Ready for another article series?

This blog recently turned 100 (that is…I’ve now written over 100 blog posts!) and to help celebrate, I invited my mailing list subscribers to submit an idea for the 100th blog post. I received many great suggestions, but one in particular really grabbed me as an idea that we could all benefit from. Read on to learn all about it.

I have great friends and fans who visit this blog

I hear from many of you quite often, which is really rewarding and it makes blogging and banjoing really fun. One person that I hear from on a semi-regular basis is George Preiss of North Carolina. George submitted an idea for the 100th blog post which would stretch out over several blog posts…likely a couple months in the least.

Article contest winner George Preiss

George began picking banjo 6 years ago. His favorite pros are Earl Scruggs, Raymond Fairchild, and Jens Kreuger. His favorite banjo songs include Flint Hill Special, Home Sweet Home, Whoa Mule, and Up 18 North. He lives with his wife Lori, and kids Madeline and Lucas, in Wilmington, NC. George makes his living as a teacher.

Let’s take a good hard look at an important bluegrass record: Foggy Mountain Banjo

If you are at the beginning stages of getting involved in banjo and haven’t built up much of a discography yet, then an important record in the bluegrass lexicon might not have made it onto your radar. I think it’s an important album to be aware of, and an essential one to own, if you are going to be a student of the banjo. Almost every song on the album is a jam session standard even today.

George wrote: “how about just taking the whole Flatt & Scruggs album Foggy Mountain Banjo, and explaining each and every song on it over the course of a few months. It would really be helpful. You could explain some of the nuances, talk about the most useful licks in the songs and how they apply to other songs. You could go into history and just all sorts of tangents. It would also give you a long term focus, and we would all learn some important stuff.” I immediately saw this as a great idea, but at the same time I have to be honest and admit that I’m not sure I’m the man for the job. I’m going to pour some honest effort and honest research into trying to make this a worthwhile article and instructional series.

I own a digital copy of this album, and I used to own the vinyl record, which I found at a garage sale in the mid 80’s. The album was recorded in 1961, six years before I was born. It became a very pivotal album in bluegrass and really showcased some of Earl’s dexterity, smoothness, and lightning licks on banjo.

Click me! Click me!

Recommendations and tools for learning from Foggy Mt. Banjo

The goal of this article series is to crack open some of the mystery around the licks and the tricks that Earl uses. I’ll be making audio recordings to demonstrate some things, I’ll give you as much history as I can come up with, and I’ll point out how I use many of the licks in the songs in my everyday bluegrass jamming. If there is a particularly useful lick, we’ll isolate it and be sure you can pick it. I’ll include some tablature where appropriate.

As you get ready to follow along with me in this article series, there are some important tools that you really should pick up. These items will make the job easier for you.

A copy of the Foggy Mountain Banjo Album

Schuler’s Books & Music is often a good source for ordering bluegrass albums. I would think Amazon.com could provide it for you. And of course you can check with your favorite bluegrass CD retailer.

A metronome

Using a metronome when you practice is crucial. It’s as important as banjo picks. Don’t poo-poo this item. To get the most out of my articles, you might consider buying the Ultimate Metronome. This is a digital metronome that lives on your computer. I like it a lot because it’s got a feature called the speed drill. Speed drill let’s you set the metronome to begin playing at one speed and have it slowly increase, adding as many beats per minute as you’d like over whatever length of time that you set. This can help you build speed effortlessly. I’ll reference this metronome during my articles. To check out the metronome, click here: Ultimate Metronome.

TablEdit musical notation software

You won’t be able to open the sheet music tablature that I provide if you don’t have a copy of TablEdit. The company offers two options: a free “reader” with limited functionality, and a full-featured program that you pay for. ($59.95) If you have the budget and you plan to stick with the banjo, I highly recommend the full-featured program. You won’t be sorry you bought it. However, the free reader is sufficient for working with my article series. Here are links to the product: free reader or full program.

Riffmaster Pro

I use a software program called Riffmaster Pro to help me learn licks and leads to songs that I have on CD’s. I recently learned Sammy Shelor’s lead to Love’s Come Over Me using Riffmaster Pro. I had figured it out by ear years ago but I could tell I was just missing some things and that it wasn’t a 100% facsimile of Sammy’s lead. Riffmaster Pro changed that! I can play it note for note now. Riffmaster Pro is software that allows you slow a song down while keeping it in tune. It also allows you to isolate small sections of a song (like a banjo lead or lick!) and loop it over and over. You can dial the speed back, making it more playable, and you can really hear the individual notes that the banjo player is playing. I love this software and it’s one of my best purchases. To check it out, click here: Riffmaster Pro.

Optional: a digital recorder

I would love it if you would help me to make this article series interactive. I’d like to feature my readers as they play songs or licks on their banjos. Maybe even a “before and after” look at your playing. At the bottom of each blog post in the series, I’m going to go back and add the recordings of my readers who’ve tried to tackle the material in that blog post. What you’ll do is record yourself using a digital recorder, and then email me the recording. You’ll want to keep it as short as possible because an entire song is going to be a pretty big sound file and might not email well. You can pick up digital recorders at the office supply stores for under $50, and you can even download some versions online for free.

Let the banjo fun begin!

It’s time for me to get busy! This should be a lot of fun. I’ll look forward to working with you on this, and I welcome your thoughts, questions, and comments. As the article series goes along, please leave your questions, comments, and conversations as replies to the blog posts. You can find the comment area below each blog post, and you can even subscribe to be alerted whenever someone else leaves a follow up comment below yours. I look forward to hearing from, and as I always say: pick ‘em if ya got ‘em!

Banjo Paul
“Wunse, I coodn’t even spel bango pikker…now I are one!”
www.banjosrule.com (main site)
www.mybanjolife.com (blog)

The first article in the series is now posted: Article series part 1