Chapter 8

Playing Three-Finger Styles: Scruggs, Melodic, and Single String

In This Chapter

Getting deeper into Scruggs-style banjo

Branching out with melodic style

Discovering single-string-style banjo

Using three-finger techniques together

From bluegrass to jazz, country, classical, folk, and rock, the banjo is right at home in all kinds of music today (okay, maybe not Wagnerian opera . . . not yet, anyway!). Three-finger style (where you use the thumb, index, and middle fingers of the right hand to strike the strings) is the playing technique that’s being used to blaze most of these new trails for the banjo these days.

Three-finger banjo is usually associated with the bluegrass banjo style that was first developed by North Carolina banjo player Earl Scruggs. Earl Scruggs’s banjo style is based around capturing the melody using right-hand roll patterns that create a bold, fast flurry of notes. Scruggs ushered in a banjo revolution in the mid-1940s when he introduced this technique to bluegrass and country music. Scruggs style is one of the most emulated playing styles in the world — on any instrument — and has truly become a universal way of playing music on the banjo (yes, if aliens were to play the banjo, it would probably be in Scruggs style — it’s that good!).

Succeeding generations of players have built on Earl’s contributions to come up with new three-finger possibilities that continue to expand the musical potential of the banjo. Melodic and single-string styles are the most important of these innovations. Both approaches enable you to more easily use scales in your playing (scales are the collections of notes you use to play melodies). In melodic style, you play scales and melodies by using roll patterns that are similar to those used in Scruggs style. With single-string playing, you use a technique that enables you to play notes on the same string consecutively when needed, much like guitar and mandolin players do when playing with their flatpicks.

To play the Scruggs, melodic, and single-string styles I describe in this chapter, you use a thumb pick and two finger picks on your fingers as well as the right-hand position favored by bluegrass players. If you’re new to the banjo, you may want to visit Chapter 4 to get a feel for these topics before jumping into the great music that awaits you here.

Playing Scruggs-Style Banjo

Overestimating the contribution of Earl Scruggs to the world of the banjo is impossible. Although other players used three-finger techniques before him, Scruggs took this way of playing the banjo and perfected it, literally creating a entirely new musical vocabulary for the banjo that enabled him both to play blazing-fast solos and to accompany others in a bluegrass band. (To read more about Earl Scruggs’s life and music, check out Chapter 14.)

Scruggs style is practically synonymous with bluegrass-banjo style. If your goal is to someday play banjo in a bluegrass band, you need to soak in as much of Earl’s playing as you can. Scruggs-style banjo is also an essential foundation for playing melodic and single-string styles, and Earl’s techniques are also great to use when accompanying others. If you want to play any three-finger style that uses fingerpicks, you just about have to get into Earl!

Some great fun lies ahead! In the following sections, you discover the right-hand patterns used in Scruggs-style banjo and use these patterns to play short interchangeable phrases called licks by using left-hand slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. You then combine these phrases to play full-length banjo solos and songs in Scruggs style.

Flowing with the rolls

Much of Scruggs-style playing is based around roll patterns — right-hand sequences of notes that crop up again and again when playing in this style. Roll patterns are made up of eight notes played by the right-hand thumb, index, and middle fingers. As a general rule, you use a different right-hand finger to strike a different string for each consecutive note when playing a roll pattern (in other words, you don’t want to use the same right-hand finger or hit the same string twice in a row). This way of playing creates a smooth and constant flow of notes and is a big part of what make Scruggs - style banjo sound so great.

I include the most important roll patterns used in Scruggs-style playing in the following list, which you can see in Tab 8-1. Players often categorize rolls by the sequence of right-hand notes played (using T for thumb, I for index, and M for middle), along with the string sequence used (with numbers standing for each of the five strings on your banjo), which is what I do here:

Alternating thumb roll: The right-hand sequence of this roll is T - I - T - M - T - I - T - M. Use this sequence with the following string order: 3 - 2 - 5 - 1 - 4 - 2 - 5 - 1.

Forward-backward roll: This roll’s right-hand sequence is T - I - M - T - M - I - T - M and uses a string order of 3 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 1. Note that this roll begins like the alternating-thumb roll but moves in a new direction with the third note you play.

Forward roll: This roll is very exciting to play in bluegrass banjo. You can play with more power if you kick off the roll by using your right-hand thumb, as indicated in the tab’s right-hand sequence: T - M - T - I - M - T - I - M. This example uses the following order of strings: 2 - 1 - 5 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 2 - 1.

Forward-reverse roll: This roll starts with the same sequence of right-hand notes that you use in the forward roll but then shifts to the sequence used in the last four notes of the forward-backward roll: T - M - T - I - M - I - T - M. The string order for this example is 3 - 1 - 5 - 3 - 1 - 3 - 5 - 1.

