Bluegrass fiddle
Bluegrass fiddle is one of the most exciting and challenging
of styles that the fiddle player can attempt, requiring considerable
technique and dedication. It is widely considered to have been
the Creation of One Man- whether or not it took seven days is
open to theological question! Bill Monroe (1911-96), a Kentucky
mandolin player, took old-time Appalachian tunes and songs as
his bedrock, added a touch of blues and gospel, and constructed
a radical new sound quite different from anything heard before.
Bill Monroe
Crucial to the line-up of Bill Monroe and the
Bluegrass Boys was the 5-string banjo of Earl Scruggs, playing
a powerful machine-like 3-finger style. There was also acoustic
guitar (from Lester Flatt), double bass and, of course, the fiddle,
which Monroe himself described as "the most bluegrass of
all the instruments." High pitched tenor harmony vocals were
also a distinctive part of his style. These elements, along with
short solo breaks from everyone except the bass player (thank
heaven for small mercies!), and a breathtaking pace to many of
the tunes, set bluegrass well apart from its old-time roots.
Old and in the Way
Chubby Wise, with his origins very much in the Appalachian tradition,
though also incorporating important elements of swing and blues,was
Monroe's first fiddler. He set a high standard for the many who
followed in his shoes, and in many ways was the template for future
bluegrass fiddling. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys he went on
to work with Flatt and Scruggs, Hank Williams and Bob Wills. Vassar
Clements, who joined the band in 1949 at the age of 14, at
first copied Wise's every note, but soon went on to develop a
very jazzy and highly individualistic style. His playing on the
classic 1973 album "Old and in the Way" is an absolute
goldmine of killer licks.
Vassar Clements
Vassar was followed by Merle "Red"
Taylor , who recorded, among others the classics Rawhide
and Uncle Pen (named after Monroe's fiddling uncle Pendleton).
Monroe band started using two or even three fiddles at a time,
allowing the same richness of harmony that was a feature of the
band's vocal sound.
Benny Martin, Buddy Spicher, Byron Berline Kenny Baker
and Richard Greene are just a few of the great fiddlers
who have passed through the band; Berline appeared on the Rolling
Stones' "Country Honk" in 1969; his fiddle part was
recorded not in the million-dollar LA studio, but outside it on
the street!
Fiddle technique in bluegrass
The fiddle gets plenty to do in a bluegrass band; it will often
lead the melody in an instrumental or "breakdown"and
it will share short improvised solos with the other instruments.
When not soloing, the fiddle will provide accompaniment with simple
shuffles or off-the beat chops, and if backing a song it may put
short licks between the vocal phrases. It may also kick off the
number with a
little one or two-bar phrase , usually with staccatto bowing,
setting the tempo for the band. A similar phrase or "tag"
may also wind up the tune.
The keys used may be quite adventurous; Monroe set a dangerous
precedent by pitching many songs in E or even in B to suit his
singing. Where sharps are concerned, two's company but five's
a plague!
Like in old-time fiddling, bluegrass uses a lot of open string
drones, but the double stopping tends to be a lot more sophisticated.
It is common to change position, perhaps from first to third,
whilst holding down a double stop, and position changes are integral
to many licks.
Bill
Monroe
Bluegrass bowing
Bowing is also quite advanced, using a variety
of standard patterns including the Nashville Shuffle and the Georgia
Bow. The most exciting is the double shuffle which uses 3-note
patterns (borrowed from the 3-finger banjo style) stretched across
two bars. When combined with double stops and string crossing
this sounds most dramatic and is used to great effect in Back
up and Push, and more particularly the Orange Blossom Special.
This showpiece tune, where the fiddle imitates an accelerating
express train, is aptly described by Stacy Phillips as "crowd
manipulation and riot control for the bluegrass fiddle".
Soloing uses a lot of bluesey sounding notes-flattened thirds
and sevenths and this, together with the frequent use of higher
positions, gives the so-called "high lonesome sound".
One of the endearing features of bluegrass
is the favoured mode of amplification, which is to use microphones
rather than pickups on all the instruments; this means that when
someone takes a solo he, (or, shockingly, she!) steps forward
to the stand whilst the others step back to achieve the right
sound balance; this is probably a throwback to the Grand Old Opry
where many of the early bluegrass band cut their teeth. When done
well, this elegant choreography looks and sounds great. When done
not so well, it's a soundman's nightmare!
Players usually draw on a large store of "hot licks"-flashy
riffs which can be pulled out instantaneously when soloing. These
will often have been painstakingly copied from records by the
great players, but a huge selection is now available frozen and
pre-packaged in various excellent bluegrass tutors and manuals.
My
favourite is this one, by Stacy Phillips; amusingly written and
full of great licks.
Classic Bluegrass songs
Bluegrass shares much of its repertoire with old time music; fiddle
tunes such as Soldiers Joy, Bill Cheatem, Cripple Creek
, Billy in the Low Ground and Arkansas Traveller lend
themselves readily to either style; the roots of many of these
are in turn inherited from English, Irish and Scots settlers.
Many recent compositions are widely played, such as Jerusalem
Ridge and Roxanna Waltz (Bill Monroe), Kissimmee
Kid and Lonesome Fiddle Blues (Vassar Clements).
The latter tune found itself embedded in Charlie Daniels'
hit The Devil went down to Georgia. There are many classic
bluegrass songs which work either as instrumental or vocal numbers,
such as Roll in my Sweet Baby's Arms, Nine Pound Hammer
and Don'tlet your Deal go Down.
Back to the roots
Bluegrass continues to thrive, with many festivals and fiddle
contests throughout the USA; recently fiddler Alison Krauss
has had great mainstream success, and it has become almost de
rigeur for established country superstars to release a "back
to the roots" bluegrass album. Since the 1970's bluegrass
artists have been expanding the boundaries of the genre, most
successfully in the "new acoustic" or "jazzgrass"
movement where fiddler like Mark O'Connor, Sam Bush,
Darrel Anger and Richard Greene have incorporated
new textures and tune structures, jazzier chord sequences and
longer, more elaborate solos into their work. First prize for
going out on a limb must go to Richard Greene, who has a new has
a new and adventurous classical/bluegrass fusion piece called
What if Mozart had played with Bill Monroe; a concerto for
violin and orchestra !
Links:
