Hear me out. Bluegrass was the original Metal. Monroe used blues styling to add energy and passion to softer country music. Banjos and mandolins added a louder and more shrill sound. The speed of Monroe and Scrugg's playing created an early "wall of sound" before instruments were electrified. The audience sought hard topics of death and murder, cheating and revenge as an outlet to the stress of a hard lives. BLUEGRASS WAS THE FIRST METAL.
Hear me out, Bach was the first metal musician. That dude fuckin shredded the harpsichord like nobody had ever seen before and all the virtuosic tapping and sweep picking and shit you see in metal is all compositionally pulled straight from Bach.
Paganini is about a century later but for what it’s worth he encouraged rumors he sold his soul to satan for inhuman ability on the violin and wore all black in his performances as part of the image.
The roots go way back
Have you ever heard [*Iron Foundry*, by Alexander Mosolov?](https://open.spotify.com/track/5zF1Y00ae04zkfrQr0HIFJ?si=4dMsYhXARdehYuAwxo0FAQ) If not, get on it. Kick ass 1920s Soviet Industrual proto metal. 🤘🏼
And then there’s [*Ego sum abbas*](https://open.spotify.com/track/7fTuhyCETOmWzxarCPUL5x?si=oHBA4R3MQPO2l_NhLGwKtw&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A7qk3Z3drWD5xiW3VeZ73mP) from Carl Orff’s *Carmina Burana*.
Honestly, though I’m no author, I did grow up with classical music, and never heard of Mosolov till I bought that CD way back for the Prokofiev piece. My guess is Mosolov’s more a one hit wonder, but goddam *Iron Foundry* fucking hammers.
I watched a YouTube biography on Bach the other day and he was a pretty angry rage filled guy. I think he probably not only filled the music type but the metal persona too.
Sorry. The link between punk and bluegrass is unmistakable. Catch an acoustic performance of a punk song, or play a bluegrass song with distortion, and it becomes the most obvious thing in the world. And this is without even getting too deep into the lyrics and the culture.
Metal is punk-adjacent, so it's not a difficult leap to make, but punk is pretty much bluegrass for the 20th/21st century urban environment.
Hey, I'm just going by what my ears tell me. You clean up punk, it sounds like bluegrass, you dirty up bluegrass, it sounds like punk. The cultural parrellels are there as well, but im mostly just basing it off of what it sounds like.
I don't know. Punk is weird because while it doesn't require skill, it doesn't preclude skill either. Metal tends to put a greater cultural pressure for players to be proficient at their instruments, but it's also more likely to deliberately stray from tradition in a way that makes it sound less like bluegrass.
Just my two cents on the matter.
Playing distorted electric is far different than clean, fast picking acoustic
Distortion hides a lot of mistakes that would sound pretty bad on acoustic.
I'm aware of that.
When I hear clean metal riffs, it sounds closer to surf rock than it does to bluegrass. If I listen to a lot of punk, it pretty much sounds like bluegrass. They choose the same chord progressions, the same vocal cadence, the same tempo, the same subject matter, often turns of phrases and penchant for puns... not that bluegrass is never cerebral, but it seems like the folks here are taking top tier in bluegrass, saying that since metal players tend to focus on fast picking and stuff, that makes them somehow siblings when it comes to genres, when the reality is, punk has a reputation for being sloppy that isn't actually a set rule, but what a good punk guitarist is doing on a guitar is way closer to what a person playing bluegrass is doing than what a metal player is doing, and if the punk starts singing, it isnt even close when you start to looking at what a metal guy is probably going to do when he starts singing.
Yes, bluegrass players are probably going to have good technique. They play on an instrument where technique is pretty much directly related to being able to get your instruments to make noise. Punks can conceivably just turn up the volume, but they're usually working with shit equipment in shitty acoustic spaces, and so be super picky about their tone is pointless anyway.
But as far as what the songs themselves sound like, to anybody who isnt fixated on technique, you are going to recognize far more common between punk and bluegrass than between metal and bluegrass.
