How do BG players line up?

[Tim2723]

Is there are traditional order for Bluegrass players to stand when on a mic line? Is it fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar, dobro, bass? Some other traditional order, or is it just whatever suits the band?

[Tim2723]

Was this a dumb question? There's like 112 people viewing this forum at the moment, and nothin'

[Jim Broyles]

I wouldn't say the question is dumb but what possible difference could it make in what order a band lines up on stage? However the players prefer it would be my answer. Any way so headstocks and bows aren't bashing each other all over the place.

[Gary Hedrick]

Well it depends upon how many mic's are being used. I grew up in "The Bluegrass Music"...with a single mic. In that set up it sure did make a difference. Guitar players did play lead so the bass and the guitar were anchored and the fiddle, mandolin and banjo were the movers. The banjo was the one that you put in a position to get in and out easily because of the long neck. It also depended upon who sang and who didn't etc. Generally (when looking at the band from the audience) the Guitar was on the right, mandolin next and to the back, banjo next, fiddle next and to the front and the bass in the back between the fiddle and banjo.

But with todays, everyone has a mic and is lined up across the stage I think there is only what does your band want....

[Tim Saxton]

It's all personal preference. Whatever works just go with that. All bands are different.

[Tim2723]

Well, thanks. I guess the answer is no, there's no traditional lineup. I thought there might be one though, as other kinds of groups have them. Barbershop quartets always line up the same way, and philharmonic orchestras have sections laid out in a certain fashion. BG plyers tend to be pretty tradition oriented, so I figured there might be a tradition.

[Jim]

My answer to how do BG musicians line up is, First for free food or liquor.

[Jim Rowland]

Watching Uncle Bill and his troupe,and other similar groups work with one mike back in the forties and fifties,I was as facinated by the uncharted choreography they used with great grace and efficiency to play their music as I was with their sparkling sounds. Moving swiftly in and out, swooping, ducking,darting,maneuvering necks and bows was a part of their art. Add to that the fact that the mandolin and guitar were always elevated to chin level for solo efficiency, and the physical requirements of their performance were almost as demanding as their musical skills.
Jim

[allenhopkins]

In my old BG quartet, we put the guitar player on the far left, and stood in a bit of a V or arc, the outside musicians closest to the audience, so that the rest of the band could hear the rhythm guitar clearly; his instrument sort of faced "across" the rest of the band. This was about 40 years ago, and we hadn't any idea about stage monitors (nor could we have afforded them if we did), so it was important to us to hear ourselves acoustically, in order to keep together. I did most of the MC work, so I stood in the middle. Never really tested alternative formats, just sort of gravitated to that one.

Now, with many instruments plugging in, and monitors pretty much SOP, I think we might have base our on-stage order more around who was doing lead vocals, and who was singing harmony.

You have several things going here: what members need to change position, who is normally working with whom, and of course, the audience kinda expects that the person standing in the center is the leader in some respect. Perhaps that latter consideration is one of the most important; I've never seen a band in which the "main guy (or gal)" wasn't in the center.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Depends -- if you band is sponsored by AT&T Wireless, you would have to line-up in order of height.

[Gary Hedrick]

"Moving swiftly in and out, swooping, ducking,darting,maneuvering necks and bows was a part of their art. "........oh yeah.....try getting plunked in the head by a banjo headstock and see what made a person get good at it. I still have a lump from that from 40 years ago....

[Larry S Sherman]

The banjo is always between the sitar player and the concertina....mandolin and guitar next to the drums

[GTison]

ANOTHER, Great question I've heard is "who plays percussion in your bluegrass band?"

We line up Left to Right: Guitar Banjo, Bass, mandolin. But, we work a one mike situation. So everything moves with different songs.

Our Guitar player is SUPER LOUD. (I know you can't believe it) He also doesn't sing, so he is always behind and/ or between someone, also he doesn't hear too well so he's close to the banjo. We stay on our sides usually around the mic. And play quieter than you might think. Singing can be buried in the instruments easily and it is THE most important part.

When you have a performance figure out what the needs are. Place people for a reason. I like to get the lead singer in the middle and work from there.

Seems like fiddlers are usually on the right of the band for some reason.

[mandroid]

Is there an Off-sides penalty for moving before the Snap to the QB?

[allenhopkins]

Is there an Off-sides penalty for moving before the Snap to the QB?

No, but if my old band had been given "false start" penalties, we'd never have gotten past our own five-yard line.

[MikeEdgerton]

Other than when we do a single mic that is a exercise in perpetual motion, we always line up in the same order for reasons known only to our subconscious minds.

[Steve Perry]

I always demand hazard pay if I have to stand on the left hand side of the fiddle player. Especially if they're shorter than me.

[Hallmark498]

Get in where you fit in!

[earthsave]

Observe bands and see... tons of vids on the YouTube.

[greg_tsam]

Mandolin players always line up opposite of the banjer and hard of hearing geetar players.

[Troy Mayfield]

In our band, we line up (south to north ) bass, mando, fiddle, banjo, guitar, guitar

[Don Grieser]

By weight in a lot of bluegrass bands.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Shucks, I thought this was a firing-squad joke....

[Phillip Tigue]

I do think it's important for the mandolin and bass to be arranged so that the mandolin isn't behind the bass. Ya'll are the rhythm section. I played a gig once where I was on the far right side and the bass was to my left. So I ended up playing to the back of the upright bass all night, and couldn't hear a thing.

I've always felt more comfortable lining up between the banjo on my left and guitar on the right. Have no idea why, it just happens.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Shucks, I thought this was a firing-squad joke....

Maybe if the subject line was asking how banjo players should line up...