Foggy Mountain roll: Yes, this is the roll used to play the first measures of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”! Be careful to play the first four notes of this roll correctly: begin with the right-hand index finger striking the second string and the middle finger playing the first string but then be sure to use the thumb to strike the next second string. This approach will provide you with more speed and power as you get comfortable playing this roll. The right-hand sequence is I - M - T - M - T - I - M - T, playing these strings: 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 2 - 1- 5.

Backward roll: This roll begins with the middle finger and moves backwards towards the fifth string. Note the right-hand sequence for this roll: M - I - T - M - I - T - M - I. The strings indicated in the tab example are 1 - 2 - 5 - 1 - 2 - 5 - 2 -1.

Middle-leading roll: As you might have guessed, there are a lot of middle fingers used in this roll pattern as revealed in the right-hand sequence: M - I - M - T - M - I - M - T. The strings you’ll play in this example are 1 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 1 - 2 - 1- 5.

Index-leading roll: This roll begins with the right-hand index finger playing the second string. The right-hand sequence for this roll is: I - T - I - M - I - T - I - M. The strings played in this example are 2 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 1.

Tab 8-1: Scruggs-style roll patterns (Track 77).

Listen to Track 77 to hear the sound of each roll and to double-check your playing against these tab examples.

Practice these rolls until they become second nature. You can then cover ground much faster when you encounter these roll patterns in actual tunes. If any of these patterns are new to you, try using them as an accompaniment to “Red River Valley” by playing along with CD Track 24. (For more on how to play along with songs, visit Chapter 4.)

Making your music hot with some licks

In Chapter 5, I show you how to add left-hand slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs to the right-hand roll patterns to begin making some real banjo music. Scruggs-style playing is based around creating music that uniquely combines these elements. As you listen and play pieces in this style, you may begin to notice short phrases that appear in more than one tune. These phrases, called licks, are the building blocks of Scruggs-style banjo. In the following sections, you can figure out what licks are and how to play them Scruggs style.

Figuring out the basics about licks

A short phrase that can be lifted out of one tune and played in another is called a lick (a hot lick is a particularly great-sounding phrase that is perfectly acceptable to play in public or even in front of your parents). Licks are used in melodic and single-string playing as well, but are especially at home in Scruggs style. Licks make your playing sound more interesting and varied and are essential elements to improvising on the banjo.

You can sometimes use licks as part of a melody, but often licks stand by themselves as good things to play on the banjo even when they aren’t necessarily related to the melody of the song that’s being played. Becoming comfortable integrating licks into melodies and knowing which licks can be used at what points in a song takes a lot of playing experience and a lot of listening to other good banjo players.

Using licks in your playing

Licks are almost always associated with chords. For example, you play G licks at that part of the song where the accompaniment is a G chord; you use C licks when everyone else is playing a C chord, and so on.

Each lick is a bit different, depending on which chord goes along with it and the specific roll patterns and left-hand techniques you use. When you encounter a new lick in tablature, do the following:

1. Figure out the right-hand pattern indicated in the tab and practice this by itself until it sounds steady and solid (if you can memorize the right-hand sequence as you play, all the better!).

2. Add whatever left-hand techniques the tab shows (slides, hammer-ons, or pull-offs) while maintaining a solid rhythm in your right hand.

The best way to figure out whether a lick works in a particular place in a song is to try it and see what happens. You usually know pretty quickly whether you’ve played something that works by the expressions on the faces of the other musicians around you! And for the songs in this book, don’t forget to listen to the corresponding CD track and aim to match your sound to what you hear me play on the recording.

By listening to Tracks 78, 79, and 80 on the CD (and using Tabs 8-2, 8-3, and 8-4), play a group of essential licks for the G, C, and D chords — the three most frequently played chords in bluegrass banjo music. These phrases pop up time and again in the playing of Earl Scruggs, Sonny Osborne, and other bluegrass masters.

The process of adding licks to your musical vocabulary is a lot like adding new words and phrases when mastering a foreign language. In both cases, you expand the range of your expression as you internalize new things to say and new ways of saying them. After a lot of practice, you can combine licks into original phrases and come up with your own unique musical thoughts.

Incorporating fill-in licks

A special kind of lick that’s frequently played at the end of a banjo solo or used in accompaniment when a singer takes a breath or pauses between the lines of a song is called a fill-in lick. This lick is especially useful to have in your grab bag of banjo tricks.

To play fill-in licks, you utilize the same techniques and roll patterns that you use for regular licks (see previous sections). However, fill-in licks tend to pack more left-hand techniques into the same amount of musical space as a regular lick and for this reason can be more challenging to play.

Tab 8-2: G licks (Track 78).

Tab 8-3: C licks (Track 79).

Tab 8-4: D licks (Track 80).