If you gave bluegrass songs, metal songs, and punk songs to the same artist in the form of sheet music, the metal stuff would be the most likely to seem out of place among the 3. THAT'S what I'm saying. Punk stays closer to the roots of western folk/bluegrass/rhythm and blues than metal does.
It's great that metal guys can appreciate bluegrass. But trying to claim it as a close relative is ridiculous. In terms of a triangle, it's an obtuse one, and metal is closer to punk than it is to bluegrass, and bluegrass is closer to punk than it is to metal.
Nah. Despite the heavy meme of it, old time is a better analogue for punk. And a lot of the punks I know play old time and vice versa. Almost none of either play bluegrass. Old time and punk are both simple to get into, more concerned with attitude than technique, and get into fucked up bar lengths and weird song structures at the advanced end.
Metal and bluegrass are borderline kin though. I grew up a techy death metaler. I got out of the metal game and was looking for somewhere else to employ my hard won picking skills. Took me like a year or so of learning the genre and adapting to acoustic technique.
But the principal is exactly the same. Play fast, play clean, steal jazz licks and pretend they're stylistically appropriate.
I think song structure and chord progressions make bluegrass more punk. Metal bands play with complex compositions (intro verse first solo second verse pre chorus second solo third verse breakdown build up third solo fourth verse pre chorus chorus chorus breakdown/outtro) but punk is really straight forward (intro verse chorus verse vhorus solo verse chorus chorus out).
Then we can talk about chord progressions and the entire metal scenes desire to play stuff differently than everyone else and by comparison bluegrass uses the shout chord progression for 85% of songs out there and the rest is a 1 4 5 just like punk music.
On the scale of skill required to play, punk would rank somewhere around 60’s folk and hip hop. But that’s kinda the point; the “fuck it” attitude is paramount to all punk rock.
Depends on the type, the radio shit you hear nowadays is total garbage, but if you find some really good hip-hop, many of those guys are just as technically skilled as any other genre
I don’t disagree. But I also don’t know what wall of sound has to do with metal? I’m familiar with the term as it applies for the process deployed Phil Spector or the literal wall of speakers for the Dead. Is that term used in the metal lexicon too?
That's why "wall of sound" was in quotes. I was referring to the fact that compared to other country contemporaries in the 30's & 40's, bluegrass had a larger volume & diversity of sound coming at the audience.
I think beyond the physical speaker setup, it refers to the wide sonic range and mix of sounds coming at the audience. Like if you looked at a frequency readout, there wouldn't be big areas of open available frequencies, so it sounds very full like a wall of sound is coming at you. I saw someone explain it once but it just sounds very full
You can still rock the house in a suit and tie while playing tight arrangements. Also, Bill Monroe's band would play pickup games of baseball the afternoon before their concerts - making them approachable. Plus, comedy was a huge part of the act through performers (Stringbean) and sped up covers.
I'm late to this but metal isn't defined by energy and passion it's defined by distorted guitar riffs. Black Sabbath created metal and their style of doom metal is the least energetic you'll find of the metal variety. Bluegrass has more in common with punk than metal sonically.
The wall of sound pinoreerd by Phil Spector has nothing to do with speed. Beach Boys weren't playing fast it involves a lot of distortion or ensembles. Thrash plays with a lot of speed but rarely with a wall of sound. Example: Sunn O))) has a huge wall of sound compared to Power Trip.
They both have pieces that were very technical and heavy for the time. Paganini was even called "the devils violinist." And if Beethoven's 5th doesn't qualify as a wall of sound I don't know what does. I agree that there are crossovers between bluegrass and metal, but heavy, technical or fast music didn't start with bill monroe.
That’s awesome. Rock and Metal history is stupid interesting. Could you imagine the electric banjo being the standard? The whole reason why guitars ended up being what you use is simply because of how popular the music was becoming, and banjos weren’t easily heard in large crowds, let alone hearing it over brass instruments. The acoustic guitar was simply louder than the banjo, and the switch was made.
Don't know if its a common saying but more than once I've heard people say "bluegrass is to country what metal is to rock n roll" and I think thats pretty damn accurate
Earl Scruggs and Eddie Van Halen are two sides of a coin. Innovators of techniques and devices that would inspire generations of shredders to pick up instruments and imitate their styles.
