How to Play Foggy Mountain Special

4 Different Breaks in the Style of Earl Scruggs

Learn Foggy Mountain Special the way Earl played it. This learning path will take you through 4 different breaks as played by Earl Scruggs. Each break has a unique lick or technique that you can add to your musical vocabulary. Video examples, walk-throughs, and exercises to nail the techniques will get you as close as possible to playing this Scruggs Style. You’ll also learn a couple cool techniques such as ghost notes, syncopation, bends, and the proper finger positions for this tune.

1

Overview

What's In Store

Foggy Mountain special is a classic Scruggs tune. It's different than most of his instrumentals. This is a fun and bouncy tune. It's not about lightning fast rolls and riffs. It has a distinct swin...
2

Foggy Mountain Special: A Primer

This exercise will introduce double thumb, double index, and bending at the 11th fret

Swing. It's what makes this tune "bouncy" and fun. Big band was huge when Earl was a kid, and very likely was an influence for writing this tune. Listen to the video example to hear the swing feel ...
3

Ghost Notes

A Subtle, but Very Cool Technique

A ghost note is almost like a chop or a vamp. The note is so short, it has more of a rhythmic effect. Almost at the moment it is picked, the fret hand releases pressure. Even though pressure is rel...
4

First Half of the First Break

Here We Go!

Even though this is not a fast tune, there are still some significant challenges for us to overcome. This tune uses a lot of double thumb, and requires us to shift positions very quickly. Take adva...
5

Second Half of the First Break

Here We Go, Again!

There's a few new things here, but most of it is the same as the first break. The most noticeably different thing is that slide up to the 17th fret, in measure 4. How fun is that!? We have a big po...
6

Getting Funky

An Exercise in Syncopation

If you weren't feeling the groove yet, this should get your toe tapping. This exercise will help you nail the syncopation Earl kicks off his second break with. Listen to the Tunefox tab, and video ...
7

The Second Break

Syncopation City

Here, we're putting the syncopation exercise to work. What a start to a break, right? Talk about an attention grabber. In measure two, the timing remains the same, but we are sliding up one fret ea...
8

The Third Break

The Bendy City

This third break has a lot of variation, but much of it we have seen before - just not in this order. There's an extra measure and a half at the start. The break technically starts at measure 3. Th...
9

The Last Break

A New Lick and Cool Ending

This break starts off with nothing new. Then, in measure 3, we get a cool new lick! It's the same timing as our other syncopated lick, but on different strings, and with a different sound and feel....
10

Where to Next

Some Fresh Ideas

If you've gotten all the way through this, then pat yourself on the back. Foggy Mountain Special might be slow, but it's not easy. Here's some ideas for things to check out next. Foggy Mountain is ...

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