By playing Tab 8-5 (and listening to CD Track 81), you can get a feel for the four common fill-in licks that you use when you return to the G chord at the end of a tune’s chord progression. You use at least one of these fill-in licks just about every time you play a song in the key of G.

Tab 8-5: Four common G fill-in licks (Track 81).

Combining licks to play a solo

You can build entire solos by stringing licks together. Although you probably won’t be able to capture much of the melody of a song this way, following one lick with another is great survival strategy to use in a jam session as you fake your way through a song that you don’t really know. Don’t forget to make sure that your lick matches the chord that everyone else is playing!

You can see how this strategy works by creating a solo from the licks I present in the previous two sections. You can see (and play) it for yourself in Tab 8-6 (Track 82). The chord progression is an eight-measure cycle made up of two measures of G, followed by two measures of C, and then two measures of D, ending with two measures of G.

Tab 8-6: Creating a solo by combining licks (Track 82).

Progressing to Scruggs-style songs

As you gain confidence playing licks and combining them to create longer phrases, you eventually want to use the licks you know to create and enhance the melodies of songs. The following two tunes show you just how this can be done.

“Everyday Breakdown”

Because this song is made up of a number of essential two-measure phrases commonly used for the G, C, and D chords, “Everyday Breakdown” can get you started in your quest to create longer phrases and play entire songs by combining licks.

Many bluegrass banjo solos begin with a short, characteristic phrase that propels you into the main melody. These phrases are called kick offs. “Everyday Breakdown,” which you can see in Tab 8-7 (Track 83), uses a three-note kick off that also works with “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”

Tab 8-7: Playing “Everyday Breakdown,” composed by me (Track 83).

“Shortening Bread”

To conclude this section on Scruggs style, you can take a look at my arrangement of a melody that Earl played often on radio and television broadcasts in the 1950s and ’60s. “Shortening Bread” is the familiar melody you may have first heard as a child (“Mama’s little baby loves shortening, shortening/Mama’s little baby loves shortening bread”).

Sometimes trying to capture the melody of a song in the simplest and most elegant way possible is best — something that Earl Scruggs seemed to do with ease just about all the time. I’ve tried to continue in Scruggs’s footsteps with my arrangement of “Shortening Bread” in Tab 8-8 (Track 84).

Tab 8-8: Playing “Shortening Bread” (Track 84).

Making Music with Melodic Banjo

Although Scruggs style (see preceding section) is just about the most logical and ingenious technique ever created to play music on the banjo, you unfortunately can’t play everything in this way. Because you strike a different string with each roll note in Scruggs style, playing note-for-note versions of a melody that happens to contain lots of consecutive notes adjacent to one another in a scale can sometimes be difficult.

In the early 1960s, bluegrass banjo players Bill Keith and Bobby Thompson were independently working on solving this problem as they tried to find a way to play fiddle tunes more easily in a three-finger style on the banjo. These musicians came up with a new way of playing scales on the banjo called melodic banjo, where a different string is picked with each successive note, as in roll pattern–based styles of playing.

Melodic banjo is great to use as an addition to Scruggs style within bluegrass. This way of playing, which I describe in the following sections, gives you a new set of three-finger tools that you can apply to all kinds of music and also use in improvising. In addition to playing complex melodies with this approach, you can also create virtuosic improvisations that rival the best work of any jazz improviser!

Melodic style banjo is a real attention getter and is great for playing melodies that can’t easily be played by using Scruggs style and for improvising. However, when it comes time to playing with others, you should rely on the roll patterns and techniques used in Scruggs style to provide the most appropriate accompaniment (see Chapters 4 and 12 for Scruggs-style accompaniment ideas).

Discovering how to play melodic scales

Although Scruggs style uses right-hand roll patterns as the basic building blocks of banjo technique, melodic banjo is based on finding and playing scales up and down the neck.

In Chapter 6, I locate all the notes for the G-major scale on the first five frets of the banjo (so if you want some additional scale info, you may want to turn to that chapter). In this section, instead of labeling the notes with the syllables “do - re - mi” as the Von Trapp Family Singers might do, I’m going to be more scientific and assign numbers to each step of the scale, with the number 1 indicating your starting point on the G note, as shown in Tab 8-9.

Tab 8-9: Assigning numbers to the notes in the G-major scale.

Note in Tab 8-9 how many consecutive scale notes are located on the same string (for instance, scale notes three and four are both on the 2nd string while scale notes five, six, seven, and eight are all on the 1st string). With the melodic banjo approach, you play the same pitches, but you locate each consecutive note on a different string, using a different right-hand picking finger to play each string, as you can see in the following sections.

Beginning with the melodic banjo G-major scale

The secret to playing a melodic banjo G-major scale is to relocate the fretted notes in Tab 8-9 to a lower string on your banjo (these are notes two, four, six, and seven of the G-major scale). You can then play different strings consecutively as you climb up the scale, using right-hand roll patterns that are related to Scruggs’ rolls.

