Traditional bluegrass, as the name implies, emphasizes the traditional elements of bluegrass music, and stands in contrast to

progressive bluegrass Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it lar ...

. Traditional bluegrass musicians play folk songs, tunes with simple traditional chord progressions, and on acoustic instruments of a type that were played by bluegrass pioneer

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

and his

Blue Grass Boys William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

band in the late 1940s. Traditional bands may use their instruments in slightly different ways, for example by using multiple guitars or fiddles in a band. In some traditional bluegrass bands, the guitar rarely takes the lead, instead acting as a rhythm instrument, one notable exception being gospel-based songs. Melodies and lyrics tend to be simple, sometimes in the key of G or other keys, and a I-IV-V chord pattern is common. Although traditional bluegrass performers do not use electrically amplified instruments, as used in other forms of popular music, it is common practice to "

mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...

" acoustic instruments during stage performances before larger audiences. Bill Monroe's mandolin playing style and Kenny Baker's fiddling set the standard for traditional bluegrass musicians on those instruments. Earl Scruggs is recognized as the developer of bluegrass three finger style banjo playing.Trischka, Tony, "The Mainstream", in ''Banjo Song Book'', Oak Publications, 1977 There are ideological divisions even among traditional bluegrass bands. These divisions center on the longstanding debate about what constitutes "Bluegrass Music". A few traditional bluegrass musicians do not consider progressive bluegrass to truly be "bluegrass", some going so far as to suggest bluegrass must be styled directly after Bill Monroe's bands. However, stylistic divergences in traditional bluegrass generally center on which first generation bands from which contemporary musicians have drawn inspiration. Examples include bands who sing in the

Stanley Brothers The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo of singer-songwriters and musicians, made up of brothers Carter Stanley (August 27, 1925 – December 1, 1966) and Ralph Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016). Ralph and Carter perfo ...

tradition: Roy Lee Centers, Larry Sparks, Sammy Adkins, The Fields Bros, The Wilson Brothers, The Gillis Brothers and various local bands across the country. Other bands followed Lester Flatt, such as Willis Spears, Curley Seckler and Karl Shifflett. Mac Wiseman's "crooning" style of Bluegrass engendered Hylo Brown and Sid Campbell. The

Osborne Brothers The Osborne Brothers, Sonny (October 29, 1937 – October 24, 2021) and Bobby (born December 7, 1931), were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s and until Sonny retired in 2005. They are probably best known for ...

have followers in Larry Stephenson as well as the Grascals. Frank Necessary, Blue Maggie and Hud Hadley were strongly influenced by Jimmy Martin.

References

Bluegrass music {{Music-genre-stub

See also

References