Bluegrass Workshop Review
On 5 November, Tony Richardson and Marg Monaghan on bass led a group of 16 ukulele players through a bluegrass jam and a workshop. They promised to explore the basics of bluegrass on the ukulele and play lots of bluegrass songs
Tony, Marg and Kevin
In case you missed the workshop, bluegrass is a blend of traditional Americana styles that became prevalent around the 1940’s. It’s a unique style of acoustic instruments overlaid with vocal harmonies. It’s not gospel, it’s not blues, it’s not country, it’s not jazz and it’s not Trad (traditional), but it has elements of all of these styles… It’s bluegrass.
If you have never heard bluegrass have a listen to this link
Here’s some feedback from some of the players who attended.
John: The workshop catered for a wide range of abilities. There were no complicated chords – It was all in the strum patterns. Entertaining!
Pam: It was a lovely evening. The bluegrass rhythms united everyone and we all had a lot of fun.
Jen: I came with my sister because she likes bluegrass. This was my first time playing in a large group. It was so much fun playing and learning with like-minded people.
Bob: As an ex-banjo player, I’ve always liked bluegrass. Tony’s instruction recapped what was in his last workshop, but I learnt some more tricks. I’d like to be able to improvise like Bluegrass players do in the breaks.