For example, the second note of the G scale (called an A note) is not only found on the second fret of the 3rd string, but is also at the seventh fret of the 4th string. The fourth note of the G scale, the C note, is at the first fret of the 2nd string, but you can also find it at the fifth fret of the 3rd string. Playing these fretted notes on a lower string allows you to play a different string and can make your playing sound smoother and more flowing.

To play a G-major scale by using melodic banjo technique, do the following:

1. Pick the 3rd string open with the right-hand index finger.

You’re playing the G note: the first note of the G-major scale.

2. Fret the 4th string at the seventh fret with the left-hand ring finger and pick this string with your right-hand thumb.

This note is an A note, the second note of the G-major scale.

3. Pick the 2nd string open with the right-hand index finger.

In this step, you play the third note of the G-major scale, the B note.

4. Fret the 3rd string at the fifth fret with the left-hand index finger and pick this string with the right-hand thumb.

You’re playing the fourth note of the G-major scale, which is the C note.

5. Pick the 1st string open with the right-hand middle finger.

You play the D note, the fifth note of the G-major scale, in this step.

6. Fret the 2nd string at the fifth fret with the left-hand middle finger and pick this string with the right-hand index finger.

Here you play an E note, and if you’ve been counting, you know that this is the sixth note of the G-major scale.

7. Fret the 1st string at the fourth fret with the left-hand index finger and pick this string with the right-hand middle finger.

This note is an F note — the seventh note of the G-major scale.

8. Play the 5th string open with the right-hand thumb.

You’re playing a G note that is one octave higher than the G note found on your open 3rd string.

The right-hand index finger does a lot of work in melodic banjo, so make sure you’re playing these notes with good volume and power. In the left hand, you can add speed to your fingering if you release each fretting finger soon after striking the note with the right hand. This allows the left hand to get ready for the next fretted position.

Tab 8-10 shows you how you can play the G-major scale using melodic-banjo technique. You can follow the left-hand fingering indications by looking at the lower case letters above the tab staff (i stands for index, m for middle, r for ring, and p for the pinky finger).

Tab 8-10: Playing the G-major scale by using melodic-banjo techniques.

The trickiest aspect of melodic technique on this part of the banjo fingerboard is getting used to the idea of playing a higher-sounding fretted note on a lower-pitched string. Practicing a good bit to work melodic scales into your motor memory can really come in handy. After you’ve internalized the fingerboard “route,” you won’t think about how unusual playing a scale this way really is!

Getting acquainted with more scales

Although getting comfortable with the G-major scale first is best (see preceding section), sooner or later you need to play scales that start on other notes. If you keep in mind that the principle behind melodic banjo is to find an adjacent scale note on a different string, you can figure out and play many different scales using the melodic approach.

For example, to play a melodic banjo C-major scale, you start on the fifth fret, 3rd string. The next note (D) is the open 1st string. Although you can play the following scale note (E) on the second fret of the 1st string, playing this note on the fifth fret of the 2nd string is better in melodic banjo. The next note of the C-major scale is an F note, and you can find it on the third fret, 1st string. The open 5th string is the next note (G) in the C-major scale.

The last three notes of the C-major scale are A, B, and C and require you to fret notes above the fifth fret. Because you just played the open 5th string, the best choice for the A note is the 2nd string, tenth fret; followed by a ninth fret, 1st string for the B note; and a tenth fret, 5th string for the G, as shown in Tab 8-11.

Tab 8-11: Playing the C-major scale by using melodic-banjo techniques.

Melodic-banjo playing up the neck often uses left-hand positions where you’re not only fretting the 5th string, but also fretting two or three other strings with the left hand at the same time — not easy! Some players prefer to use their thumb to fret the 5th string in these situations, but others rely on their index finger. The finger (or thumb) you use then determines which left-hand fingers you use to fret the other strings in a melodic position. In the example in Tab 8-11, I’ve indicated both options above the tab staff. See which way works best for you!

Getting a feel for melodic-banjo songs

Practicing scales familiarizes you with the basic moves you use in melodic style, but this isn’t nearly as much fun as playing tunes that utilize this approach. As you branch out and apply melodic-banjo techniques to your own arrangements, the following tips can help guide your choices of what to play:

Melodic style works best when you play melodies that have a lot of quick notes that are adjacent to one another in a scale. Many fiddle tunes fit this description exactly, making this a great time to go melodic. Most vocal songs have melodies with longer notes and usually sound better with Scruggs-based playing.

The key of the song is directly related to the scales and licks you use. For songs in the key of G, you can use the G-major scale to create melodic licks that also work for C and D chords. However, songs with more complex chord progressions sound better by using other scales that match the chords being played. Check out Tony Trischka’s Hot Licks for Bluegrass Banjo (Oak Publications) to find melodic scales and licks for other chords and keys.

