How to Play Fireball Mail

Building a Break Around the Melody

This lesson path takes you through Fireball Mail in several steps. First we learn the bear bones melody. Second, we learn a simplified break with minimal ornamentation. Third, we'll learn several licks. Last, but not least, we'll learn a break in the style of Earl Scruggs. Get ready for an in depth study of this bluegrass classic!

1

Overview

Learning the Melody

A great banjo solo has a lot of notes. A great banjo player will be able to accent the melody notes amongst the flurry of noise we hear. Bringing the melody to the forefront is a little challenging...
2

Down the Neck

Starting Simple

We've learned the melody. That's the most important part of the song. Focus on accenting melody notes when playing this tune. Listen to the video for an example of that. The tempo is set to 110, bu...
3

A Simple Scruggs Riff

Adding a Little Can Add A Lot!

This lick has the same pick hand pattern from the basic arrangement. It's a substitute for measure 3. The only new thing is the fret hand movement from the 3rd to 2nd fret. It's done as a slide. Ti...
4

Chromatic Walkup

A Powerful Scruggs Lick that Walks to the D Chord.

Chromatic means the notes move one fret at a time. That's what's happening here. This is a simple, but powerful lick. It walks from that open B note right up to the D note. Since we are doing it as...
5

Another Chromatic Walkup

One was Never Gonna Be Enough

This lick walks up to the high melody note that comes in measure 6. The walk-up starts earlier and lasts longer. This makes the tension linger. You can feel the music moving towards a new destinati...
6

Calm Before the Storm

Preparing the Pick Hand for a Tough Lick

This is not the tough lick. This is what your pick hand does during the tough lick. Knowing this can give you the confidence you need to tackle the tough lick. If you know the bulk of the challenge...
7

Hurricane Scruggs

A Whirlwind of a Lick

This is a tough Scruggs lick. This is also a super cool Scruggs lick. Sometimes you just gotta put in the work to play the cool stuff. Lets give this one a shot. Those 3-2 pull offs happen quickly....
8

Scruggs Style

Fireball Mail as Picked by Earl

This arrangement is a transcription of an Earl Scruggs solo. It comes from his "Foggy Mountain Banjo" record. A transcription means we wrote down the notes Earl played, instead of making our own ve...
9

Where to Next

A Few Suggestions

Now that you've been through the ringer with Fireball Mail, here's a few things you may want to check out next.