Rags And Tatters (1900)..Edward Clark Jnr.

[Steve Harrison]

This is an early march/two-step which may be worth a try for those who haven't tried much rag time.

It uses G tuning and some of my suggested fingering leans towards melodic style. It's the only published work by Clark and little is known of him, perhaps Clark was a pseudonym for someone more well known? The score and midi are in the library...Steve.

[3iv8pyyhxxoiv]

Jody....I would agree 100% with your analysis above, but (to my ear), the distinctive subtlety that Scruggs added was the use of the banjo's unique short 5th string, mainly as a drone note (so that it becomes a sort of "background continuum device") and often cannot (without difficulty) be picked out by the listener ....particularly in rapid passages. ( In Classic Banjo, the 5th is nearly always there as a melody note, or a note of convenience to facilitate fingerboard  gymnastics).   Also (and very cleverly), Scruggs would utilise this drone property to add syncopation in such an attractive way to many of his breaks.  To further fascinate the listener, he could sometimes also revert to using the 5th string as a true melody note.  The amalgamation and thought-out mixing up of all these techniques played at high volume and often high speed on a steel-strung resonator banjo using fingerpicks set Scruggs apart from all who had gone before.

I certainly also agree that elements of the Scruggs, Keith and Thompson styles can be found in Joe Morley's banjo compositions.  You mentioned "A Banjo Revel " as a good example.  Another example is found in the penultimate 3 bars of "Thumbs Up".  Here, Joe uses the 5th string as a melody note initially, then as a drone note as per Earl, and then back to a melody note, and forward and half-backward rolls are incorporated......and all this (I would guess) in the 1920's....

I've often wondered how Fred Van Eps would have got on if he had deputised for Earl in Bill Monroe's band in 1945..........rather well I should imagine!

[Jody Stecher]

John, your description of the use of the fifth string in the banjo playing of Earl Scruggs is spot on. But this is not something that set him apart from all who had gone before. In his milieu of old-time/ country/ hillbilly/folk/pre-bluegrass music *all* the banjo players used the fifth string in this way, no matter what techniques of down or up picking they used to achieve it. Certainly he did it extraordinarily well but he did not invent or pioneer this.