You can expand the possibilities of melodic banjo beyond just playing scales by applying roll-pattern ideas to the left-hand fretted melodic positions to create impressive-sounding descending and ascending runs. If you simply race up and down a major scale for any extended length of time, your music could become boring pretty quickly (for your listeners at least — I can personally do this all day and be as happy as a clam!). For more info on roll patterns, check out the section “Flowing with the rolls” earlier in this chapter. You can use roll patterns with melodic banjo in the song “Banjo Cascade” later in this section.

Melodic style is great for improvising too! You have different melodic licks for different chords, just as in Scruggs style. Don’t be afraid to play your favorite C melodic lick (or G or D lick) each time that chord comes around in whatever song you’re playing (it may not always work, but you’ll never know until you actually try it).

Try different left-hand fingerings, especially when using melodic techniques up the neck. You usually have more than one way to play the same note sequence in melodic style. You can determine how to play a note largely by what your left hand needs to be fretting at that moment.

In this section, you can try two tunes, using the melodic approach. The first, “Banjo Cascade,” is really more of an exercise to get you used to playing descending and ascending scale patterns. The second is the perennial favorite “Turkey in the Straw.” Don’t forget that the tabs indicate left-hand fingering above the staff, using lower-case letters, and right-hand fingering below the staff, using italics.

Enhancing melodic techniques with roll patterns: “Banjo Cascade”

Try your hand (or fingers) at “Banjo Cascade,” a short song that explores some of these possibilities with a chord progression that moves from G to C to D by using forward and backward rolls (see Tab 8-12, which is Track 85 on the CD). These kinds of sounds are what three-finger players draw on when improvising over chord progressions in the melodic style. Note how the left hand shifts from one fretted position to another as you move down and then up the scale.

Tab 8-12: “Banjo Cascade” by yours truly (Track 85).

Getting fancy with fiddle tunes: “Turkey in the Straw”

Fiddle tunes are a staple of any bluegrass jam session (especially if a fiddle is present!). Bluegrass and old-time musicians use the label fiddle tune to refer to a large body of instrumental pieces which may or may not have their actual origin as fiddle music. Regardless of the instrument you play, everyone loves to play fiddle tunes and encountering many of them in jam sessions isn’t unusual (you don’t even have to have a fiddle in your jam session to play a fiddle tune either, by the way).

Most fiddle tunes are made up of two sections with different melodies. Musicians usually repeat each section once before moving on to the next section (players sometimes describe this tune structure as an AABB form). Using melodic banjo technique for the first section and a more Scruggs- oriented approach for the tune’s second half (see the section “Playing Scruggs-Style Banjo” for more info), try to work out the familiar fiddle tune “Turkey in the Straw.”

In this version of “Turkey in the Straw,” you use a lot of the fretted positions you use in “Banjo Cascade,” and you also put in some laps running up and down the G-major scale (see Tab 8-13, which is Track 86). When in doubt about the left-hand fingering, don’t forget to look up for answers (not to the heavens, but above the tab staff).

Tab 8-13: “Turkey in the Straw,” arranged by me (Track 86).

Playing Single-String Banjo

In the hands of such skilled innovators as Béla Fleck, Alison Brown, Tony Trischka, and Noam Pikelny, the musical possibilities of three-finger banjo are expanding ever outward from bluegrass to jazz, classical, and other musical styles. Incredibly virtuosic and complex music is being made on the banjo today in significant measure because of new developments in single-string banjo technique.

Single-string banjo provides another solution to the dilemma of finding a way to play scales and scale-based melodies on the banjo. Instead of playing consecutive scale notes on different strings as in melodic banjo (see preceding section), single-string banjo utilizes a right-hand technique that’s based around finding ways to play notes on the same string. The left-hand fretting moves are also different with single-string banjo because you’re finding the notes in different places on the fingerboard with this way of playing.

Short single-string passages abound in the classic banjo music of the late-19th and early-20th centuries (for more on classic banjo, take a short trip to Chapter 7). Bluegrass pioneers Don Reno and Eddie Adcock introduced this way of playing to bluegrass banjo style in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Over the next several decades, younger players incorporated ideas from rock and jazz guitar technique to expand the range of single-string technique.

In the following sections, you become familiar with the right-hand picking patterns used in single-string banjo before moving on to experiment with different ways to play a single-string G scale. After playing the following exercises, you’ll have a much better picture of what single-string banjo is all about and grasp the many exciting musical possibilities that are possible with this approach.

Using the right hand

Single-string banjo technique is similar in many ways to playing lead guitar with a flatpick. In lieu of the flatpick moving up and down to play notes on the same string, in single-string banjo you use your thumb and index fingers in alternation or use roll-pattern combinations of your thumb, index, and middle fingers to play melodies on individual (or single) strings.

