Andy Chase

Playing like Earl
Originally uploaded by Usonian.

Since I started learning Scruggs-style banjo, I haven't actually spent any time learning any tunes as played by Earl Scruggs himself.

I spent a good amount of time this weekend learning Home Sweet Home as played by Earl on the Flatt & Scruggs Foggy Mountain Banjo album; the song is transcribed down to the last phantom slide in the Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo book Kimhotep gave me for my birthday.

It's been a while since I sat down with a new banjo tune and set out to learn it by heart, as opposed to casually sight-reading and playing along to the tab. There are always a couple of measures that defy comprehension at first, notes that don't sound right until you slow even further down and count them out carefully... the moment those notes click and the passage suddenly falls into place is one to savor.

After that it's just repetition, repetition, repetition. I slowed the Flatt & Scruggs recording down 50% using Audacity and find that I can just about keep up at that speed. I've got a long way to go if I want to play this style anywhere other than my living room.

Tagged:

• banjo
• scruggs
• bluegrass