In this video you learn the final piece of Cripple Creek. Put this together with what you already learnt in the first two videos and you can play the whole tune! The High Part involves playing the 5th string for melody and playing a little bit of the Forward Roll (right hand) with a C chord (left hand) to get a really catchy riff. You also play a half speed melody for the first time.

In fact you only need to learn one new piece of music, because you follow that with the Low Melody again just like in the chorus. The new part you learn on this page is only 11 notes! Further down the page you will get help putting all the pieces together.

Timing

It’s important to understand the timing of this section. Most of the playing is at half speed and it’s important to be patient and allow enough time for every note so you are playing at exactly half the speed of the chorus. There are just five notes at full speed, but the fingering is different to anything you’ve learnt already so take care to get it right.

Scruggs Style Pinches

In Scruggs style we nearly always play a pinch at the end of every line, and especially at the end of a verse or chorus. Throughout the Low Melody and Roll sections in the chorus, the Pinch you played was always on the open 1st and 5th strings, played together at the same time by the Middle finger and Thumb of the right hand. In order to play the High Part you’re going to have to modify that Pinch by fretting the 1st string with the left hand on the 2nd fret.

After playing the modified Pinch, you go into a half speed melody section which is played entirely on open strings, so you don’t need to do anything with the left hand. You just need to concentrate on picking the correct strings with the right hand.

The strings you need to fingerpick at half speed are:

• 5th string Thumb
• 5th string Thumb
• 1st string Middle
• 2nd string Index

Directly after playing this section you will fret a C chord with two fingers of the left hand at the same time, and play a Forward Roll starting on the 5th string picked, as always, by the right hand Thumb.

The Forward Roll goes like this:

• 5th string Thumb
• 2nd string Index (fretted string)
• 1st string Middle (fretted string)
• 5th string Thumb
• 1st string Middle (open string)

After this burst of five notes at full speed you leave a 16th note gap, then play a Pinch. The Pinch this time is open.

That’s all there is to learn! Now you just have to play the Low Melody you already learnt in part 1, only remembering to fret the final Pinch with the left hand on the 1st string 2nd fret if you want to play the High Part again.

Get tablature for the complete beginners version of Cripple Creek in Scruggs (Bluegrass) style.

Practice makes Perfect

It’s worth playing the High Part followed by the Low Melody around four or even eight times to get confident with it. To do that you will have to play the fretted pinch with the left hand at the end of every time round, this gets you back into the high part.

Once you can play the High Part – Low Melody – High Part – Low Melody then it’s time to put that together with the Chorus and play the whole song!

The business of choosing which pieces of music to play, how many times to play each piece, and in what order, is called arrangement.

Arrangement

Putting the pieces together

When you are practicing and learning, you can play whatever arrangement you like. The easiest way to practice Cripple Creek is to just play the Verse twice and the Chorus twice. The Verse starts with the High Part and the Chorus starts with the Square Roll. Both musical sections end with the Low Melody, which you play every time.

Both the Youtube videos and the playalong video feature an introduction. This is very simple, it’s just half of the Chorus, so you play Roll – Low Melody only once then go to the High Part. Don’t forget to fret the Pinch at the end of the Low Melody!

The full arrangement of Cripple Creek goes like this:

• Roll – Low Melody (Introduction)
• High Part – Low Melody (Verse)
• High Part – Low Melody
• Roll – Low Melody (Chorus)
• Roll – Low Melody
• High Part – Low Melody (Verse)
• High Part – Low Melody
• Roll – Low Melody (Chorus)
• Roll – Low Melody

And so on, as many times round as you like. (You can learn the ending in the Banjo Academy).

Banjo Rolls

The difference between playing fast and slow

A banjo roll is a method of playing a lot of fast notes (16th notes or semi-quavers) with ease. By picking every consecutive note with a different finger it’s possible to play fast.

You’ve already learnt to play a banjo roll in the first two videos – the entire Roll and Low Melody sections you play a Double Thumbing Roll all the way through. The exception is the Pinch at the end, where you leave a gap. The gap represents one note missing from the roll.

Not a banjo roll

playing at half speed

In the video on this page you play four or five notes that are not a banjo roll. These notes are played at half speed (8th notes or quavers). Because you have exactly twice as much time to play each note, there’s no need to pick each consecutive note with a different right hand finger. In fact you can see at the top of the page the half speed notes you fingerpick are with the Thumb – Thumb – Middle – Index. You pick two consecutive notes with the Thumb. This is possible to do at half speed (8th notes/quavers) but not when you’re playing a roll (16th notes/semi-quavers).

It’s like the difference between running on two legs and hopping on one leg over and over.

Next Steps

Play along with the backing track performed by Joff and his friends. The song is played at a comfortable speed of 72bpm which is attainable for most beginners with practice. Joff’s assisstant Ticketty Boo holds up cue cards throughout so you know where you are.

Learn more songs and skills on banjo.

The High Part of Cripple Creek features a short Forward Roll of just five notes, this is called the Snuffy Roll in honour of Snuffy Jenkins, who was one of Earl Scruggs’ mentors. Forward Roll is one of the most important things you can learn on the five string banjo if you want to play Bluegrass. However, it can be challenging for beginners, especially those with no previous musical experience.

To make the learning journey easier, the Banjo Academy uses this simple Snuffy Roll with only five notes that you’ve already learnt on this page, and shows you how to adapt the technique to meet many different musical needs. For example you can start and end the roll on a different string; and by using different left hand fingerings as well, you can play a lot of different song lines using this same roll in different ways.

This will help you develop confidence quickly, and also help you to develop a musical ear. It’s amazing, but true, that thousands of famous songs can be played with just the same four simple left hand positions you can experience throughout the free part of this website.

With the Snuffy Roll you will play – Man of Constant Sorrow – I’ll Fly Away, as well as Cripple Creek High Part which you learn on this page.

The Banjo Academy also teaches five songs using Thumb Lead style which is featured in Cripple Creek parts 1 and 2.

In the Banjo Academy the emphasis is on keeping it simple! By using just a few basic skills which you’ve already learnt, the focus is on adapting these skills to play many different songs, and having fun playing songs on the banjo!