Your choice of which right-hand pattern to use is determined by the specific song or lick you’re playing, so feel free to experiment to see what works best for your playing and that particular song!

And keep in mind that creating a smooth and flowing sound using single-string techniques can be a real challenge. So as you play the following right-hand exercises, keep as steady and even rhythm as possible and play each note with the same volume.

Single string with thumb and index finger

Currently, banjo players are in moment of transition in how they choose to play single-string techniques with the right hand. The more established way is to use a steady alternation of right-hand thumb and index fingers, as in the following exercise (you can follow along with Tab 8-14, which is Track 87, part a):

1. Pick the 1st string with the right-hand thumb and then strike it again, using the right-hand index finger.

2. Repeat Step 1, alternating the thumb and index to play the 1st string a total of four times in a row.

Each of these notes should be equal in length and in volume.

3. Play the same pattern from Steps 1 and 2 on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings, keeping a steady rhythm throughout and striking each string four times.

4. Move up from the 4th string, playing the four-note pattern on the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings before ending on the 3rd string.

Tab 8-14: Single-string exercise, using the right-hand thumb and index finger (Track 87, part a).

Single string with thumb, index, and middle fingers

Another way of playing single-string patterns is to bring the middle finger into the picture to play roll patterns on individual strings. For example, try playing the same string sequence as in Tab 8-14, but this time use an alternating-thumb roll on just one string, as shown in Tab 8-15, which is Track 87, part b. (For more info on roll patterns and the alternating thumb roll, check out the section “Flowing with the rolls” earlier in this chapter.)

Tab 8-15: Single-string exercise, using the alternating thumb roll (Track 87, part b).

If you have six notes per measure (as you do in an Irish-inspired jig in 6/8 time later in this chapter), you can try a three-note forward roll on each string. To do this, you strike each string first with the right-hand thumb, followed by the index and middle fingers, as you move from the 1st string to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings, as shown in Tab 8-16, which is Track 87, part c.

Tab 8-16: Single-string exercise in 6/8 time, using the forward roll (Track 87, part c).

Taking a crack at single-string scales

Much of the left-hand work in single-string banjo is in mapping out the fretted positions that provide an easy reach to the notes you use to play a particular lick or melody fragment. You almost always have more than one way to play just about anything in single-string style. But don’t let this discourage you — when you begin to play licks and songs by using these techniques, you’ll appreciate having choices!

When you play scales using single-string techniques down the neck (on the first five frets of the banjo), you play a combination of both open (or unfretted) and fretted strings, using what banjo players call open positions for your left-hand fretting. However, when you begin to play single-string patterns up the neck (above the fifth fret), you use left-hand fingerings in which most, if not all, of the notes are fretted. These left-hand positions are called closed positions.

And borrowing a bit of terminology from guitar players, you may notice that in this section I refer to the various positions you use to play a scale across strings as boxes. Where you’re coming from and where you’re going to on the banjo fingerboard in a particular passage of a song determines which box you use for a particular phrase. As you gain more experience playing single-string banjo, you gain more confidence shifting from one box to another.

To get a taste of the technique that is at the heart of great single-string playing, it’s time to take a look at four different ways to play the G-major scale as well as D-major single-string scales. In the tablature examples, I ask you to alternate the thumb and index finger in the right hand. However, if you feel like using your right-hand middle finger to catch a note here and there, go for it and see whether it works for you.

Unfortunately, this section doesn’t have enough room to cover every scale you’ll ever need. However, after you can handle the closed-position G-scale formations (later in this section), you can play other major scales by playing the same exercise but starting on a different fret (musicians call this process of playing licks and songs in different keys transposing; check out Appendix A to locate all the notes on the banjo neck). To find out more about scales of all kinds, check out Music Theory For Dummies by Michael Pilhofer and Holly Day (Wiley).

Single-string open G-major scale

Get out your banjo and try a G-major scale in an open position, playing as many unfretted strings as possible:

1. Begin by striking the open 3rd string with your right-hand thumb.

2. Pick the 3rd string, second fret with your right-hand index finger.

Playing the same string twice in a row using different right-hand fingers is the heart of the single-string technique.

3. Play the open 2nd string, followed by the 2nd string fretted at the first fret, using your thumb and index fingers to play these strings.

4. Play the last four notes of this G-major scale on the 1st string, once again alternating between the thumb and index in the right hand.

Take a moment to check out the left-hand fingering, which is indicated above the tab staff with lower-case letters in Tab 8-17, which corresponds to Track 88, part a.

5. After playing the open 1st string, climb up this string, using your left-hand index, ring, and pinky fingers, to play the 1st string at the second, fourth, and fifth frets.

6. Finish up the exercise by moving back down the G-major scale to the open 3rd-string G where you originally started.

Tab 8-17: Playing an open-position single-string G-major scale (Track 88, part a).

