Thanks a ton, John. You broke this lick down so well. Very much appreciated.

John, thank you so much. This is perfect. Thanks!

Thanks John. I was struggling with this for the last few days, but your video really helped sort it out for me. First time I've come across your work. I'll certainly be checking you out a lot more now. Best wishes

That's the lick I always wondered about, thanks!

Hey John Great explanation of this lick. Thanks a lot. I hope you decide to explain a few other licks in the future. I could learn a lot from you. Thanks.

this was a big help, John! quite a few lessons don't include this lick at all.

I've always had a problem with that lick. I like your method much better. Thanks John!

At last, my nemesis lick, it makes sense at last, spot on.! Glad I found you.!

Thank you sir. I struggled for a long time on this part and it became a bad habit, I learned it your way. This easy and fun now. Cheers to you.

Can't wait to show this lick off..Thanks John..

Sounding great...that banjo rings like a bell man!!!!

Great music keep on keeping on

I love the way it sounds with the continuous string of pull-offs, but I'm pretty confident that most people, including Earl, alternated between the fretted Bb (technically a C because of the capo) and the pull off. Further, I think you will find that in the first half of the measure it is the Bb (C) that is used, and then the second half of the measure has the pull off. Clearly, the rule of thumb here is that there is no rule, just so long as you let the thumb rule.

"Pulling off every time" is what I used to do before I listened closely to what Earl, JD, Sonny, Big K, Porter Church, Walt Hensley, Eric Ellis, and other great players do. I'm still trying. I think John demonstrates the "right" lick at one point, but prefers to "pull off every time" -- which of course can be done at lightning-fast speed but isn't "the sound."

Extremely instructive, John, thank you - now comes the hard part: I could do it in slow motion right away, but getting up to speed will take time - it still feels like driving a Porsche at 20 mph...

After years and years I can do it ... thanks John

Thank you so much Sir. Travis in KY.

Hi John. Thanks again for the video as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am though struggling with Earls walk down as he does this during the fiddle player's third break in the song. Not sure how he does it and if you could do a video on that it would be great, another example is there's another youtube video of Porter Church playing this same song and he does it as well and his run is even longer. Thanks.

Good Stuff, Buddy!

Great lick.

You are the man!

Thanx for your response,like for your answer you played with a lot of the "GREATS" .look who's being all Humble,lol what drove you to playing the Banjo,yes we all know the Banjo picks you not the other way around,a tleast that's the way it feels,LOVE St. Augustine,Florida been there

Nice to find you even though I'm still only really just departing from novice, if that. If I can get one of those Star Trek devices that slows down everyone else's time and speeds mine up (TOS, "Wink of an Eye") then I'd be golden. But it's really encouraging because anything I master very slowly does naturally grow in speed. I just have to resist the temptation to speed up only on what I easily can, because then all I learn to do is consistently fumble the more difficult parts. I need to just stick to how slowly any section of a song needs to be played by me, with the metronome set there, and play the whole section as slowly as need be to play it cleanly in its entirety repeatedly.... and grow. I seem to stagnate otherwise, making the same mistakes until I slow back down. Metronome = good thing for me, still. Subscribed -- thanks for being around. You know, it's hard not to kind of idolize someone like Scruggs because of the "all original old school" factor (esp. someone that seemed such a nice guy as he did) but after I very unexpectedly got walloped by a very unexpected change of outlook regarding the existence of God & afterlife being real after all, I kind of changed my outlook a little about meeting central celebrities... (esp. after going to a bit too much trouble either trying to meet them or cherish an "artifact" signed or owned) I think it would be super-swell & even better to just shake a paw one day with people who have truly helped me learn to play, directly. I know it would have been something to remember and mention, but I think you're going to have the most important moments covered. Plus being someone who propagates playing like you was said outright to mean a lot to Scruggs, anyway, and so he's probably appreciating you right now more than he would have just for meeting or even playing together for a moment in time. And I stumbled across some pretty awesome evidence you'll meet him later anyway :)

PS -- Revision: On 2 KZfaq clips I checked, neither Big K nor Porter play the lick as Earl does (or Eric Ellis does so well on a KZfaq clip). There is a brief clip where Richard Dress slowly demonstrates the way Earl played it (although up to speed the articulation is hard to hear). One difference is that Earl bends the G string slightly, giving the lick a bluesy feel.

Just found your videos great job how long does it take to get ones speed up ? also have you heard the version on Flatt and Scruggs tv show dvd vol 9 there’s a cool lick he throws in before and after the single note run it’s a cool lick it’s not hard but I can’t figure it out I don’t see the Video on u tube I have the dvd thank you for your time

thanks a lot, that was helpful!

You just answered a question I've had for a long time, but just couldn't figure out how to ask it. I just subscribed, and awesome Foggy Mountain Breakdown by the way!

luv yr stufson!!!

Good show Big John.....that is one tough lick for me to do! But I think I have a better shot after watching you!

PPS: At 0:38 on Jim Britton's KZfaq demonstration, he plays "the lick" very clearly.

please do sally goodin slow to show right hand and how its done i cannot get it for anything thank you

You make it look so easy! Are your fingers on steroids? LOL LOL

good video!

Who is John Apfelther ? this Guy is FAST and dead on ,but why haven't we seen Him in a Larger Venue is He professional ,play with a Band? Tried to look Him up on Wikipedia to no avail

What year is that banjo? Is it all stock?

Yikes...that banjo sounds tight, loosen the banjo head? :)

Search: How to fix banjo shaped hole in drywall.