The mandolin fills three roles at different times during a tune. In the performance of bluegrass music, each instrument has a specific part to play. The mandolin has been a core instrument in bluegrass music from the beginning, along with guitar, fiddle, banjo, upright bass, and sometimes dobro. Both the shape of the instrument and the shape of the holes affect the tone of the instrument the f-style, f-hole mandolins have the brightest, most penetrating sound, while the a-style, round holed mandolins generally have a fuller, sweeter tone. There are also two types of sound holes, the classic round or oval hole, and the more modern pair of f-holes similar to those found on a violin.
The so-called a-style mandolin has a teardrop-shaped body the f-style mandolin is more stylized, with a spiraled wooden cone on the upper side and a couple of points on the lower side. Both have flat or nearly flat backs and arched tops. Most bluegrass mandolin players choose one of two styles. Some older mandolins have relatively few frets, limiting the mandolin player's use of high notes. Old traditional mandolins with round backs, for example, are difficult to play in a standing position and are almost never used. Mandolins come in many shapes and sizes, but most are not suitable for bluegrass playing. Ĭurtis Davis plays a typical a-style mandolin in his brother's band Olen and the Bluegrass Travelers Mandolins used in bluegrass music Mandolin players in these bands took elements of Monroe's style and then added their own flavor. He and his band, the Blue Grass Boys, played at the Grand Old Opry in late 1939 to popular acclaim, and other bands began to incorporate the new "bluegrass" music into their repertoires. Monroe developed a distinctive style of mandolin playing which emphasized strong syncopation and chording, and played in keys, such as E and B, seldom used by old-time and country musicians.
Bill Monroe, a Kentucky fiddler and mandolin player, was the first to bring all of the elements of this new genre together. Īt the end of the 1930s, a new musical genre which combined Scottish and Irish fiddle tunes, blues and African American banjo with traditional American songs began to develop. In the southern United States, they began to be used in the performance of traditional mountain folk music. After a time, the mandolin orchestra craze died out, but the mandolins remained. Large numbers of mandolins were sold, particularly by the Gibson Guitar Company, which manufactured and promoted a new type of flat-backed mandolin. At the beginning of the twentieth century, mandolin orchestras were popular throughout North America.