Single-string closed G-major scales

You can also play the same notes from Tab 8-17 by using a fifth-fret closed box. This way of playing takes a little more left-hand firepower, but a big advantage is that you can move closed box patterns anywhere on the neck to match other chords and scales.

Here’s one way to play a closed G-major scale (you can also check out Tab 8-18, which is Track 88, part b); remember that this particular exercise travels up the G-major scale all the way to an A note located on the 1st string, seventh fret:

1. Begin by playing the open 4th string.

2. Climb up to the G note at the fifth fret of the 4th string by playing the 4th string at the second fret (an E note) and the 4th string at the fourth fret (an F note).

3. Use the fretted positions from Step 2 to play all the subsequent notes of the G-major scale out of this box.

Tab 8-18: Playing a second- to fifth-fret box-position single-string G-major scale (Track 88, part b).

Box positions help you to remember left-hand fingering patterns. Many players take advantage of what I call the one-finger-per-fret rule when using box positions. After you’re in a box position, your left hand covers a fretting range of four (and sometimes five) frets — with one left-hand finger responsible for each fret in the box. Your first choice in left-hand fingering on any string is to use the finger in the box that’s designated for this fret.

For example, in this exercise (and in Tab 8-18), the pinky finger is used to fret the fifth fret on any string, the ring on the fourth fret, the middle on the third fret, and the index on the second fret. You don’t want to remain in just one region of the fretboard for very long however, so players often shift the box up or down one or more frets as needed to reach the notes that they want to play. This is exactly what happens in Tab 8-18 at the last note of measure one as the left-hand index finger shifts from a second- to a third-fret position, moving the entire box up one fret. This movement allows the left hand to catch the A note on the 1st string by extending the box (and the reach of the pinky finger) up to the 1st string, seventh fret, as shown in Tab 8-18.

After you have these basic steps down pat, try the same G-major scale, but this time, use the middle finger to play the G note on the fifth fret of the 4th string instead of the pinky finger. Note that four fingers of your left-hand have now created a box that is two frets higher than the box you used for Tab 8-18. Another left-hand finger shift occurs in this scale exercise at the beginning of measure two as the index finger moves up one fret to fret the 1st string, fifth fret.

As you shift either up or down the fretboard, you can play higher or lower notes as needed. Check out Tab 8-19 for all the details and listen to Track 88, part c.

Tab 8-19: Using a fourth- to seventh- and fifth- to ninth-fret-box positions (Track 88, part c).

Now try moving the box up one more fret and play a G scale in which the left-hand index finger frets the G note located at the fifth fret of the 4th string (see Tab 8-20 and listen to Track 88, part d). Note that your box now covers five frets, enabling you to play three scale notes on each string. Also, you have a left-hand shift at the next to last note of the first measure (where the left-hand index moves up two frets to the seventh fret) and again at the second note of the second measure (where the index moves up two frets again to play the ninth fret, 1st string). These shifts are common in single-string playing, allowing greater fretting range in the left hand.

Tab: 8-20: Using fifth- to ninth-, seventh- to tenth-, and ninth- to twelfth-fret box positions (Track 88, part d).

Single-string D-major scale

After you’re comfortable using single-string ideas in the key of G (see preceding sections), branching out to new keys, using single-string techniques, is fairly easy.

Try an open-position D-major scale beginning on the open 4th string (you can follow along in Tab 8-21, which is Track 89). You can find the second and third notes of the D-major scale (E and F) on the second and fourth frets of the 4th string. Next, play an open 3rd-string G followed by a 3rd-string, second-fret A note. You can find the B note by playing an open 2nd string. Follow this with a C on the 2nd string, second fret and an open 1st-string D.

You can extend the D-major scale a few more notes by playing the 1st-string, second-fret E; the 1st-string, fourth-fret F; and the 1st-string, fifth-fret G.

Tab 8-21: Playing an open-position single-string D-major scale (Track 89).

Exercising single-string techniques in songs

Single-string banjo provides another way to broaden your range of musical expression. Depending on what each musical situation needs, you can use single-string techniques to play an entire solo or song, or you can just play a few fancy single-string licks to add variety to a tune played in Scruggs or melodic style. However you decide to incorporate these ideas into your playing, the following tips can help you master using single-string techniques in a tune faster and make them more fun to play:

Make your single-string playing sound as smooth and as flowing as you possibly can. You can do this by keeping a very steady rhythm in your right-hand picking as well as holding one fretted note down for as long as possible before moving to the next fretted note with your left hand.

Know your scales and your box positions. You’ll quickly appreciate how much easier it is to figure out a new tune if you’ve already spent time working on scales and the different box positions you can use to play single-string passages (see previous sections on these topics). Do your homework (jazz musicians call this woodshedding)!

