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Article: The queen mother bluegrass lick. (guitar lesson)(Sessions; includes musical notation examples)
- Article from:
- Guitar Player
- Article date:
- September 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 New Bay Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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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 ...