Bluegrass mandolin is a style of mandolin playing most commonly heard in bluegrass bands.
Bluegrass mandolin is a style of mandolin playing most commonly heard in bluegrass bands.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, mandolin orchestras were popular throughout North America. [1] Large numbers of mandolins were sold, particularly by the Gibson Guitar Company, which manufactured and promoted a new type of flat-backed mandolin. After a time, the mandolin orchestra craze died out, but the mandolins remained. In the southern United States, they began to be used in the performance of traditional mountain folk music. [2]
At the end of the 1930s, a new musical genre which combined Scottish and Irish fiddle tunes, blues and African American banjo with traditional American songs began to develop. Bill Monroe, a Kentucky fiddler and mandolin player, was the first to bring all of the elements of this new genre together. Monroe developed a distinctive style of mandolin playing which emphasized strong syncopation and chording, and played in keys, such as E and B, seldom used by old-time and country musicians. He and his band, the Blue Grass Boys, played at the Grand Ole Opry in late 1939 to popular acclaim, [1] and other bands began to incorporate the new "bluegrass" music into their repertoires. [2] Mandolin players in these bands took elements of Monroe's style and then added their own flavor. [3]
Mandolins come in many shapes and sizes, but most are not suitable for bluegrass playing. Old traditional mandolins with round backs, for example, are difficult to play in a standing position and are almost never used. Some older mandolins have relatively few frets, limiting the mandolin player's use of high notes.
Most bluegrass mandolin players choose one of two styles. Both have flat or nearly flat backs and arched tops. The so-called a-style mandolin has a teardrop-shaped body; the f-style mandolin is more stylized, with a spiraled wooden cone on the upper side and a couple of points on the lower side. There are also two types of sound holes, the classic round or oval hole, and the more modern pair of f-holes similar to those found on a violin. Both the shape of the instrument and the shape of the holes affect the tone of the instrument; the f-style, f-hole mandolins have the brightest, most penetrating sound, while the a-style, round holed mandolins generally have a fuller, sweeter tone. [2]
The mandolin has been a core instrument in bluegrass music from the beginning, along with guitar, fiddle, banjo, upright bass, and sometimes dobro.
In the performance of bluegrass music, each instrument has a specific part to play. The mandolin fills three roles at different times during a tune.
It is common that in bluegrass music, each instrument in the band adds to the rhythm of the tune in its own way. The mandolin with its high toned strings, makes its contribution with a technique called a "chop," also known as chunking. Sharp chords are played on the second and fourth beats of each bar (or the second and third in the case of 3/4 time). These are called the "upbeats" or sometimes "offbeats". By releasing the pressure of the fingers shortly after striking each chord, the chops create a driving, percussive effect. This strong offbeat chop is an important part of the bluegrass sound, originated by Bill Monroe. [2] When the mandolinist is otherwise occupied, the chop is sometimes provided by the banjo or fiddle.
Bluegrass singing typically includes long-held notes and sometimes pauses for extra "turnaround" notes at the end of lyrical lines. The melody instrument players, including the mandolinist, play simple harmonies, countermelodies or soft chopping in behind the singing, and take turns contributing bold improvisations and "licks" during the pauses and turnarounds. [1]
Bluegrass music is characterized by songs with simple, straightforward verses and choruses, interspersed with showy instrumental improvisations called "breaks", provided by the melody instruments, including the mandolin. A good mandolin break may stick fairly closely to the melody of the tune, or it may be almost all improvisation around the chord progression. In most cases the mandolin player will include elements of the melody, complemented by improvisation and chording. Kickoffs (which lead the band into a tune) and endings are similar to breaks, but are usually shorter. [1]
A mandolin is tuned like a fiddle, yet constructed more like a guitar, and mandolin players use elements from both in their playing. However, the mandolin's short, tight strings and "woody" tone have allowed its players to develop playing techniques which are unique to this instrument.
