Bluegrass Music

By: Whitney Tankersley

 History of Bluegrass
• Bluegrass originated from dance music and ballads from Ireland,
Scotland, and England. It also came from African American gospel
songs.
• Early Bluegrass songs were created by people living in rural areas.
Therefore the songs reflected their day to day living on the farm.
This type of music was called “mountain music” or “country music”.
• One of the earlier bands was called “Bill Monroe and the Blue
Grass Boys”. This band opened the gates for modern Bluegrass
music.
• The sound of Bluegrass was set in stone in 1945 by Earl Scruggs
with the introduction of three-fingered picking style on the banjo.
This skill is now called “Scruggs style” banjo.
Instruments used in Bluegrass
• Banjo
• Mandolin
• Guitar
• Fiddle
• Bass
• Dobro
• Tempos
 This is one of the more popular Bluegrass bands.
They are called Nickel Creek and they consist of
four band members. They play the mandolin, fiddle,
guitar, and bass.

Check
out
Nickel
Creek’s
website!
http://www.nickelcreek.com/
 Bluegrass Continued
• Here is an article on Bluegrass Music.
Check it out for interesting facts
about an evolving form of music!
• http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/artic
 Webliography
• http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.htm
• http://www.ibma.org/about.bluegrass/history/index.as
• http://www.jacktuttle.com/instruments.html
• http://www.nickelcreek.com/