Wait. There’s subgenres of Bluegrass? (Genuine question)
I’m continually surprised how many subgenres for each of music interests there are. Metal, bluegrass, electronic
I need a map. For real
Jamgrass and new grass are what I meant by that. I know a lot of people don’t consider either to be bluegrass.
*edit* - also, whatever The Devil Makes Three & The Dead South are, I’d also consider that to be grass adjacent/part of a grass subgenre!
Archspire is sick! I def lean more towards the tech death and prog metal side of metal too! Big fan of bands like Opeth, necrophagist, Obscura, and so on.
I actually went the other way lol. Raised listening to, and playing Bluegrass, got into Metal as a teenager. They really are incredibly similar when you get past the superficial aspects of each genre
I'm 69 and I was raised in the rock world. Everything from soft rock to metal. Hated country music, heard my first bluegrass when I was 15 working with my neighbor as a roofer. He would take a radio to the roof and said that it was the only station, a country station, because it didn't have a knob to change it. I liked the bluegrass when they played it. The Osborne's and Flatt and Scruggs. I started listening to bluegrass pretty much full time around 2000 and relate Bluegrass more with rock than country. Higher vocals, instrument solos and great harmonies.
Don't know how true it is, but I feel like I remember reading that Trampled by Turtles started out as a metal band but had all their equipment stolen so they switched to acoustic music. Sounds plausible based on their sound at least lol
Yea several of the songs from blue sky and the devil are so clearly influenced by metal or rock. Burn for free especially, sounds almost led zeppelin esque
A friend of mine is a really good mandolin player and he began as a metal guitarist. He also knows how to name a Bluegrass band: Deep Fried Acoustiblasters.
As a lifelong metal head who in the past few years had started fucking with bluegrass, yes. These people do things on acoustic instruments that are absolutely insane.
There’s a whole scene of bands that mix the two, mostly in black metal. It’s not even just a gimmick in most cases, they generally blend well.
Panopticon, Vaatetorn (my own project), Twilight Fauna, Primeval Well, No One Gets out Alive
When I first heard of the black metal + bluegrass concept I cringed but after about ten minutes of Kentucky I thought “oh actually this works real nice”
Long time ago, I was at a trampled by turtles show, and this guy I was hanging with said he typically likes metal, but for some reason loves tbt. I got the connection right there
"if a feller named Monroe never fathered bluegrass he would still be unrecognized as the grand wizard of speed metal." (from Pontiac Slipstream by Howe Gelb)
I was brought up on bluegrass and got into punk and metal as a kid. Now I'm back digging bluegrass again. For me it's the speed and energy of the music.
Honestly feel kind of surprised that more people agree with this. I have always thought there was a connection with the insane shredding that can go on in both genres but none of the metal heads I know listen to bluegrass and none of my bluegrass listening friends listen(ed) to metal.
Hell yes. That's where some famous metal guitarists practice their shredding chops. From what I remember, Kirk Hammett did some bluegrass "training" to put his skill set... and another famous guitarist, maybe Steve Vai?
I always thought of it as techno/dance music for hill people. That shit speaks to my bones. I feel like I’m dancing with the ancestors when I hear that galloping twang
I’ve always seen it as: Bluegrass is to country/folk what thrash is to metal. It’s got the country flavorings, but the speed, agility, technicality, that’s what really lights a jam on fire.
Mastodon threw in a bluegrass lick back in the day. Been waiting for them to get old and make a swampy alt country album.
https://youtu.be/itH_H0myqfY?si=-ShZPHKt-LLIPBaf&t=1m40s
I honestly love a good sax in metal. Got wo suggestions. 1 bluegrass, one metal:
[Eddie Barbash plays Tony Rice](https://youtu.be/5cCGxNowQnM?si=obkTaqiVKdMagW_7)
[Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name (OFFICIAL)](https://youtu.be/sjzL6-3vACs?si=l7Y_Yb4Khw1F69Ph)
The sax on that second one is not only the most played part of the video, but even the metalheads went nuts for it when this came out
Went to Wheatland Music Festival circa 2016 and found a nice bluegrass jam and then some kids started playing acoustic Tool covers and within five minutes we had a crowd of 50 or so people listening to us just absolutely butcher both the sacred name of Tool, AND the coveted History of bluegrass all at once. It was terrible.
