# Music by Genre > Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country, Gospel Variants >  So Why Do You Love And Play Bluegrass

## GuitarDogs62

I just love Bluegrass music and think it is the most purest and truest music there is. The music can be so uplifting to sad and of course want to make you sing gospel at any given time. I love playing Bluegrass with my Mandolin, Guitar and now Fiddle. Just sweet pure honest music. So what do all of you think about Bluegrass?

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## LongBlackVeil

Im sort of a newcomer to bluegrass relatively, but its quickly becoming all i listen to, along with dawg music and newgrass as well i suppose.

The purity is important for me, No electricity needed :Smile: 

I also think the BG community is the best and strongest music community there is. I've never met a grasser that wasnt helpful and welcoming to myself and other people just learning. Theres a real sense of community when your play bluegrass with others, and to me thats the BIGGEST reason i love it

Old and In the Way really got me into bluegrass. Vassar Clements is probably my favorite BG musician, the sound of the fiddles is what really drew me in

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## 9lbShellhamer

For me it's the ability to play a style of music that is community-centric, meaning it's geared for the masses. (ironically, we're a very distinct and small subculture, but whatever...you know what I mean.. :Grin:  )

Sure, not everyone can rip through the Monroe standards at 240bpm, but for the most part jams are for the community. A chance for people to get together and play songs that are based on typically easily to understand chord patterns, etc.

Also, hearing Wayne Benson, Ronnie McCoury, Alan Bibey, Adam Steffey, etc. play the mandolin... Those guys are awesome.

( or Noam Pikelny on the banjer...)

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Amanda Gregg

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## bigskygirl

I agree with 9lbShellhammer, I like it BC I can go to a jam or gathering and sit down and start playing.....well, ok not at blazing speed but I know the songs and can keep up with the chords.  If I don't know the song I can listen and watch and figure it out.

So far I've not run into any group that is not happy to have a beginner join them, well to my face anyway.

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## Cue Zephyr

I love it's pure form of tone, the uplifting melodies that are also very accessible musically (I'd almost call it 'catchy') and actually the potential of progressive bluegrass. You can play anything with a prog BG band.

Perhaps a less popular opinion, but for some reason the contrast between the often darker lyrics against the often bright melodies.

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## Misty Stanley-Jones

The simplicity of the music beneath the virtuosity of the breaks. The humor in many of the lyrics. The harmonies. The community.

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## Ivan Kelsall

I first heard Bluegrass music when i was 18 years old & the sound blew me away. After 51 years,it still does -every day !. At the time i first heard it,Bluegrass music was almost unknown over here in the UK,so it was a very provedential thing to have happened in my life. I've seen folk at their first Bluegrass festival almost bouncing around listening to it for the first time - that's the way it gets you  - full on !!!,
                      Ivan

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## UsuallyPickin

Well ..... it is music that can be played with total strangers and followed yet still has room to move within the form. Not too complicated and the vocal harmonies are fun. Whether at light speed or 80 bpm it holds up with a certain beauty and flair..... R/

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## AlanN

> Well ..... it is music that can be played with total strangers and followed yet still has room to move within the form. Not too complicated and the vocal harmonies are fun. Whether at light speed or 80 bpm it holds up with a certain beauty and flair..... R/


This it it. I can mosey up to a jam (even if another mando picker is there, it can work) and fit right in. Get the nod and you're off to the races. Then, disappear and off to the next one. Who was that masked man?

I'm a Bluegrass man, from head to toe
I love the sound of Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe.
They could play real fast and sing so high,
I'm a bluegrass man, till the day I die.

- from the pen of Russell Johnson

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## Denny Gies

Aside from being great music, bluegrass lets you communicate with strangers on an instantly satisfying way.  Jams are just fun.  Plus, it's good for my mental health.

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## Amanda Gregg

Speaking of connecting with strangers, bluegrass has given me moments like this:



(With the Red Brick Boys of Moscow, Russia, a few weeks ago)

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## Mark Wilson

Cool Picture!  Is the guitar player on his cell phone?

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## Mark Wilson

> So what do all of you think about Bluegrass?


To be honest I didn't always like it.  I could stand watching it live.  I could take a song or two recorded but thats it.  I found it too same same and all too often played too fast to the point of not being musical. 

Til I picked up the mandolin and started learning the tunes.  I gained tons of repect and admiration for those who can play it fluidly and at speed.  I like most of the songs now.  Love to hear it played live. Long to play along myself someday. I still can't listen to it on radio for too long.

Also for me, bluegrass is like gospel.  I love to sing and play the old traditional gospel songs and rarely if ever care for new ones.

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## Amanda Gregg

> Cool Picture!  Is the guitar player on his cell phone?


That would be funny, but no, he's got his hands full  :Smile:   Click to zoom in.

These guys were GREAT by the way. 

I love that bluegrass is everywhere.  I can go to any country, any city, do a few google searches, and find new friends with whom I can have an instant connection over something we love.  I think it's these kinds of interactions that transform the casual hobbyist into a bluegrass nut (or is it just me??).

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## LongBlackVeil

> Cool Picture!  Is the guitar player on his cell phone?


Haha! It does look like he's holding a phone between his ear and shoulder, I think it's just his white undershirt though

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## jaycat

> I'm a Bluegrass man, from head to toe
> I love the sound of Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe.
> They could play real fast and sing so high,
> I'm a bluegrass man, till the day I die.
> 
> - from the pen of Russell Johnson


That one makes the baby cry.

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## JeffD

Last year I jammed with a bluegrass band from the Czech Republic. Their English was barely conversational, yet when they did the BG vocals it was great. Hard to tell they weren't from Kentucky. It was one of the most cross cultural weird fun amazing experiences of my life. 