Work up speed slowly. Playing single string fast isn’t easy! Don’t be discouraged if it takes months, or even years, to sound like your progressive banjo heroes. Begin by playing as slowly as you need to in order to sound good and increase speed very gradually over time.

Now you’re ready to tackle a few tunes in single-string style!

“Arkansas Traveler”

This first tune is the fiddle-tune favorite “Arkansas Traveler.” Most people play this song in the key of D major, so you need to first map out a D-major scale before jumping into the tune (see section “Single-string D-major scale earlier in this chapter). For this song, the version of the D-major scale you need begins on the open 4th string and climbs all the way up to the G note on the fifth fret of the 1st string.

Now you’re ready to play “Arkansas Traveler,” using single-string techniques. It’s Tab 8-22 and Track 90 on the CD. Note that the second half of the tune shifts to a higher box as it climbs up to the A note found at the seventh fret of the 1st string. You play a lot of consecutive 1st-string notes in the right hand in this section, so be sure to pay close attention to the left-hand fingering indicated above the tab staff. If you do that, you’ll be just fine!

Tab 8-22: “Arkansas Traveler,” arranged by me (Track 90).

“Reno’s Rag”

One of the advantages of single-string banjo is that you have easy access to many different notes within a single box position. You can figure out much of the left-hand fingering for the chord-based licks in “Reno’s Rag” by using the one-finger-per-fret rule (which I describe in the section “Single-string closed G-major scales,” earlier in this chapter). This tune is shown in Tab 8-23 and is Track 91 on the CD.

With the G chord that begins this piece, you want to use your left-hand index finger to fret across the seventh fret on all strings. You then use your middle finger to fret any note that falls on the eighth fret and your ring finger to fret all ninth-fret notes. You then shift this box down two frets for the A chord, using one finger per fret once again.

Tab 8-23: “Reno’s Rag,” composed by me (Track 91).

Single-string innovator Don Reno created some great-sounding single-string licks based around the F and D chord positions way back in the 1950s, and these rock ’n’ roll–influenced licks still sound great on the banjo today. Several of these licks are incorporated into the melody of my tune “Reno’s Rag.”

“Winston’s Jig”

You can try a bit of Irish-inspired music by using single-string techniques on the song “Winston’s Jig” (Tab 8-24). Jigs have a different rhythm than other kinds of fiddle tunes, with six beats in each cycle and six right-hand notes per measure. When playing jigs, you have a prime opportunity to bring the right-hand middle finger into your playing technique to use forward rolls that match this rhythm (you can read more about using the forward roll in single-string playing in the section “Playing Single-String Banjo: Using the right hand” earlier in this chapter). Be sure to pay attention to this unique feature of jigs as you work your way through this tune — and don’t forget to listen to the Track 92 on the CD to hear my version.

Tab 8-24: “Winston’s Jig,” composed by me (Track 92).

Combining Three-Finger Techniques

Modern banjo players combine Scruggs, melodic, and single-string techniques to create a wide variety of three-finger soundscapes. Although you can’t find any rules written in stone, Scruggs style is generally used for hard-driving bluegrass songs and for accompanying other musicians, while melodic and single-string banjo techniques launch the instrument into musical fusions blending bluegrass with jazz, classical, and international music styles.

You shift from one technique to another in order to best capture what you want to play at any particular moment. The greater your technical facility on the instrument — something that comes with years of hard work — the more you can express on the banjo. This lifelong journey provides great personal rewards when you reach the point where you can instantly connect mind and fingers to play the music you hear in your head and feel in your heart.

Until you’ve gained a lot of experience in each style on its own, you can’t really put them all together. So if you need a refresher or some more experience on these three-finger techniques before tackling this section, I suggest you take a look at the previous sections of this chapter.

To close out this chapter’s survey of modern three-finger styles, I’d like to present my tune “Meadows of Dan” from the CD Bill Evans Plays Banjo, which is shown in Tab 8-25. (You can hear more about this recording by visiting my homepage at www.nativeandfine.com.)

This advanced-level tune demonstrates how many of the techniques I discuss in this chapter can be blended together and used as inspiration in original tunes. You can find a bit of everything in “Meadows of Dan” — from shifts in time signature to a change of key in the tune’s second half. Although Scruggs rolls predominate in the tune’s first half, the second half uses single-string techniques in the key of E major.

The accompanying CD has a track of me playing the tune slowly (Track 93), followed by the full band track (Track 94) from the Bill Evans Plays Banjo CD. Playing along with me are some of the best musicians in bluegrass music today: John Reischman, mandolin; Missy Raines, bass; Rob Ickes, dobro; Jim Nunally, guitar; and Greg Spatz, fiddle. I hope you enjoy this tune!

Tab 8-25: “Meadows of Dan,” composed by me (Tracks 93 and 94).