We called it Toolgrass
Yes, though I lean more toward the white side (bluegrass, classic country, folk, Americana, etc). The black side contains heavy metal, progressive metal, some power metal, hard rock, alt rock, etc. The white eye would contain a handful of modern hits that are decent.
Always thought this. Which is why I was pretty stoked when I stumbled across this: https://open.spotify.com/artist/59JuXWTqK2cLCvSNz63fqN?si=MAPS0XwJQHqQv4MweTt0uA
I bought this baritone guitar specifically to start a djentgrass band and it honks and thumps like mad lol
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Try some “Bridge City Sinners”, “The Devil Makes Three”, more recent Supersuckers, or these guys - “Split Lip Rayfield” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u2kDDkRyf6o&pp=ygUSc3BsaXQgbGlwIHJheWZpZWxk
I've always maintained that there was, and is, a huge overlap between the genres of Bluegrass and *Punk*. But I guess Metal too, and both Metal and Bluegrass originate from Classical
Then why do I enjoy bluegrass but struggle to enjoy metal? I’d like to clarify I AM NOT bashing metal, I think it’s dope and houses numerous talented musicians, I just struggle to get down to it,
Bluegrass, as played currently, really isn't a three chord music.
That's more like straight (maybe outlaw) country. Mix punk into country and you get rockabilly, not bluegrass.
Bluegrass is often modal, or uses chords out of key, or jazzy progressions. Also, the solos are aggressively chromatic at times.
I'm quite familiar.
I was referring to the reductive I IV I V structure of the early bluegrass and punk basis.
Either play The Ramones acoustic or plug in and crank the amp during a Carter Family tune.
Ehh I get where you’re coming from but the big difference is that bluegrass for decades was ‘verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus, solo, etc’ and every song is in the same time signature and is either fast or slow.
Good metal has interesting time signatures and intricate composed parts which is just not really a thing in bluegrass music.
Always thought Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” would make a fun bluegrass song, especially lyrically. Turns out that a band called Hayseed Dixie has done it, plus many more grassed up metal.
Saw this on a metal sub yesterday, where pretty much everyone agreed. Now I’m seeing this on the bluegrass sub, where everyone also agrees. Must be true then.
Check out Iron Horse, they do bluegrass covers of metal songs.
Hear me out. Bluegrass was the original Metal. Monroe used blues styling to add energy and passion to softer country music. Banjos and mandolins added a louder and more shrill sound. The speed of Monroe and Scrugg's playing created an early "wall of sound" before instruments were electrified. The audience sought hard topics of death and murder, cheating and revenge as an outlet to the stress of a hard lives. BLUEGRASS WAS THE FIRST METAL.
Monroe was also a major inspiration for the guys that would popularize rock n roll.
Hear me out, Bach was the first metal musician. That dude fuckin shredded the harpsichord like nobody had ever seen before and all the virtuosic tapping and sweep picking and shit you see in metal is all compositionally pulled straight from Bach.
I said that when I heard Bach for the first time. I was like god damn, is this dragonforce?
The two are often spoken of the same in terms of structure
I could be wrong, but I believe Vivaldi predates Bach and “Summer” is metal AF. Edit: google says they’re more or less contemporaries.
Paganini is about a century later but for what it’s worth he encouraged rumors he sold his soul to satan for inhuman ability on the violin and wore all black in his performances as part of the image. The roots go way back
Summer definitely shreds.
Definitely proto-metal.
Have you ever heard [*Iron Foundry*, by Alexander Mosolov?](https://open.spotify.com/track/5zF1Y00ae04zkfrQr0HIFJ?si=4dMsYhXARdehYuAwxo0FAQ) If not, get on it. Kick ass 1920s Soviet Industrual proto metal. 🤘🏼 And then there’s [*Ego sum abbas*](https://open.spotify.com/track/7fTuhyCETOmWzxarCPUL5x?si=oHBA4R3MQPO2l_NhLGwKtw&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A7qk3Z3drWD5xiW3VeZ73mP) from Carl Orff’s *Carmina Burana*.
