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Thread: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

  1. #76

    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie Poole View Post

    As for myself, I know true bluegrass when I hear it and it isn`t about what instruments are used to play it...

    As I said this is very selective as far as what our taste`s are but when a good bluegrass song is played most of us know that is true bluegrass and not this new stuff with many off chords that aren`t really needed, hell anyone can throw in a relative minor chord all through the song and the audience will think that is the way the song was originally written....And that takes it away from being "True Bluegrass" in my opinion...


    Willie
    Edit: Seen this exact talking point before and don't feel like digging too deeply into it again.

    I'll enjoy "untrue bluegrass" on my own time.
    Last edited by Tom Coletti; Apr-12-2018 at 9:06pm. Reason: tired as heck

  2. #77
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Nevermind
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  4. #78
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by T.D.Nydn View Post
    An awful lot of bluegrass tunes use a relative minor,how is that "not bluegrass"?..
    Not an awful lot if you listen to the original, so many bands recording an old song think they have to change the chord progression and add a minor. I really can take it or leave it of one is put in for emphases but too often it is over done. Bluegrass is a simplistic music, too much chord changing in the rythem section takes away from the simple drive that is bluegrass.

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  6. #79
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandoplumb View Post
    Not an awful lot if you listen to the original, so many bands recording an old song think they have to change the chord progression and add a minor. I really can take it or leave it of one is put in for emphases but too often it is over done. Bluegrass is a simplistic music, too much chord changing in the rythem section takes away from the simple drive that is bluegrass.
    I like this comment. There is one vocal number definitely in the parking lot (name escapes me now) that often gets the relative minor thrown in. When I sing this one, I always say "no minor" before I start...and someone always adds it, anyway.

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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    To Tom’s point, I’m a generation ahead of millennials and this grew up without the internet in a family into sports and horses, not traditional music. My gateways to this music we’re Ode to a Butterfly, which a DJ on a Nashpop station played behind his morning intro, and O’ Brother hit as I was really getting into Flatt and Scruggs. I had to track down the Nickel Creek CD and the soundtrack (in a record store!). Contrast that with one day at work this week when I started watching Live from Here videos and ended up deep into utube...
    Chuck

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    Registered User Drew Streip's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Regarding Molly Tuttle, Joe K. Walsh, et. al. as "a very good example of the evolution of the music, probably geared toward a more 'listenable' vein than some others as far as I’m concerned"

    The corollary to this statement is that traditional bluegrass isn't very listenable. And if it's not very listenable, why would people want to play it?

    Or it implies that being listenable isn't desirable, as if there's some purity in playing something that only you and a very few other people can understand. Music isn't meant to be tolerated -- it's meant to be listened to and enjoyed.

    It's fine to prefer "less listenable" music, but it's not OK to suggest that contemporary interpretations are less worthy of respect. There's no moral value in musicianship. I can name two dozen mandolin players who could play circles around Bill Monroe, but may never have the same musical impact on either the bluegrass circle or the wider music community. And none of them would suggest that their music is either better or worse -- just different.

    It's like the thread about Eastmans. You don't have to like them, but 1) they don't nullify the Gibsons that came before, and 2) they make music accessible to more people and that's really all that matters.

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  10. #82
    Registered User Rex Hart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    I like this comment. There is one vocal number definitely in the parking lot (name escapes me now) that often gets the relative minor thrown in. When I sing this one, I always say "no minor" before I start...and someone always adds it, anyway.
    Was it Big Spike Hammer
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rex Hart View Post
    Was it Big Spike Hammer
    “Foggy Mtn. Breakdown”?
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    No, both of those numbers have the minor in them (well, E Major for FMB...if you go the Flatt route...)

  13. #85
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Yep, not when Lester plays it! I actually kind of like it that way, only the ones “in the know”seem to get it. It’s what makes people wonder what is going on sometimes!
    Drew, the “more listenable” comment was not meant to illicit something being “less” at all, I meant more broadly accepted, somewhat more “homogenized” to be blunt. The artists have worked as hard as anyone else to learn their craft, they deserve as much airtime as the old guard. I can change the station as I see fit, ultimate censorship!
    Sorry, but that’s my opinion and I’m not ashamed of it. I prefer the old school, hard driving, qualities of the music in the style I was first exposed to, those who have come to the music through this more modern, gentle, often almost treacly style will feel differently about it. That’s why we are all different. I listen to a pretty broad scope of music in general from opera to tejano to blues. When I call something more listenable sometimes it’s listenable because I’m in need of a musical diversion.
    Sometimes I hear something and wonder who’s skinning a cat, change station!
    Last edited by Timbofood; Apr-13-2018 at 1:09pm.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  15. #86
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    The vocal number was thinking of is Sittin’ On Top Of The World. Many hit the 6 minor on 'Now she's gone and I don't worry...'

    Me no like/me no do.

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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    This comes because they haven't heard a recording older than one year ( anything older is no good) I was jamming with a group about a week ago, we played Earl's Breakdown. After it was over I told them Earl didn't put the A ( second) in except when he used the tuners and the one round where he walked it down. They thought I was crazy "it just has to have the A". They had never heard the original or else they had never really listened to it because they thought they knew it. Now I don't say you have to play anything just like someone else but you should work off the original, if possible, so you know where you are coming from. If not you will wind up like that old game where you whisper in the next guys ear then he whispers in the next--- all around the circle. What you wind up with has nothing to do with what you started with.

  17. #88
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Well,
    “They don’t know where they came from” as someone said....

    Me no like/me no do! Me likey phrase/ Me snaggy!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  18. #89

    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandoplumb View Post
    This comes because they haven't heard a recording older than one year ( anything older is no good)
    Okay, that is the most fascinating statement of Gen Y's musical retention I've ever seen.

    Because that's, uhh... that's not how time works.

  19. #90

    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    The vocal number was thinking of is Sittin’ On Top Of The World. Many hit the 6 minor on 'Now she's gone and I don't worry...'

    Me no like/me no do.
    Yeah I don’t care for a lot of minor chords in those old songs. The other big offender is “Will the Circle be Unbroken.”

  20. #91
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    I swear if anyone starts singing “Will the circle be unbroken” or “Amazing grace” when I croak, I promise I will haunt the instigator until their dying day!
    They will never get ANY instrument in tune, ever!
    But, that’s another story....
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  21. #92
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    What would you like us to sing, Tim?
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    I swear if anyone starts singing “Will the circle be unbroken” or “Amazing grace” when I croak, I promise I will haunt the instigator until their dying day!
    They will never get ANY instrument in tune, ever!
    But, that’s another story....
    Having spent years as a Catholic church guitarist, I have told my children, I will get out of the coffin and smash their instruments if they play "On Eagles Wings" at my funeral.
    2012 Weber Bitterroot F5.

  23. #94
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by jaycat View Post
    What would you like us to sing, Tim?
    Maybe a rousing chorus of “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum!”
    I miss Utah Phillips!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  24. #95

    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Has anybody noticed the Earls of Leister pack every place they play, Hmmmm I wonder why, maybe it's because they play bluegrass. Just sayin.

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  26. #96
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    Maybe a rousing chorus of “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum!”
    I miss Utah Phillips!
    Here ya go, buddy.
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

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  28. #97
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Column: Where is Bluegrass Headed?

    Thanks pal! I watched a couple of other Utah vids while I was there.
    Some of the comments were a little odd but, opinions are like noses,everyone has one and they get stuck in places where they may not be appreciated.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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