Bluegrass is a branch of country music. It began inside country music in the 1940s and grew into its own style. The main differences are the instruments and how they are used. Bluegrass is played on acoustic string instruments with no drums, and the players trade fast solos. Mainstream country uses drums, electric guitar, and steel guitar, and the song and the singer stay at the center.
Where bluegrass comes from
Bill Monroe was a country musician from Kentucky. His band, the Blue Grass Boys, joined the Grand Ole Opry radio show in Nashville in 1939. The Opry was, and is, a country music show.
Most writers date the classic bluegrass sound to late 1945, when banjo player Earl Scruggs joined the band. With Lester Flatt on guitar and Monroe on mandolin, the band had the sound that later groups copied.
The style took its name from the band. By the 1950s people were calling it bluegrass music.
So bluegrass did not start outside country music. It started on country music’s biggest stage. Read the history of bluegrass music and the page on Bill Monroe.
The instruments
| Bluegrass | Mainstream country | |
|---|---|---|
| Core instruments | Guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, and often Dobro | Electric and acoustic guitar, steel guitar, bass, drums, and often fiddle and piano |
| Drums | No | Yes |
| Amplified instruments | No | Yes |
| Banjo style | Three-finger rolls | Used now and then |
A bluegrass band keeps time with no drummer. The bass plays the downbeat, and the mandolin plays a sharp chop on the offbeat. Read about bluegrass instruments.
Solos
In bluegrass, each instrument takes a turn playing a solo, called a break, while the others play backup. A single song may have breaks from the banjo, the fiddle, and the mandolin. Players are expected to improvise.
In mainstream country, the singer and the song lead. A solo is short and often played by one hired guitarist or steel player.
Read how to take a break in a bluegrass jam.
Singing
Bluegrass singing is high and tight. A lead singer takes the verses. On the chorus, a tenor sings above the lead and a baritone fills in the chord. Read how bluegrass harmony works and what the high lonesome sound means.
Country singing puts one voice in front. Harmony is common on choruses, and it sits behind the star.
Speed
Many bluegrass songs are fast. Instrumentals called breakdowns show off speed and clean picking. Read what a breakdown is in bluegrass music.
Country songs cover a wide range, and many of the best known ones are slow or medium.
Bluegrass has slow songs and waltzes too, so speed alone does not tell you which one you are hearing.
The songs
Both styles sing about home, family, work, love, loss, and faith. Bluegrass bands play many old songs that are older than the style itself, along with fiddle tunes that have no words. Gospel songs are part of most bluegrass shows.
The two share songs. Country singers have recorded bluegrass standards, and bluegrass bands play country songs with bluegrass instruments.
Where the music is played
Country music lives on commercial radio, in arenas, and on the charts.
Bluegrass lives at festivals, in small halls, and in jams. Many bluegrass fans play an instrument. At a bluegrass festival, the campground is full of people picking together late at night. Read the bluegrass jam.
That is one of the biggest differences. Bluegrass is music people play with each other, not only music they listen to.
How to tell them apart by ear
Listen for drums. If you hear a drum kit, it is not traditional bluegrass.
Listen for a banjo playing a fast, steady stream of notes. That is the mark of bluegrass.
Listen for solos passing from one instrument to the next.
Listen for an electric guitar or a steel guitar. Those point to country.
Players who cross over
The line between the two is not a wall. Musicians move back and forth.
Ricky Skaggs played bluegrass as a boy, became a country star, and came back to bluegrass.
Alison Krauss is a bluegrass fiddler and singer whose records reach country and pop listeners.
Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle play bluegrass guitar for large audiences today.
Bluegrass, old-time, and folk
Old-time music is the older string band music that bluegrass grew from. It has no solos, and everyone plays the tune together. Read bluegrass vs old-time music.
Folk is a wide word for traditional and acoustic songs of many kinds. Bluegrass is one specific style with a set band and a set way of playing.
Where to start listening
Start with Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and the Stanley Brothers for the first generation. Then read what is bluegrass music and famous bluegrass musicians to know.
Sources
Bluegrass music, New World Encyclopedia
A Brief History of Bluegrass Music, Bluegrass Heritage Foundation