What Is Bluegrass Music?

Bluegrass is a style of American folk music developed in the 1940s. It is an amalgam of old-time music, blues, ragtime and jazz. Bill Monroe is referred to as the "founding father" of bluegrass music as the bluegrass style was named after his band, the Blue Grass Boys, formed in 1939. There are two main sub-types of bluegrass music: traditional and progressive. Traditional bluegrass musicians play folk songs with simple traditional chord progressions, and use only acoustic instruments. Progressive bluegrass music began as some groups would use electric instruments and import songs from other genres.

Bluegrass music is a kind of American folk music that is believed to have originated by combining different forms of traditional music primarily from England, Ireland and Scotland; the music is believed to have first developed in its current form in the late 1940s.

The term bluegrass is derived from the name of a music band the Bluegrass Boys featuring Bill Monroe who is credited with popularizing the genre of music. The music evolved out of generations of people arriving from the British Isles and later was combined to some extent with African American music like jazz and blues.

The music is played in a different manner as compared to traditional music with the various musical instruments being played solo in turn with the other instruments playing a backing role. The instruments generally played in bluegrass music are stringed ones like the fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin and bass.