Chords for Earl Scruggs - Bluegrass Banjo Legend from NC

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_ _ Even if you don't know his name, you've probably heard his banjo.
He recorded one of the most famous [D] instrumentals ever to feature the banjo.
Even if you don't happen to know that tune, any banjo playing you have heard was likely
influenced by Earl Scruggs.
He was [E] born in 1924 in the Flint Hill farming community about 10 [F] miles west of Shelby, North [D] Carolina.
He was the youngest of five children.
His father George, a farmer and [F] bookkeeper, passed away when Earl was [D] only four years
old, leaving his wife Lula to care for the farm and children.
Everyone in the family played music.
Although Earl had no memories of his father, George had also played banjo, using the frailing
or claw hammer technique common at the time.
[Gb] When Earl was six years old, the family [A] visited an uncle who [Gbm] was hosting the blind banjo player Mack Woolbright.
[Gb] Earl recalled sitting on the porch listening to [A] Woolbright play, and he became transfixed.
After that, young Earl played as much as he could.
[Fm] At first he was too little for the instrument, so he'd have to lay it down or play it sideways.
He tried all kinds of positions [G] in order to reach different parts of the [D] neck.
In his late teens, Earl Scruggs played with several semi-professional bands [G] and made some
local radio appearances.
He was working at [Bb] a lily thread mill in nearby Shelby, but [Gb] it wasn't until he was in Nashville
in 1945 that he [Eb] caught his big break from established artist Bill Monroe.
[C] _ _ _
[F] Monroe already had a [C] successful career going, and with his [Eb] band, the Bluegrass Boys, [C] he
had already played the Grand Ole Opry stage in Tennessee.
_ _ [Gm] _ [F] _
[C] Monroe was so successful, in fact, that bluegrass music got [D] its name from his band, and it was
this band that Earl Scruggs [C] auditioned for at the Tulane Hotel in Nashville when he was
just 21 [F] years old.
Bill Monroe later said he had never heard anything like Scruggs [Db] playing.
Banjo players up until then were sort of comedians in their groups, and the claw hammer playing
style wasn't very loud and often couldn't be heard.
The three-finger picking style that Earl Scruggs used was loud and [D] bright.
The frailing or claw hammer style uses curved fingers, generally in fixed positions like
a claw, to strum the strings.
[A] The three-finger style uses thumb, index, and middle finger, often with picks on each
digit, to pick out the individual strings in rapid succession.
It's important to say, Earl Scruggs didn't invent the three-finger picking style.
Earl [F] himself said many [E] players from his part of North Carolina [A] used the style.
But according to bluegrass musicians everywhere, no one would be talking about the three-finger
style if it [A] hadn't been for Earl Scruggs.
[Gm] _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [G] _ Whereas claw hammer tended to make the banjo a rhythm instrument, mainly for strumming,
the three-finger picking style brought the instrument front and center, [F] making it [C] ideal
for impressive solos.
[G] And Earl Scruggs just happened [D] to be a virtuoso.
[G] _ _ With Monroe, who came to be considered the father of [C] bluegrass, Earl [G] Scruggs was now
a lead player.
The [D] Bluegrass Boys toured extensively, and it wasn't long before the intense touring
schedule made some members want to leave.
Earl decided to quit the band, [C] but he was joined by fellow band [G] member Lester Flatt.
[D] Flatt was a singer and guitarist who had [G] joined the Bluegrass Boys prior to Scruggs.
The two hit it off, and after they quit Monroe's band, they decided [C] to perform together.
The [G] duo of Flatt [D] and Scruggs formed the Foggy [G] Mountain Boys, named after a Carter family tune.
In the spring of [E] 1949, Flatt and Scruggs recorded a tune [G] that would become one of the most played,
[D] most familiar tunes in [G] all of bluegrass, the Foggy Mountain [Ab] Breakdown. _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Ab] _ _ This [F] record, an instrumental written by Scruggs, [Fm] showcased his extraordinary playing, and also
[Eb] cemented the name Earl Scruggs [Fm] as one of the greatest bluegrass [Ab] musicians of all time.
The three-finger picking style, incidentally, is now commonly referred to as Scruggs style.
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [G] But _ _ _ beyond being a master of his instrument and popularizing a style of picking, Earl
Scruggs was a true musical innovator. _ _ _ _ _
[D] He [G] developed the use of tuning pegs during solos for a unique effect.
[C] This can be heard in several of his recordings.
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] The music [F] of Flatt and Scruggs popularized bluegrass music across the [Ebm] South.
They flooded the airwaves with radio station appearances, and in the [Fm] early 1950s even had
their own television show.
[Ab] They were featured on the Grand Ole Opry radio [F] program, and they recorded a [Gb] live album at [F] Carnegie Hall.
And by the late 1950s, when it seemed rock and roll was poised to take over TV and radio,
Flatt and Scruggs managed to remain [Ab] relevant and popular even [B] when other country and bluegrass acts struggled. _ _
[E] _ _ _ [A] _ _ [Gb] When CBS launched The Beverly Hillbillies [A] in 1962, the theme song, written by Flatt
and Scruggs, became a pop phenomenon.
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _
It [E] remains today as one of the most famous [A] TV theme songs ever. _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ In 1967, the Warren Beatty-Faye [F] Dunaway hit film Bonnie and Clyde famously [C] used Foggy
Mountain Breakdown in a getaway scene.
This use [Ab] of hillbilly music for a car chase would be endlessly copied in movies and TV
for decades, [Ab] but more importantly, it gained international [F] attention, and it earned Flatt
and Scruggs a Grammy [Eb] Award.
[D] For all their success, Flatt and Scruggs couldn't stay together forever.
Columbia Records wanted them to play more contemporary songs, even Bob Dylan, and Flatt
didn't like that material.
[Em] Scruggs, on the other hand, was tiring [Gb] of traditional bluegrass, and now that his sons
[Db] were professional musicians themselves, he wanted [D] to explore new forms of music.
In [A] 1969, the duo split.
Scruggs and his [D] sons formed the Earl Scruggs Review.
[G] One of their first performances was at an open-air [C] stage in Washington, D.C. at the
moratorium to [G] end the war in Vietnam.
Earl Scruggs was [Am] one of the only bluegrass musicians to support the anti-war [G] movement. _ _ _
_ [Am] _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[Am] And while diehard [C] bluegrass fans never really embraced the [G] new material, many in the folk
music movement did, [Am] including big names like [C] Arlo Guthrie and James Taylor, [G] who would perform with Scruggs.
The Earl Scruggs Review would [Am] even play concerts with rock [C] groups like The Byrds and Steppenwolf.
[G] _ _ _
_ [Am] _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [A] Throughout his career, one description of Earl Scruggs seemed universal.
He was easy to get along with.
His kindness and gentility were a hallmark, and he was always gracious on and off stage,
according to those [Gb] who knew him.
And even though he and Lester [F] Flatt didn't speak to each other for ten years after the
breakup of the [Gb] Foggy Mountain Boys, Earl visited Lester in the hospital just before his death.
Earl [Dm] spoke of a reunion, and Flatt, touched, said yes.
They never got that opportunity, however.
Lester Flatt died in [Eb] 1979.
[G] _ Earl Scruggs [Em] remains a giant [E] of bluegrass and of music in general.
[G] The town of Shelby has taken on its legacy today, and in our next [E] video we'll look at
how this banjo legend has been [G] remembered and honored.
Thanks for [E] watching.
_ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [E] _ _