Article: The queen mother bluegrass lick. (guitar lesson)(Sessions; includes musical notation examples)

BACK IN THE '30S, WHEN BILL MONROE FUSED TRAditional mountain music with blues and called it bluegrass, each instrument had defined roles. You simply had to play certain things or it wasn't bluegrass. For guitarists, this meant the G run, which tags most bluegrass phrases and is still the Queen Mother of all flat-top bluegrass licks.

Ex. 1 shows the "Flatt" run, quite possibly the original G run named for Lester Flatt. He and Earl Scruggs, both alumni of Bill Monroe's band, helped popularize bluegrass with the banjo themes to Bonnie And Clyde and The Beverly Hillbillies.

[MUSICAL SCORE OMITTED]

Don Reno and Red Smiley were also bluegrass ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!