Season 322 Ukuleles ARE allowed in Bluegrass (one week only)

I know I did this one before, but that was 99 seasons ago... So I can do it again :)

 
This one's pre-Monroe, but Bill knew better than to exclude Mother Maybelle or June or any of the pioneers from his party. Even that cantankerous coot gave credit where it was due.

 
I think my first exposure to bluegrass when I was a kid was watching the Dillards on the Andy Griffith Show.

 
I've obviously heard of Bluegrass but I have no idea what it is.

So I went for a drive this morning and asked Spotify to play me some Bluegrass. It came back with a playlist of supposed Bluegrass covers of pop songs but I'm not sure that was it. So then I asked it for some Bill Monroe and it came back with about 5 different recordings of Blue Moon Over Kentucky.... and this song.

Dunno if I've played it Bluegrassy but I had a lot of fun doing what I did do. May have overindulged with the solos though.




Still haven't a clue what Bluegrass is though.


Websters dictionary defines it this way..

country music played on unamplified stringed instruments (such as banjo, fiddle, guitar, and mandolin) and characterized by free improvisation and close usually high-pitched harmony

Basically it's an American mutation of old Irish and Scottish folk songs, and reels and jigs and the like, and it's mutated on and on from there.
 
I know I did this one before, but that was 99 seasons ago... So I can do it again :)



By all means yes, songs people have done before can be brought back for this week as long as they're new recordings, and done in the Bluegrass style.
 
Killed two birds with one stone here! Did a Bluegrass song I've been wanting to do for a long time, and tried out my new uke! I figured since I was giving a Bonanza away this week, might as well get one for myself too! This is a Mint retro cutaway tenor, with a maple bridge and a corian fretboard.

 
grappling womanfully with the bluegrass style at the moment (and not winning the fight!!!!!) - i shall keep trying! in the meantime, here is a homemade "grass" song...




:worship: bowing down to all you peeps who are bringing the bluegrass style so brilliantly!
 
Youtube - Bluegrass Playlist

Came across this, might help :)
[video]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFNoh1fWEL8kdSj716TZIrtK7MSNBAGen[/video]
 
Came across this, might help :)
[video]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFNoh1fWEL8kdSj716TZIrtK7MSNBAGen[/video]

Good list, Paul.

Anything by Flatt & Scruggs, the Osborne Brothers, Ralph Stanley (or the Stanley Brothers), Del McCoury and Bill Monroe makes it without a doubt. Doc Watson, too, though he played every style imaginable. A lot of contemporary groups have done newer songs in a bluegrass style. Two of Del McCoury's biggest bluegrass hits were versions of "Nashville Cats" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."
 
And he's frailing a banjo! Typical style for Old Tyme Music, but Bill would fire any banjo player that did that.

I noticed that too. And if you, dear reader, are wondering what Ol' Nickie & I are talking about, take a look at this puff for Wayne Erben's instruction books for banjo: Bluegrass or Clawhammer Banjo - Which is easier to learn?

"Oh, but that's banjo - how do I apply these insights to ukulele?", I hear you cry. Well, like a ukulele, a 5-string banjo has re-entrant tuning. The top, 5th, string on a banjo, is a 'drone' string, never fretted, but just plucked to provide a driving rhythm.

To apply either the frailing (aka clawhammer) or bluegrass technique to ukulele, you need to use the top, 4th, string (g on a gCEA-tuned uke), as the drone string.

Clawhammer rhythm is "bum dit-ty", (bum? pluck any string but 4; dit? strum strings 1,2,3; ty? drone - thumb-pluck 4).

If you want to learn more on clawhammer for uke, there are lots of videos out there explaining how to apply clawhammer banjo technique to ukulele using the 4th string as a drone (though one thing none of them mention, however, is that to play clawhammer uke, your strumming hand has to hit the strings on or about the sound-hole, not over the fretboard).

I don't think there's that many on bluegrass style for uke, so you'll pretty much have to try to modify the banjo tutorials for uke.

Bluegrass rhythm, according to Erbsen, is "thumb-pinch" (thumb? pick a (melody) note; pinch? play strings 1 & 4 together).

If you want to read further, you could do worse than start with What Are Bluegrass & Clawhammer Banjo Styles?.
 
For Season of the Ukulele 322, we’re asked to play bluegrass on ukulele. Here’s the classic Felice and Boudleaux Bryant tune “Rocky Top" for concert ukulele with whistling and singing, and overdubs of Ubass, and two harmony parts. Oh yes, also features a special guest appearance by the meme of the month, Mason Ramsey, the Walmart Yodeling Kid.

 
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