James Scott first learned music from his mother who had no formal musical training.  She would play a plethora of folk and African American music based on her own knowledge. It is safe to assume that a lot of Scotts ability to create stylistic and authentic music came from his mother. 

Scott’s private lessons with a black music teacher John Coleman, revealed his perfect pitch and impressive understanding of harmonies.  This allowed him to move along quickly with his studies. His family moved to Carthage, Missouri in 1901 and soon thereafter, Scott’s father bought the family their first upright piano.  After more exposure to the instrument, Scott began to obtain gigs, playing in saloons.  Audience members would describe his posture when playing.  His left leg was usually wrapped around the left leg of the piano bench, stool, or chair.  With this stance, he was able to really feel the music, normally rocking back and forth to the beat of the music he was playing.  Scott was also known for his “flying fingers” because he would scale every inch of the piano whole also fitting as many tones as possible into one single beat.  This is a clear indicator of Scott’s unique style. Prior to this time, piano music was uniformed, stagnant, and lacked rhythmic style.  It was not until ragtime where music started to have its own character with more notes off the beat. Scott took this a step further by creating his own melodies with abrupt phrasing.  His music and stage presence created a specific atmosphere and more of a feeling to his rags.