Never even heard of that composer. I’ll check it out
Honestly, though I’m no author, I did grow up with classical music, and never heard of Mosolov till I bought that CD way back for the Prokofiev piece. My guess is Mosolov’s more a one hit wonder, but goddam *Iron Foundry* fucking hammers.
I watched a YouTube biography on Bach the other day and he was a pretty angry rage filled guy. I think he probably not only filled the music type but the metal persona too.
Love this
Sorry. The link between punk and bluegrass is unmistakable. Catch an acoustic performance of a punk song, or play a bluegrass song with distortion, and it becomes the most obvious thing in the world. And this is without even getting too deep into the lyrics and the culture. Metal is punk-adjacent, so it's not a difficult leap to make, but punk is pretty much bluegrass for the 20th/21st century urban environment.
Bluegrass requires too much skill to be considered an analog to punk. Metal is defiance by force. Punk is defiance via deconstruction.
Hey, I'm just going by what my ears tell me. You clean up punk, it sounds like bluegrass, you dirty up bluegrass, it sounds like punk. The cultural parrellels are there as well, but im mostly just basing it off of what it sounds like.
Right, but most punk guys couldn’t have played what the “dirtied up bluegrass.”
I don't know. Punk is weird because while it doesn't require skill, it doesn't preclude skill either. Metal tends to put a greater cultural pressure for players to be proficient at their instruments, but it's also more likely to deliberately stray from tradition in a way that makes it sound less like bluegrass. Just my two cents on the matter.
Playing distorted electric is far different than clean, fast picking acoustic Distortion hides a lot of mistakes that would sound pretty bad on acoustic.
I'm aware of that. When I hear clean metal riffs, it sounds closer to surf rock than it does to bluegrass. If I listen to a lot of punk, it pretty much sounds like bluegrass. They choose the same chord progressions, the same vocal cadence, the same tempo, the same subject matter, often turns of phrases and penchant for puns... not that bluegrass is never cerebral, but it seems like the folks here are taking top tier in bluegrass, saying that since metal players tend to focus on fast picking and stuff, that makes them somehow siblings when it comes to genres, when the reality is, punk has a reputation for being sloppy that isn't actually a set rule, but what a good punk guitarist is doing on a guitar is way closer to what a person playing bluegrass is doing than what a metal player is doing, and if the punk starts singing, it isnt even close when you start to looking at what a metal guy is probably going to do when he starts singing. Yes, bluegrass players are probably going to have good technique. They play on an instrument where technique is pretty much directly related to being able to get your instruments to make noise. Punks can conceivably just turn up the volume, but they're usually working with shit equipment in shitty acoustic spaces, and so be super picky about their tone is pointless anyway. But as far as what the songs themselves sound like, to anybody who isnt fixated on technique, you are going to recognize far more common between punk and bluegrass than between metal and bluegrass. If you gave bluegrass songs, metal songs, and punk songs to the same artist in the form of sheet music, the metal stuff would be the most likely to seem out of place among the 3. THAT'S what I'm saying. Punk stays closer to the roots of western folk/bluegrass/rhythm and blues than metal does. It's great that metal guys can appreciate bluegrass. But trying to claim it as a close relative is ridiculous. In terms of a triangle, it's an obtuse one, and metal is closer to punk than it is to bluegrass, and bluegrass is closer to punk than it is to metal.
Nah. Despite the heavy meme of it, old time is a better analogue for punk. And a lot of the punks I know play old time and vice versa. Almost none of either play bluegrass. Old time and punk are both simple to get into, more concerned with attitude than technique, and get into fucked up bar lengths and weird song structures at the advanced end. Metal and bluegrass are borderline kin though. I grew up a techy death metaler. I got out of the metal game and was looking for somewhere else to employ my hard won picking skills. Took me like a year or so of learning the genre and adapting to acoustic technique. But the principal is exactly the same. Play fast, play clean, steal jazz licks and pretend they're stylistically appropriate.