Because of the need for quick deadening of the strings when chopping, most bluegrass mandolinists make heavy use of chord formations without open strings. This allows a strong penetrating rhythm, and the fingering patterns can be extended up the neck of the mandolin. [4] Some musicians, such as Jethro Burns, prefer three-finger chords. These require more right-hand dexterity because at times the fourth string must be avoided, but because of the simpler left hand fingering they allow faster and more complex chord changes and sliding chord techniques during breaks. [3]
Tremolo is a technique which is used by mandolin players in many genres. Up-and-down strokes on a single note are played so rapidly that the note has no time to die away. [1] In bluegrass music the tremolo notes are often short and intense, but can be gentle and sweet in the occasional slow-paced tune.
Cross picking is a flat picking technique which allows the mandolin to emulate the syncopation of the banjo roll or the fiddle shuffle bowing. It creates a cheery, toe-tapping effect. [1]
Much of the bluesy feel of bluegrass instrumentals comes from the creative use of slide and hammer-on techniques and the use of notes from the blues scale.
Bluegrass mandolin players over time build up a repertoire of pre-practised passages called "licks" which can be inserted into breaks or turnarounds at appropriate moments during a performance. Many bluegrass tunes are played at a rapid pace, and while a lot of improvisation goes on, including these "fancy bits" make the resulting music more impressive and exciting.
Bluegrass shows its traditional roots most clearly during the instrumental pieces. Many of the traditional bluegrass instrumentals started out as Scottish or Irish fiddle and pipe reels. Others were created to highlight the special syncopated sound of the banjo. During a jam or performance, the melody is passed from instrument to instrument, with the other instruments playing backup roles. Since few of these tunes were originally created with the mandolin in mind, and the mandolin player must be creative in improvising around the tune. For this reason, it is rare to hear two mandolin players play a tune in exactly the same way.
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashioned by African Americans in the United States. The banjo is frequently associated with folk and country music, and has also been used in some rock, pop and hip-hop. Several rock bands, such as the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, and The Allman Brothers, have used the five-string banjo in some of their songs. Historically, the banjo occupied a central place in Black American traditional music and the folk culture of rural whites before entering the mainstream via the minstrel shows of the 19th century. Along with the fiddle, the banjo is a mainstay of American styles of music, such as Bluegrass and old-time music. It is also very frequently used in traditional ("trad") jazz. Banjo is also a common instrument for Caribbean genres like Biguine, Calypso and Mento.
A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a plectrum. It most commonly has four courses of doubled metal strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 strings, although five and six course versions also exist. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin. Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass.
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section ; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the United States Appalachian region. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Unlike mainstream country music, bluegrass is traditionally played on acoustic stringed instruments. Bluegrass has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes and in traditional African-American blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as: "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."
Scruggs style is the most common style of playing the banjo in bluegrass music. It is a fingerpicking method, also known as three-finger style. It is named after Earl Scruggs, whose innovative approach and technical mastery of the instrument have influenced generations of bluegrass banjoists ever since he was first recorded in 1946. It contrasts with earlier styles such as minstrel, classic or parlor style, clawhammer/frailing/two-finger style, jazz styles played with a plectrum, and more modern styles such as Keith/melodic/chromatic/arpa style, and single-string/Reno style. The influence of Scruggs is so pervasive that even bluegrass players such as Bill Keith and Don Reno, who are credited with developing these latter styles, typically work out of the Scruggs style much of the time.
The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in unison. Overall tuning of the courses is in fifths like a mandolin, but beginning on bass C (C2). It can be described as being to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.
Christopher Scott Thile is an American mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive bluegrass quintet Punch Brothers. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. In October 2016, he became the host of the radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion, which in December 2017 was renamed Live from Here.
Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys were an American bluegrass band. The band was founded by guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs and is viewed by music historians as one of the premier bluegrass groups in the history of the genre. The band was originally formed in 1948 by Flatt, who had been a member of Bill Monroe's bluegrass band. Flatt brought Scruggs with him shortly after leaving Monroe.
Czech Bluegrass is Czech interpretations of bluegrass music that emerged during the middle of the twentieth century in the southeastern United States.
