Let’s tackle Ground Speed backup

I‘m taking on an aggressive…and long…blog series suggested by my reader George Preiss, where we take a look at one of the most pivotal and important albums of banjo instrumentals ever made: the Foggy Mountain Banjo Album by Flatt & Scruggs. Join me as we look at each song. We’ll take the songs apart and look at how to roll each one. We’ll focus on making the songs playable, avoiding the pitfalls, and picking up choice and tasty licks for use in other songs. I’ll answer the questions that you give me at the bottom of each blog post, and in the end we’ll all have a pretty good handle on this important album in the banjo lexicon. (To find links to the important tools that I mention in this blog post, refer back to my blog post where I introduce this series and provide links for getting your own copy of these tools by clicking here: introductory blog post.) If any of you knowledgeable historians can correct anything I say or add to the conversation, please do so by leaving your corrections or comments at the end of this blog post. I’d appreciate the help; I only want to put out factual information.

Isn’t Earl Scruggs amazing?

What an obvious question, huh? People have been amazed by Earl’s super-human technique and ability since long before I was born. I’ve been listening to the Foggy Mountain Banjo album with renewed interest and a more discerning eye since launching this blog series, and like everyone else…I’m amazed.

Timing, tone, clarity, precision. Amazing. Have you been spending time with the album and listening to Ground Speed? Earl gives us a high hurdle to clear when it comes to trying to achieve any of the sound he creates. Isn’t it amazing watching/listening to any true master of their field? Don’t they make it seem easy? Ground Speed moves along at a pretty good pace, and yet Earl’s picking is fluid, accurate…effortless. It really gives me a benchmark to compare my own picking to.

This album was recorded in 1961, so by this time Earl had honed his craft and was very adept at what he was doing. He was more than 20 years into playing banjo professionally. However, I compare my situation to his…I’ve been at the banjo for almost 30 years, and no one is mistaking me for Earl Scruggs. There is something about the man’s control over his finger tips, his amazing perception of what sounds good on the banjo, and his machine-like ability to play intricate patterns and rolls fluidly, quickly, and with ease. I’m flat-out awed. If I only come up to 50% of his ability I’ll be extremely lucky. Just listen to him in the song!! You can’t give that a serious listen and be anything but amazed.

One last look at Ground Speed: playing backup

We took an extensive look at playing the lead to Ground Speed, including a few tricks a la Scott Vestal…and maybe a little Banjo Paul thrown in for good measure. I thought you might appreciate taking a look at some of Earl’s technique for accompanying this song. Like the lead work, we’ll throw some Scott Vestal in there, and maybe even a little Banjo Paul.

To start with let’s take a first-hand look at one of the tools I referenced in the introductory blog post about this series: Riffmaster Pro. If you want to have a fighting chance at sounding out any of Earl’s licks, or the licks of any other banjo player on any other CD, this is an indispensable tool. You’ll see some sheet music below that explains several of Earl’s licks, and I was able to figure out the licks by using Riffmaster Pro. Please watch this video:

Grab your own copy of Riffmaster Pro by clicking the square ad featuring Riffmaster Pro at the right side of this page.

A few examples of Earl’s backup in Ground Speed

I sat down with Ground Speed and Riffmaster Pro and gave a good hard listen to Earl during his backup sections, and I thought I’d explain a few of the tasty licks that you’ll hear. Open up the sheet music and either print it or have it viewable on the screen, then play the sound file. Note: while viewing the sheet music on screen, click the "print preview" button and you’ll get a nice clean view with all the examples beginning on a new line and the text above the measures lining up.

To begin with, we need to get in tune. Flatt & Scruggs have their instruments tuned slightly sharp. Consult this sound file for a little explanation and to hear the retuned notes one by one so that you can tune each of your strings exactly like mine:

Sound file: Tuning for Ground Speed

Alright, now here is the sheet music:

Sheet music: Ground Speed backup licks

And finally, here’s a sound file where I help you with playing backup to Ground Speed:

Sound file: Ground Speed backup licks

I’d like to showcase your picking!

I hope you’ve learned a lot about Ground Speed via these first 3 blog posts in this series. This was our last look at Ground Speed. Next we move on to song #2 on the album: Home Sweet Home.

Soon I’m going to be making a page over on my website where I feature the picking of each of my blog readers who send me their sound files. I would love it if you would consider recording yourself playing each of the songs in the album as we go through them. Email me the sound files and a short bit of biographical information…even a picture of yourself holding your banjo…and I’ll make you famous!

Until then, please leave questions and comments at the bottom of this blog post. My readers and I need to hear from you! We can all learn a lot from each other via this exchange. You can sign up to receive email alerts whenever a new blog post is written, and you can also sign up to receive an email alert anytime someone else responds to a blog post that you’ve left a comment on.

Thanks everyone. Onwards and upwards! Take care, good luck working with the material, and pick ‘em if ya got ‘em! Banjo Paul out.

Banjo Paul
“Wunse, I coodn’t even spel bango pikker…now I are one!”
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