Tunefox
The Clever Way to Learn & Practice Bluegrass Music
This break is a transcription of Earl's playing from the "Town and Country" album by Flatt and Scruggs in 1965. Take a close look at the banjo tab. It's different than the Scruggs style arrangement, which is based off his playing on the original 1949 single. Earl changed as a player, and he never played songs the exact same way twice. There's a few big differences to note. First, after the 3 note pinch he starts this time with a pinch on the index and middle finger in measure two, instead of beginning with the hammer-on. This makes for a much more pronounced and distinct start rhythmically. He also didn't let off the third fret second string when playing the main riff. The fill lick that comes in between the E minor riffs is also different.
We've included some licks that are more like the original recording. This is to show you that you can play the song wither way. You can mix and match. This is sort of the basis of playing licks within a song. There's always gonna be another way to play something, and it's fun to mix things up once you have a bit of vocabulary under your belt. Dig in and enjoy y'all!
