The rules according to Bill Monroe

[NursingDaBlues]

My dad was a jeweler. He warned me that a guy that was in business for 40 years may only have one year's experience repeated 40 times over.

My usage is a Louisiana thing; at least that's where I learned the meanings of experience and what others call "experience."

[DavidKOS]

My usage is a Louisiana thing; at least that's where I learned the meanings of experience and what others call "experience."

And we are from New Orleans! No wonder!

[farmerjones]

I'm down with the "no rules" folks. But rules are the reason I can meet total strangers in a parking lot and make some quality music, like immediately. This is separate, and not to be confused with freedom of expression. Anybody that plays an instrument, if he's a Kenny Werner follower or not, still has parameters. IOW, a musician should study music and his instrument then learn to push the envelope from there. The opposite is Prof. Harold Hill's "Think Method."

I guess we're along ways from Mun's rules. But just remember what he said when he bit into a bagel, "Stay away from them there donuts Son. They's tuff as leather, and they ain't a bit sweet."

[RFMando]

Five pages in and I'd say this thread "ain't no part of nothin'"

;-)

[V70416]

farmerjones,I had to look up Kenny Werner;glad I did. There must be some middle ground, for most people who play music, between Kenny and Prof.Hill.

I heard Bill Monroe's Zen lesson repeated a few times when,at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Little Feat was introduced as the "special guest" at the end of the weekend by the mayor of Telluride(not Sam Bush). Lots of traditional-Bluegrass-only festivarians packed up the wife and kids muttering as they departed the area.
That made it so much easier for me to move up into the front row!

There is a fatman in the bathtub with the blues.

There's still only two kinds of music.

[jimmy powells]

I LOVE the dobro in a bluegrass band but I had a good friend who hated it so you could go on forever with this. To me, bluegrass sort of means acoustic style music with a Banjo. Although Bill Monroe started it, I firmly believe that Earl Scruggs banjo was the last piece of he jigsaw and without it, I just don't think the whole bluegrass thing would have moved along the way it has done. Although there are a good few 'bluegrass bands' without a banjo, to many people it is an essential part and the dobro ADDS.

Can't see the point in saying you CAN'T have this or that. When Larry Sparks recorded 'Sharecropper's son,' he had the harmonica solo as it was done on original. Nice change and it works so can't see the problem. Be open minded is my view.

Love the dobro Gerry Douglas plays on Peter Rowan's "Wayside Tavern" not to mention dobro on Sam Bush song @Last letter home'



I get a daily video from 'Bluegarss on the tube' and most of it sounds nothing like bluegrass.

[dan in va]

Some of the great Dobro players may have been able to play the essence of Mr. Monroe's music. Mike Auldridge and Jerry Douglas could've done it.

i've always wondered what the other kind of music had in mind that the great picker said would have been very popular, but he never recorded it (AFAIK), suspecting his fans may have thought he was abandoning bluegrass. Maybe it was an ancient tone kind of thing with a Celtic feel. If so, i could imagine uilleann pipes and bodhran in it. Some of the Transatlantic Sessions with Aly Bain may have been appealing...something like their rendition of Scotland with Mark O'Connor, etc.

[bobrem]

I once interviewed Bill for a radio show about 1982 and asked him what he thought about "newgrass" players.
"A lot of 'em put a lot of notes in there that really don't belong," he said. "Try to keep it down t' earth."

[fernmando]

Y'all missed it. I'm here to help. Here goes...."you can't play the Blue Grass music with the striped pants on". You're welcome.

Roscoe Morgan

[f5loar]

Five pages in and I'd say this thread "ain't no part of nothin'"

;-)

I sorta agree, but hey, it's on a bumper sticker so it's got to be true! I'd say if you want to know all there is to know about Bill Monroe music you need to buy all 7 of the Bear Family box sets and listen to ever song on them. When you get to the last one, you will know and understand all there is to know about Bill Monroe and his music they called "Bluegrass". PS: expect to hear some accordian, open back banjo,electric guitar, piano, organ, drums and a choir.

