Post 2: Bluegrass Instrumentation

The main instruments used in Bluegrass are: 

1)      The five-string banjo

http://www.musiclessonsource.com/images/banjo2.jpg

2)      The mandolin 

http://themandolinhut.com/bluegrass%20mandolin%20blue4.jpg

3)      The Spanish guitar (with steel strings) 

http://www.gearofthegodz.com/wp-content/uploads/classicalGuitars.jpg

4)      The fiddle 

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5)      The string bass 

http://image.ec21.com/image/devipermata/oimg_GC04042353_CA04042375/ARTIST_Model_UPRIGHT_BASS_FIDDLE_BLUEGRASS_DREAM.jpg

6)      The “dobro” (a form of steel guitar) is also sometimes used.

http://www.guitarsite.com/news/images/guitar/Bubinga_27_Deluxe_Dobro_glam.jpg

     The Spanish guitar and the banjo are essential to the style, but at least one of the others must be added.

      These instruments have three distinct roles: lead, backing, underlying. The lead is usually played by the fiddle, banjo, and dobro; which “also produce counter-melodies and rhythmic figures to back other lead parts.” The mandolin may also be considered a lead instrument, and can also become a rhythm part. The guitar and the bass create a rhythmic background, balancing the higher-pitch of the lead instruments; this creates an underlying “rhythmic and harmonic base.” The guitar may also serve a backing role to the melody, “playing short melodic runs between major phrases of the lead parts”; this contrasts melodically and rhythmically.

Another important aspect of Bluegrass instrumentation is the vocal part. Usually the vocals are high-pitched and tense, sometimes they even reached more than an octave above middle C. Vocals in Bluegrass do not usually use vibrato, however ornamental devices such as grace notes are often utilized. There is often up to four-part harmony, the parts are called “lead” (melody), “tenor” (sung above the lead), “third” (may be sung above lead or tenor but usually is sung below both (baritone)), and the “bass” (lowest of all). There is little crossing of parts, however there is a use of passing tones and slides which create dissonance.

Smith, L. Mayne. "An Introduction to Bluegrass." American Folklore Society

     78.Hillbilly Issue (1965): 245-256. JSTOR. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
     <http://www.jstor.org/stable/538358 .>. 246-7