country music or bluegrass

[keymandoguy]

I think if you learn 3 chords and how to stick a capo on a guitar and sing a little its country music nowdays. However if you can pick and play and be able to jump in a jam and play with people you have never met then you are a true bluegrass musician ? :mandosmiley Happy picking to all the bluegrass people !

[ourgang]

There's no way you can get by with three chords and a capo in todays Country??? music

[Dennis Schubert]

In Nashvegas, the rumor is that there's no money up above the 5th fret anyway...

[TonyP.]

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Willie]

You mean to tell me there are more than three chords?....Willie

[Bruce Evans]

I know three chords! Bb, F#m7 and Edim7(add 2). What songs can I play? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[John Rosett]

"yer ahuntin fer it, i found it"
- homer haynes

[onlyagibsonisgoodenuff]

Even though there are more than three chords, many of them are interchangeable. Thank goodness!

[Michael H Geimer]

A real world example from Strawberry.

I sat in on a casual camp jam with a band playing only original mat'l. They were great and deserve the recognition they have, but when this same act showed up at a picking party a few days later they admitted to not knowing much - if any - Bluegrass, and declined the invitation to jam. At everyone's request, they played a couple great tunes for us all and left it at that. A new jam started up soon after. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

By the standards suggested above, they were a Country Band in a Bluegrass setting. The jamming aspect seemed to be the most pertinent difference.

- Benig

[John Zimm]

I think you only need two chords to play bluegrass, although if you want to play country it is good to know one minor chord to throw in there once in a while. Learn how to play Cripple Creek and you can play any bluegrass song because they all sound more or less like it.

-John.

[Michael H Geimer]

"Learn how to play Cripple Creek and you can play any bluegrass song ... "

I'm thinking that comment might just a tounge-in-cheek simplification. But, I used to play with a mandolin player who claimed there were only three songs in Bluegrass music: Fast ones, Slow ones, and Waltzes. But then, all of his breaks, and all his back up parts sounded alike. (Stock licks, stock rhythms)

I might joke about the three-chord nature of Bluegrass, but IMHO the real heart of the genre seems to lie within the melodies and the lyrics. It's a shame that some players can't see past the three-chord accompaniment.

- Benig

[John Zimm]

I'm thinking that comment might just a tounge-in-cheek simplification.
Yeah, it was a little joke. I guess music of every genre sounds somewhat alike, otherwise we probably wouldn't categorize music the way we do.

-John.

[JDARTGOD]

For me, I like what a friend of mine once said. There's only about 10 or 12 melodies in the whole world......everything is just a variation of one of those.

As for Bluegrass, I know some humor is being thrown around here, but "good" bluegrass, for me, is a very complex and involved kind of music. I love ALL types of music and have several influences, but I'm afraid the "non-knowing" Bluegrass public takes the steroetypical bluegrass (Deliverance/Beverly Hillbilly's theme/Oh Brother, etc) and puts a permanent stamp on it. Couldn't be farther from the truth. I bet this stigma is true across all the genres in one form or another. (Like Ralph Macchio is a GREAT Blues player - Crossroads!!) That's why I listen to ALOT of music, and the different veins in each "category".

Bluegrass is tops in my book though. When you get the "perfect" mix of rhythm, lead, drive, and vocal harmony, all with some flair......it just doesn't get any better.