Hot Earl Scruggs Up-the-Neck Backup Licks, Part 2: “Salty Dog Blues” Lick

This lesson is part of the course Bluegrass Banjo with Bill Evans.

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Learn to make your banjo drive the band or play sweet melodies, with solos to well-known songs and tunes, backup techniques, and more.

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Blue Ridge Cabin Home

In this lesson, you’ll start adding roll patterns to the melody of “Blue Ridge Cabin Home.” Every melody has a rhythm and when Earl Scruggs was working out his breaks, he tried to keep the melody’s rhythm intact as he added the roll patterns, letting the melody dictate what kind of roll to use. Bill shows you some ideas for choosing rolls. For example, if you have a melody note that’s held out for a long time you can try a forward roll, and when the melody notes are closer together you can try an alternating thumb roll or a forward reverse roll. Bill walks you through an entire solo here, with embellishments and fill-in licks.

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Hot Earl Scruggs Up-the-Neck Backup Licks

Hot Earl Scruggs Up-the-Neck Backup Licks, Part 1: “Six White Horses” Lick

Hot Earl Scruggs Up-the-Neck Backup Licks, Part 2: “Salty Dog Blues” Lick

The second Earl Scruggs backup lick you’ll learn is called the “Salty Dog Blues” lick, because, yes, you guessed it, Earl played it on the classic Flatt and Scruggs recording of “Salty Dog Blues” (on Live at Carnegie Hall). Bill shows you how Earl played that lick on “Salty Dog Blues” as well as some variations on the lick he played on “Your Love Is Like a Flower,” “Blue Ridge Cabin Home,” and other uptempo songs.

Hot Scruggs Up-the-Neck Backup Licks (Available to subscribers)

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Fiddle Tune Backup: “Sally Goodin” →

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← Hot Earl Scruggs Up-the-Neck Backup Licks, Part 1: “Six White Horses” Lick

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Fiddle Tune Backup: “Sally Goodin” →

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← Hot Earl Scruggs Up-the-Neck Backup Licks, Part 1: “Six White Horses” Lick

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