Scruggs style
Encyclopedia
Scruggs style is the most common style of playing the banjo
in bluegrass music
. It is a fingerpicking method, also known as three-finger style. It is named after Earl Scruggs
, whose innovative approach and technical mastery of the instrument has influenced generations of bluegrass banjoists ever since he was first recorded in 1946. It contrasts with earlier styles such as minstrel, classic or parlor style (a late 19th-century finger-style played without picks), clawhammer
/frailing/two-finger style (played with thumb and nail of the first or middle finger), jazz
styles played with a plectrum
, and more modern styles such as Keith
/melodic/chromatic/arpa style, and single-string/Reno style. The influence of Scruggs is so pervasive that even bluegrass players such as Bill Keith
and Don Reno
, who are credited with developing these latter styles, typically work out of the Scruggs style much of the time.
Scruggs-style banjo is played with picks on the thumb, index and middle fingers; the pinky and/or ring fingers are typically braced against the head (top) of the instrument. The strings
are picked rapidly in repetitive sequences or rolls
; the same string is not typically picked twice in succession. Melody
notes are interspersed among arpeggio
s, and musical phrases typically contain long series of staccato notes, often played at very rapid tempo
s. The music is generally syncopated
, and may have a subtle swing or shuffle feel, especially on mid-tempo numbers. The result is lively, rapid music, which lends itself both as an accompaniment
to other instruments and as a solo
.
Beginning with his first recordings with Bill Monroe
and His Blue Grass Boys, and later with Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys
, Earl Scruggs introduced a vocabulary of "lick
s", short musical phrases that are reused in many different songs. Because these licks were widely copied (with variations) by later players, they have become one of the defining attributes of the style, and give it its characteristic sound. These licks often contain fretting-hand embellishments such as slides
, chokes
(bends
), hammer-on
s, or plucking the strings with the fretting hand (left hand pizzicato
), which add to the harmonic
and rhythm
ic complexity. Many licks also make use of blue note
s, giving the music a blues
ier feel.
There is some debate as to how much of the "Scruggs style" was actually "invented" by Scruggs. For example, Scruggs names Snuffy Jenkins
as a major influence. But there is little doubt that he did more to popularize the style than any of his contemporaries; it is hard to overstate his influence. In 1968, the instructional manual Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo (2005: ISBN 0634060422) was published. This made Scruggs' technique more widely accessible, and as one of the earliest books of its kind for bluegrass banjo, helped spread Scruggs' influence considerably. The style was also popularized by Scruggs' recording of the theme song of the television program The Beverly Hillbillies
, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett
", as well as the use of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown
" in the film Bonnie and Clyde.
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
in bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
. It is a fingerpicking method, also known as three-finger style. It is named after Earl Scruggs
Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
, whose innovative approach and technical mastery of the instrument has influenced generations of bluegrass banjoists ever since he was first recorded in 1946. It contrasts with earlier styles such as minstrel, classic or parlor style (a late 19th-century finger-style played without picks), clawhammer
Clawhammer
Clawhammer is a highly rhythmic banjo playing style and common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction...
/frailing/two-finger style (played with thumb and nail of the first or middle finger), jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
styles played with a plectrum
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
, and more modern styles such as Keith
Keith style
The Keith style of playing the 5-string banjo emphasizes the melody of the song. Also known as the "Melodic" or "Chromatic style", it was first developed and popularized independently by Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith in the early 1960s. It is used primarily by bluegrass banjoists, though it can...
/melodic/chromatic/arpa style, and single-string/Reno style. The influence of Scruggs is so pervasive that even bluegrass players such as Bill Keith
Bill Keith (musician)
Bill Keith is a five-string banjoist who made a significant contribution to the stylistic development of the instrument. In the 1960s he introduced a variation on the popular "Scruggs style" of banjo playing which would soon become known as melodic style, or "Keith style." -Professional...
and Don Reno
Don Reno
Don Wesley Reno was an American bluegrass and country musician best known as a banjo player in partnership with Red Smiley, and later with guitarist Bill Harrell.-Biography:...
, who are credited with developing these latter styles, typically work out of the Scruggs style much of the time.
Scruggs-style banjo is played with picks on the thumb, index and middle fingers; the pinky and/or ring fingers are typically braced against the head (top) of the instrument. The strings
Strings (music)
A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be "plain"...
are picked rapidly in repetitive sequences or rolls
Banjo roll
In bluegrass music, a banjo roll or roll is a repeated pattern of eighth notes, an accompaniment pattern played by the banjo that by subdividing the beat 'keeps time'...
; the same string is not typically picked twice in succession. Melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
notes are interspersed among arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s, and musical phrases typically contain long series of staccato notes, often played at very rapid tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
s. The music is generally syncopated
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
, and may have a subtle swing or shuffle feel, especially on mid-tempo numbers. The result is lively, rapid music, which lends itself both as an accompaniment
Accompaniment
In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with an instrumental or vocal soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner...
to other instruments and as a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
.
Beginning with his first recordings with Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
and His Blue Grass Boys, and later with Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys
Foggy Mountain Boys
The Foggy Mountain Boys were an influential bluegrass band founded by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in 1948, shortly after leaving Bill Monroe’s band. They recorded and performed together up until 1969.-Biography:...
, Earl Scruggs introduced a vocabulary of "lick
Lick (music)
In popular music genres such as rock or jazz music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines...
s", short musical phrases that are reused in many different songs. Because these licks were widely copied (with variations) by later players, they have become one of the defining attributes of the style, and give it its characteristic sound. These licks often contain fretting-hand embellishments such as slides
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
, chokes
Damping (music)
Damping is a technique in music for altering the sound of a musical instrument. Damping methods are used for a number of instruments.-Guitar:...
(bends
Glissando
In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
), hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
s, or plucking the strings with the fretting hand (left hand pizzicato
Pizzicato
Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
), which add to the harmonic
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
and rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic complexity. Many licks also make use of blue note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
s, giving the music a blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
ier feel.
There is some debate as to how much of the "Scruggs style" was actually "invented" by Scruggs. For example, Scruggs names Snuffy Jenkins
Snuffy Jenkins
DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins was an American old time banjo player and an early proponent of the three-finger banjo style.-Biography:...
as a major influence. But there is little doubt that he did more to popularize the style than any of his contemporaries; it is hard to overstate his influence. In 1968, the instructional manual Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo (2005: ISBN 0634060422) was published. This made Scruggs' technique more widely accessible, and as one of the earliest books of its kind for bluegrass banjo, helped spread Scruggs' influence considerably. The style was also popularized by Scruggs' recording of the theme song of the television program The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett
The Ballad of Jed Clampett
"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" was the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies TV show and movie, providing the back story for the series. The song was written and composed by Paul Henning, and sung by Jerry Scoggins, who was accompanied by bluegrass musicians Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs...
", as well as the use of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
"Foggy Mountain Breakdown" is a bluegrass music instrumental by the bluegrass artists Flatt and Scruggs. It is a standard in the bluegrass repertoire. Banjo players consider the ability to deliver a convincing rendition of this piece the mark of an intermediate-level banjo player...
" in the film Bonnie and Clyde.