[mando-tech]

That's always sound advice. Strike it, then stomp on it and set it on fire.

(Even if Bill's "ain't no part of nuthin" comment wasn't about dobros, it should have been.)

...I agree with above...-the 'dobro' (Hawaiian steel) does NOT belong in bluegrass !

[mandos&turtles]

Rules are made to be broken...

[mando-tech]

So what were the rules of bluegrass according to Big Mon? I'm thinking strict instrumentation (mandolin, fiddle, guitar, banjo, bass, and sometimes Dobro), tight three- or four-part harmonies, traditional material, cowboy hats, and never a note outside the diatonic scale except a raised fourth now and then. Does that about cover it?

,,,correction,...-NEVER "dobro",...not "sometimes" !

[mando-tech]

...but NEVER... -dobro !

[mando-tech]

I sorta agree, but hey, it's on a bumper sticker so it's got to be true! I'd say if you want to know all there is to know about Bill Monroe music you need to buy all 7 of the Bear Family box sets and listen to ever song on them. When you get to the last one, you will know and understand all there is to know about Bill Monroe and his music they called "Bluegrass". PS: expect to hear some accordian, open back banjo,electric guitar, piano, organ, drums and a choir.

...but NEVER -dobro !

[Khatarlan]

I’m having trouble merging the “we have rules and some instruments don’t belong in BG” Bill Monroe with the first time I heard “Kentucky Waltz”... played by Bill and his band.... with a Hammond organ. I could picture it maybe on a gospel tune, but on a slow dance tune?

And I must admit my inner five year old was waiting to hear - Da-dum-da-tump...da TUMM... “CHARGE!”

K’hat

[ralph johansson]

I’m having trouble merging the “we have rules and some instruments don’t belong in BG” Bill Monroe with the first time I heard “Kentucky Waltz”... played by Bill and his band.... with a Hammond organ. I could picture it maybe on a gospel tune, but on a slow dance tune?

And I must admit my inner five year old was waiting to hear - Da-dum-da-tump...da TUMM... “CHARGE!”

K’hat

The answer to this is very simple. The March 17 1951 session was in no way bluegrass and Monroe did not record with his band at all but with session musicians. That session was not Monroe’s idea (Monroe always recorded for major labels and never was his own producer). Apparently Paul Cohen (and Owen Bradley) hoped to capitalize on Eddy Arnold’s success with Kentucky Waltz, and broaden Monroe’s public appeal by including electric instruments.


There were also two gospel numbers with organ and Prisoner’s Song with some hokey honky-tonk piano.


The next two sessions were mainly devoted to material associated with Jimmie Rodgers, eight numbers, the standard format for an album in those days. Three songs were recorded with BG instrumentation, five songs of a more uptown character were done with electric guitars and drum(s).


Most of the songs were canned, e.g., Sailor’s Plea and Peach Picking Time were released only in 1964, and the experiment was never repeated.

[David Lewis]

Uncle josh graves' autobiography has Monroe shaking graves’ Hand after a bluegrass jam and saying 'welcome to bluegrass son

...but NEVER -dobro !

[Elliot Luber]

You gotta wear a hat.

Unless you've got a bluegrass hairdoo under it.

[Kevin Winn]

My usage is a Louisiana thing; at least that's where I learned the meanings of experience and what others call "experience."

"Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't."
- Pete Seeger

[bjewell]

Really amazed there are so many people here who believe that bluegrass is *only* what Bill says it is. Guess that means you don't like Sam Bush, David Grisman, Tony Rice, Bela Fleck, Alison Krauss, or Jerry Douglas. But what the heck would hacks like that know about bluegrass? Your loss.

Well I like Tony Rice...

[Bob Buckingham]

Good dobro, the bluegrass oxymoron.

[Steve Ostrander]

Always play the guitar with the open B-string (in the G-chord). Look sharp, but never smile! I believe Roland White played the G-chord like Clarence, didn't he?

And the strap goes over the shoulder, but not over the back.