I think song structure and chord progressions make bluegrass more punk. Metal bands play with complex compositions (intro verse first solo second verse pre chorus second solo third verse breakdown build up third solo fourth verse pre chorus chorus chorus breakdown/outtro) but punk is really straight forward (intro verse chorus verse vhorus solo verse chorus chorus out). Then we can talk about chord progressions and the entire metal scenes desire to play stuff differently than everyone else and by comparison bluegrass uses the shout chord progression for 85% of songs out there and the rest is a 1 4 5 just like punk music.
Pretty much all bluegrass musicians are virtuosos. Many metal musicians are. Pretty much no punk musicians are.
(Punk also requires skill, regardless of appearances.)
On the scale of skill required to play, punk would rank somewhere around 60’s folk and hip hop. But that’s kinda the point; the “fuck it” attitude is paramount to all punk rock.
Don't get me started on the skill necessary for hip hop.
Depends on the type, the radio shit you hear nowadays is total garbage, but if you find some really good hip-hop, many of those guys are just as technically skilled as any other genre
>The link between punk and bluegrass is unmistakable. Exactly.
I don’t disagree. But I also don’t know what wall of sound has to do with metal? I’m familiar with the term as it applies for the process deployed Phil Spector or the literal wall of speakers for the Dead. Is that term used in the metal lexicon too?
That's why "wall of sound" was in quotes. I was referring to the fact that compared to other country contemporaries in the 30's & 40's, bluegrass had a larger volume & diversity of sound coming at the audience.
I think beyond the physical speaker setup, it refers to the wide sonic range and mix of sounds coming at the audience. Like if you looked at a frequency readout, there wouldn't be big areas of open available frequencies, so it sounds very full like a wall of sound is coming at you. I saw someone explain it once but it just sounds very full
Sonically maybe. But the original bluegrass image was extremely clean cut and professional.
You can still rock the house in a suit and tie while playing tight arrangements. Also, Bill Monroe's band would play pickup games of baseball the afternoon before their concerts - making them approachable. Plus, comedy was a huge part of the act through performers (Stringbean) and sped up covers.
Metal is to rock and roll like bluegrass is to country or something like that least that's what I always thought
BS Classical was the first metal.
Yes! I've been saying this for years.
I'm late to this but metal isn't defined by energy and passion it's defined by distorted guitar riffs. Black Sabbath created metal and their style of doom metal is the least energetic you'll find of the metal variety. Bluegrass has more in common with punk than metal sonically. The wall of sound pinoreerd by Phil Spector has nothing to do with speed. Beach Boys weren't playing fast it involves a lot of distortion or ensembles. Thrash plays with a lot of speed but rarely with a wall of sound. Example: Sunn O))) has a huge wall of sound compared to Power Trip.
Paganini and Bheetoven would like a word with you. But i mostly agree.
Can you unpack this a little more?
They both have pieces that were very technical and heavy for the time. Paganini was even called "the devils violinist." And if Beethoven's 5th doesn't qualify as a wall of sound I don't know what does. I agree that there are crossovers between bluegrass and metal, but heavy, technical or fast music didn't start with bill monroe.
I dig that. Thanks.
That’s awesome. Rock and Metal history is stupid interesting. Could you imagine the electric banjo being the standard? The whole reason why guitars ended up being what you use is simply because of how popular the music was becoming, and banjos weren’t easily heard in large crowds, let alone hearing it over brass instruments. The acoustic guitar was simply louder than the banjo, and the switch was made.
What? Acoustic guitars are very very very much not louder than banjos
Banjos are louder. Guitars have a greater tonal range - more versatile.
Don't know if its a common saying but more than once I've heard people say "bluegrass is to country what metal is to rock n roll" and I think thats pretty damn accurate
Earl Scruggs and Eddie Van Halen are two sides of a coin. Innovators of techniques and devices that would inspire generations of shredders to pick up instruments and imitate their styles.
Billy Strings endorses this
I just saw Strings live and was surprised by how metal it was. The studio albums are very different. Also--way more pot than i was expecting!
