Flatt & Scruggs Fingerpicking Country Guitar Course

Ever since Earl Scruggs stepped on stage with Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys in December of 1945, banjo players have been interested in learning how to play the five-string banjo like Earl.  Early banjo players slowed down recordings and went to watch Earl play in order to figure out how he was executing those lightning-fast three-finger rolls.  Those players who were able to figure it out started teaching others.  Then books and magazine articles started to appear with banjo tablature of Earl’s solos, and then videos started to hit the market that showed students how to play like Earl.  Now, with the internet and YouTube, anyone who wants to learn to play the banjo like Earl has vast resources.

But!… Earl was not just a banjo master.  Earl was a phenomenal guitar player and anyone who has listened to Flatt & Scruggs’ music, especially the gospel numbers, knows that Earl’s fingerpicking guitar style was every bit as engaging as his banjo playing.  However, for those who want to learn how to play guitar like Earl, there hasn’t really been much in the way of instructional material available to show you how to do it.  Recently, Tom Feldman of playcountryblues.com has done his best to make up for the lack of instructional material pertaining to Earl’s guitar work.  

Tom has transcribed Earl’s guitar solos for eight popular Flatt & Scruggs gospel tunes and has made them available at playcountryblues.com.  The tunes include “Are You Washed In The Blood,” “I’m Going to Make Heaven By Home,” “You Can Feel It In Your Soul,” “I’ll Be Going To Heaven Sometime,” “God Love His Children,” “Who Will Sing For Me,” “I’m Working On A Road,” and “So Happy I’ll Be.”

For each song, Tom provides three streaming videos.  The first is an up-to-tempo performance of the tune.  The second is an explanation of the technique and a step-by-step demonstration of the tune, with a split-screen display.  The third video provides a split-screen slow-tempo performance of the tune.  Additionally, for each tune, Tom provides a downloadable PDF with the guitar tablature of the complete tune.

In the explanation video, Tom clearly explains the left-hand positions and chord shapes, and the split-screen video display allows the viewer to see his right-hand picking patterns.  The lyrics to the tune are also provided on the PDF.  Everything that you will need to start picking the guitar like Earl Scruggs is available here.  With these videos and guitar tabs, and a bit of hard work, you can be on your way to playing the guitar like Earl.  Highly recommended!