The Keith style of playing the 5-string banjo emphasizes the melody of the song. Also known as the "Melodic" or "Chromatic style", it was first developed and popularized independently by Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith in the early 1960s. It is used primarily by bluegrass banjoists, though it can be applied to virtually any genre. Most banjoists who play Keith style do not use it exclusively, but integrate it as one aspect of their playing, a way of adding spice to the more common 3-finger style of Earl Scruggs.
Kenneth Charles "Jethro" Burns was an American mandolinist and one-half of the comedy duo Homer and Jethro with Henry D. "Homer" Haynes.
Flatpicking is the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick held between the thumb and one or two fingers. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar, which is playing with individual fingers, with or without wearing fingerpicks. While the use of a plectrum is common in many musical traditions, the exact term "flatpicking" is most commonly associated with Appalachian music of the American southeastern highlands, especially bluegrass music, where string bands often feature musicians playing a variety of styles, both fingerpicking and flatpicking. Musicians who use a flat pick in other genres such as rock and jazz are not commonly described as flatpickers or even plectrum guitarists. As the use of a pick in those traditions is commonplace, generally only guitarists who play without a pick are noted by the term "fingerpicking" or "fingerstyle".
Traditional bluegrass, as the name implies, emphasizes the traditional elements of bluegrass music, and stands in contrast to progressive bluegrass. 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 and his Blue Grass Boys 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.
Stuart Duncan is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo.
In bluegrass music, a banjo roll or roll is a pattern played by the banjo that uses a repeating eighth-note arpeggio – a broken chord – that by subdividing the beat 'keeps time'. "Each ["standard"] roll pattern is a right hand fingering pattern, consisting of eight (eighth) notes, which can be played while holding any chord position with the left hand."
In music, a chop chord is a "clipped backbeat". In 4
4: 1 2 3 4. It is a muted chord that marks the off-beats or upbeats. As a rhythm guitar and mandolin technique, it is accomplished through chucking, in which the chord is muted by lifting the fretting fingers immediately after strumming, producing a percussive effect.
The chop is analogous to a snare drum beat and keeps the rhythm together and moving. It's one of the innovations bluegrass inventor Bill Monroe pioneered, and it gave the music a harder groove and separated it from old-time and mountain music.
Billy Contreras is an American jazz violinist and bluegrass fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, session player and educator.
The mandolin has had a place in North American culture since the 1880s, when a "mandolin craze" began. The continent was a land of immigrants, including Italian immigrants, some of whom brought their mandolins with them. In spite of the mandolin having arrived in America, it was not in the cultural consciousness until after 1880 when the Spanish Students arrived on their international performing tour. Afterwards, a "mandolin craze" swept the United States, with large numbers of young people taking up the instrument and teachers such as Samuel Siegel touring the United States. The fad died out after World War I, but enough had learned the instrument that it remained. The mandolin found a new surge with the music of Bill Monroe; the Gibson F-5 mandolin he played, as well as other archtop instruments, became the American standard for mandolins. Bowlback mandolins were displaced. The instrument has been taken up in blues, bluegrass, jug-band music, country, rock, punk and other genres of music. While not as popular as the guitar, it is widespread across the country.
Following its invention and development in Italy the mandolin spread throughout the European continent. The instrument was primarily used in a classical tradition with mandolin orchestras, so called Estudiantinas or in Germany Zupforchestern, appearing in many cities. Following this continental popularity of the mandolin family, local traditions appeared outside Europe in the Americas and in Japan. Travelling mandolin virtuosi like Carlo Curti, Giuseppe Pettine, Raffaele Calace and Silvio Ranieri contributed to the mandolin becoming a "fad" instrument in the early 20th century. This "mandolin craze" was fading by the 1930s, but just as this practice was falling into disuse, the mandolin found a new niche in American country, old-time music, bluegrass and folk music. More recently, the Baroque and Classical mandolin repertory and styles have benefited from the raised awareness of and interest in Early music.
That something is 35-year-old Chris Thile, a multiple Grammy-winning mandolin prodigy and leader of the insanely talented Punch Brothers, whom Keillor has anointed as his successor.
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