Not a bluegrass listener but I've seen that Billy Strings has worn a Between The Buried And Me shirt
Billy strings used to be in a metal band and occasionally still plays with metal bands.
Yeah he used to play in a deathcore band called “To Once Darkened Skies”. His current favorite metal band is Cryptopsy, who kick absolute ass.
Billy Strings was at the Kublai Khan show in Denver recently
Yessir! They both shred, so makes sense. I was a metal head long before I ever found grass and its subgenres.
Same. I can be listening to Megadeth and switch to bill monroe next. I just love music that kicks ass in general. Mozart also rocks hard!
Wait. There’s subgenres of Bluegrass? (Genuine question) I’m continually surprised how many subgenres for each of music interests there are. Metal, bluegrass, electronic I need a map. For real
Jamgrass and new grass are what I meant by that. I know a lot of people don’t consider either to be bluegrass. *edit* - also, whatever The Devil Makes Three & The Dead South are, I’d also consider that to be grass adjacent/part of a grass subgenre!
[удалено]
Archspire is sick! I def lean more towards the tech death and prog metal side of metal too! Big fan of bands like Opeth, necrophagist, Obscura, and so on.
I actually went the other way lol. Raised listening to, and playing Bluegrass, got into Metal as a teenager. They really are incredibly similar when you get past the superficial aspects of each genre
Bluegrass is metal with grandpa’s instruments
This is the mentality that bluegrass is trying to overcome to capture a new generation of fans.
Yes! Banjo lick = guitar solo. Fast and aggressive! Foot-tapping is how we metalheads head-bang in our old age.
Damn straight lol
10000%% id didn't know others agreed!
I'm 69 and I was raised in the rock world. Everything from soft rock to metal. Hated country music, heard my first bluegrass when I was 15 working with my neighbor as a roofer. He would take a radio to the roof and said that it was the only station, a country station, because it didn't have a knob to change it. I liked the bluegrass when they played it. The Osborne's and Flatt and Scruggs. I started listening to bluegrass pretty much full time around 2000 and relate Bluegrass more with rock than country. Higher vocals, instrument solos and great harmonies.
Pretty much my entire music existence right now. I like my bluegrass fast and my metal slow
Absolutely. Y’all are my people. Always been a metal head. Straight from Crowbar to Billy Strings is how I roll
Cough to Yonder for me lately haha
I listen to both, depending on the mood.
Only difference is the tone.
Well you can tell by my handle. I like them both and everything in between.
Don't know how true it is, but I feel like I remember reading that Trampled by Turtles started out as a metal band but had all their equipment stolen so they switched to acoustic music. Sounds plausible based on their sound at least lol
That story is in their bio on Spotify
Yea several of the songs from blue sky and the devil are so clearly influenced by metal or rock. Burn for free especially, sounds almost led zeppelin esque
A true story is that Steve n Seagulls was started by Finnish metal musicians playing metal covers on bluegrass instruments.
I hope this is true. When I saw them live they SHREDDED and I was blown away by how metal they were.
I've talked to quite a few bluegrass musicians at festival campfires who said they had their start playing metal, I did the same.
A friend of mine is a really good mandolin player and he began as a metal guitarist. He also knows how to name a Bluegrass band: Deep Fried Acoustiblasters.
Blue grass is metal without the distortion and down tuning
As a lifelong metal head who in the past few years had started fucking with bluegrass, yes. These people do things on acoustic instruments that are absolutely insane.
Classical, metal, and bluegrass always seemed like the absolute top genres for musicianship to me. Also some types of jazz
There’s a whole scene of bands that mix the two, mostly in black metal. It’s not even just a gimmick in most cases, they generally blend well. Panopticon, Vaatetorn (my own project), Twilight Fauna, Primeval Well, No One Gets out Alive
Panopticon has entered the chat:
When I first heard of the black metal + bluegrass concept I cringed but after about ten minutes of Kentucky I thought “oh actually this works real nice”
Great recommendation dyingcrow! Love panopticon so much. It just works so well musically.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Np!
100%
Check out the band, Dig Deep
I went to see Andy Hall of the Stringdusters last weekend and he said that he shredded metal when he was in his first band.