I came to bluegrass from the mandolin. I am much more involved in old time, but I brush up with bluegrass regularly. I love the passion of the true believers. Its a joy to experience that.

And bluegrass is something else I can do with my mandolin, which is always nice.

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## tree

Because I can.   :Smile:

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## johnhgayjr

Because.....

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## Willie Poole

I love traditional bluegrass because it is simple and easy to play, I also love the three part harmonies and a person don`t have to be musically taught to join in, either with the picking or singing....It is what I would expect to hear if just happened to come across a cabin down in a backwoods southern state and the family was sitting on their porch after dinner and picking up a storm...It don`t always have to be perfect to be enjoyed....

    Willie

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## Bill13

For me, it began as a way to improve my guitar playing. I was impressed with the precision of the flatpicking.  Then I fell in love with the harmonies and the emotional depth of the lyrics.  Hooked.

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## farmerjones

Like so many have said, it's a club with a not-so-secret handshake. If you know and respect the framework, you can be part of it. To sort of quote the late John Hartford, "When you're in there, and the music's sounding good, it's like you're two eye-balls floating on the music." 

I've actually played for six hours straight, nothing to eat or drink, never repeated a tune, and it seemed like it was fifteen minutes. Can I git an Amen?

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## AlanN

> I've actually played for six hours straight, nothing to eat or drink, never repeated a tune,


Yep. And sometimes you work up a sweat. If with a solid group of pickers, it can be tune after tune after tune. Good stuff.

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## Ivan Kelsall

Well it looks like the as the Good Book says - " Seek & ye shall find ". Jerry Barrier,whom i assume is a relative, thought to put the whole of the Barrier Brothers' "Golden Bluegrass Hits" LP onto YouTube.This was the very first Bluegrass music i ever heard,recorded around 1963. The tracks on here seem to be out of order compared to the LP.
   Zip along to 20.58 for a great version of Earl's classic _"Earl's Breakdown"_, followed (after ''Cabin in the Hills'') by _"Flinthill Special"_. It was those 2 tunes that were played to me on a friend's tape recorder when i had a banjo with 4 strings on it tuned to guitar & all i could do was strum around 3 chords. My first thought was '"what the hell am i hearing !!" .I found out the following day, & the rest as they say,is history & a lot of hard practice !.It's all classic stuff & done as good as it gets (IMHO),. The great Benny Martin does the honours on the Fiddle,
                               Ivan

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## JeffD

> I've actually played for six hours straight, nothing to eat or drink, never repeated a tune, and it seemed like it was fifteen minutes. Can I git an Amen?


Amen. Jam time isn't time, its "now" for a long time.

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## Charley wild

> Well it looks like the as the Good Book says - " Seek & ye shall find ". Jerry Barrier,whom i assume is a relative, thought to put the whole of the Barrier Brothers' "Golden Bluegrass Hits" LP onto YouTube.This was the very first Bluegrass music i ever heard,recorded around 1963. The tracks on here seem to be out of order compared to the LP.
>    Zip along to 20.58 for a great version of Earl's classic _"Earl's Breakdown"_, followed (after ''Cabin in the Hills'') by _"Flinthill Special"_. It was those 2 tunes that were played to me on a friend's tape recorder when i had a banjo with 4 strings on it tuned to guitar & all i could do was strum around 3 chords. My first thought was '"what the hell am i hearing !!" .I found out the following day, & the rest as they say,is history & a lot of hard practice !.It's all classic stuff & done as good as it gets (IMHO),. The great Benny Martin does the honours on the Fiddle,
>                                Ivan


Hey Ivan, I'm from that day and thought I had heard everything there was to hear! But I never heard of these guys. Great stuff!

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## Ivan Kelsall

Hi Charley - The BB's also recorded 2 other LP's that i have - ''More Golden Bluegrass Hits'' & ''Gospel Songs Bluegrass Style'' & both are also very good. I met up with Neil Rosenberg who wrote the book "Bluegrass - a History" in Owensboro in '92.I mentioned to Neil that it was the BB's who got me switched onto Bluegrass. Neil told me he'd actually met them, & that Ernest Barrier played banjo using 'plastic' finger picks. If anyone has ever tried them,it's a bit like trying to play a piano wearing boxing gloves !. The BB's also performed under the name ''The Ozark Mt.Boys'',but i don't think they recorded anything under that name. I play 'Earl's Breakdown' & 'Flinthill Special' the way Ernest Barrier does.To me they 'flow' better than the originals- smooooooth !, & Benny Martin's fiddle breaks are just enormous !!, :Disbelief: 
                                     Ivan :Wink:

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## Charley wild

Thanks for the info, Ivan. I'll have to look into this band. Great listenin' grass! I tried plastic picks with the banjo myself. I used them off and on with the dobro so I figured it wouldn't be that different. It was! I only tried them that once.

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## Pete Martin

Cause it is fun!!

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farmerjones

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## Mandoplumb

My Dad played banjo as long as I can remember, so I was brought up on bluegrass ( we just called it "hillbilly" then) I love the drive. That's what makes it bluegrass and what is missing in "Newgrass". Some have made comments about the speed of bluegrass and some is awful fast, but listen to Flat and Scruggs and early Gentlement as well as others, the slow ones sound faster than they  are due to the drive. Good bluegrass pushes the beat on all speeds fast or slow.

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Mike Bunting

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## davidmarysmiff

Hi my main music for man y years was rock also liked punk, country, rock n roll anything but dance or jazz. Heard Hayseed Dixie about 6 years ago and loved them , through them i started to be interested in traditional  bluegrass and now i listen to about 85% bluegrass music, attend bluegrass festivals etc

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