson Earl Scruggs Standard Banjo
Gibson Granada Hearts and Flowers Banjo
If you want a small taste of the Gibson sound try the Earl Scruggs signature strings - they are very good strings and seem to hold up better than most.
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Changing your Banjo Strings
Washburn B-9 Review
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G Licks for the 5-String Banjo - Part Three
In previous posts I have talked about banjo licks and today I’m going to revisit some G licks for the 5-string banjo. A lot of the time the banjo plays the melody of a song, of course the melody notes are mixed in with filler notes, but the melody dominates. In this post we are going to explain how you can use banjo licks in place of the melody to improve your playing.
A banjo lick is a musical phrase that has a great sound and works well in a variety of situations. These licks can be heard in popular Bluegrass songs and help to define the Bluegrass banjo sound. Everyone recognizes the banjo lick that kicks off Foggy Mountain Breakdown, that is an example of a banjo lick, a Scruggs lick to be exact.
Have a listen here:
Let’s take a closer look at this lick - it is a G lick - Why? Because if you were to play backup on the first measure you would be playing a G chord. It is also a Scruggs lick because Earl Scruggs popularized it.
Here’s another commonly used G lick to try out, this one is a little easier to use and can be combined with backup or used in a break, it’s up to you where and how you use them.
Press Play:
The idea with a banjo lick is that it can be used in place of the melody line of a song. This can spice up your banjo playing and give you a toolbox of licks to fall back on when you need them. Just remember, DO NOT overuse banjo licks, they can needlessly clutter up a song - music is a team sport.
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More G Licks for the 5-string Banjo
G Licks for the 5-String Banjo
C Licks for the 5-String Banjo
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Thumb Picks for Banjo
I’m sure every banjo player has changed to a different thumb pick more than a few times. I am constantly dissatisfied with mine, but not willing to make the change to a different one. I’ve finally taken the plunge and changed the shape of my pick by cutting it down and sanding it.
In my quest for the perfect pick I tried Dunlop, National and Golden Gate to name a few, but not one of them had all of the elements I wanted in a pick. I like the bright sound of the Dunlop picks including Dookies, shell or the white thumb picks. The National mediums fit my thumb just right, which outweighs the brighter tone of the Dunlops. The National is also a little shorter which helps me not hit the head of the banjo.
The reason for not modifying the pick is simple: I wanted to be able to have a perfect pick available at any time and not have to worry about shaping it just right. I thought I could adapt to a pick, but in reality it is probably smarter to just cut it down a bit and accept the fact that I am going to have to custom shape every pick I use.
When I started playing the banjo I tried to customize a thumb pick, but
I really didn’t know what I needed. The new shape just didn’t make a big difference for me, so I went back to the standard picks. Now that I have learned to pick much more cleanly and consistently, the change to a better shape has made a big difference. I can hit the inside strings with more of the pick surface which gives me a better tone, and the pick just feels more comfortable.
Earl Scruggs cuts down his pick and shapes them, so I guess modifying a pick from its factory designed perfection is not a crime. How can one pick design be perfect for every person? It can’t. I am lucky, the Nationals that I like are almost perfect, I just needed to round off the tip a bit.
So, go ahead take a chance - try a new pick or, … wait …., go crazy and re-shape your picks.
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The Lost and Found - Sawmill Road
Listening to an all Bluegrass channel on the radio exposes you to a lot of different styles of bluegrass, a band that I always enjoy hearing is The Lost and Found. What a great sound, and what a tight band; these guys play with passion and definitely have a unique style.
Founding member and mandolin player, Dempsey Young plays with such conviction and clarity that you just HAVE to stop and listen. His mandolin tone just jumps out at you, it is so rich sounding. Unfortunately Dempsey passed away a few years ago at the age of 52; what a loss to the bluegrass world. Although the mandolin takes front and centre, I can’t get the banjo out of my thoughts - it is so solid.
One of the songs that I really like is “Sawmill Road”, it’s a mixture of an old time sound with a definite modern edge. One of the highlights is the mandolin solo, WOW; the banjo licks are really catchy too, and in C tuning, to top it off. Have a listen to this song, I know you will appreciate something about it; maybe the vocals, the lyrics, the bass, who knows, but I’m sure you will be impressed.
The banjo player on this cut is Lynwood Lunsford, who handled banjo duties in The Lost and Found for five years. Lunsford also has his own group; Lynwood Lunsford and the Misty Valley Boys. Jimmy Martin employed Lunsford as his banjo player in 1990 and 1991, a job that Lynwood Lunsford coveted for a long time.
Here’s a couple of links to find out more about The Lost and Found:
The Official Site
If you would like to purchase some of the band’s music or some Jimmy Martin just click on the links below:
Give the Lost and Found a listen and it wouldn’t hurt to listen to Jimmy Martin and The Sunny Mountain Boys either. For that matter, listen to as much banjo music as you can - it’ll inspire you to play better.
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