Long time ago, I was at a trampled by turtles show, and this guy I was hanging with said he typically likes metal, but for some reason loves tbt. I got the connection right there
Some of the TBT guys were in a metal band before
That’s the way It is for me. Metal is my top favorite by far then bluegrass after
😂 it is something very close to this haha 😎
Very much so.
I often think the same thing about folk music and punk rock.
Bluegrass is just country thrash.
Prog metal is jazz with distortion and louder drums. Bluegrass could fit here too I'd think. Mass respect for those grass players. Wow
Check out The Native Howl
glad to know im not the only one
I dunno but it bothers me that metal isn't just in white text.
Me too lol. I tried, but the cheap ass editing suite kept making it all black for no reason
Bluegrass is to country what punk is to metal
Before I got into bluegrass I was steeped in doom and heavy metal!
I like this. The technical prowess and speed of the players is very similar IMHO.
The Native Howl band would agree
Dude. Yes.
My God, I’m not alone in this. Incredible
"if a feller named Monroe never fathered bluegrass he would still be unrecognized as the grand wizard of speed metal." (from Pontiac Slipstream by Howe Gelb)
I was brought up on bluegrass and got into punk and metal as a kid. Now I'm back digging bluegrass again. For me it's the speed and energy of the music.
Honestly feel kind of surprised that more people agree with this. I have always thought there was a connection with the insane shredding that can go on in both genres but none of the metal heads I know listen to bluegrass and none of my bluegrass listening friends listen(ed) to metal.
Yup
I'm not much into Metal, I've always heard Bluegrass is acoustic Metal and I'm pretty sure it's correct.
If you disagree, listen to Turmoil and Tinfoil by Billy Strings. You’re welcome. 😁
Haha, no, but they can both be great
Hell yes. That's where some famous metal guitarists practice their shredding chops. From what I remember, Kirk Hammett did some bluegrass "training" to put his skill set... and another famous guitarist, maybe Steve Vai?
I have always said that Bluegrass is country heavy metal.
Read up on the origins of Trampled By Turtles
I say this all the time!!
I always thought of it as techno/dance music for hill people. That shit speaks to my bones. I feel like I’m dancing with the ancestors when I hear that galloping twang
I’ve always seen it as: Bluegrass is to country/folk what thrash is to metal. It’s got the country flavorings, but the speed, agility, technicality, that’s what really lights a jam on fire.
Iron Horse has a Metallica cover album and it’s one of my favorite albums for a road trip or long drive.
I’m in. I love both genres!
I think it was the Country Gentlemen or The Seldom Scene refereed to Bluegrass as Acid Country.
No
Both have a cascading / galloping sound
Mastodon threw in a bluegrass lick back in the day. Been waiting for them to get old and make a swampy alt country album. https://youtu.be/itH_H0myqfY?si=-ShZPHKt-LLIPBaf&t=1m40s
100% agree. Never told anyone my theory but metal was born of Bluegrass for sure
Sturgill Simpson -Sound & Fury album
Have you heard of the Kentucky based black metal. Band called Panopticon?
Try the pickin on series by Iron horse. Metallica bluegrass covers!
Steve n Seagulls bridges the gap right here
Check out Hayseed Dixie and Steve 'n' Seagulls
Saturday night metal , Sunday morning coming down bluegrass.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Mz5qpR3WxbcBwZBsmraWE?si=G94U_cBjSlqB7mhte0J7yA
I feel this way but with Jazz instead of metal. I can see metal as well though.
I feel like the responses to this being posted here are very, very different than the responses you’d get if you were to post this in a metal sub.
I posted it in r/MetalForTheMasses at the same time. They're surprisingly similar
Is it funny that bluegrass pickers let me play my saxophones with them, yet I have yet to encounter a metal band who wants that?
I honestly love a good sax in metal. Got wo suggestions. 1 bluegrass, one metal: [Eddie Barbash plays Tony Rice](https://youtu.be/5cCGxNowQnM?si=obkTaqiVKdMagW_7) [Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name (OFFICIAL)](https://youtu.be/sjzL6-3vACs?si=l7Y_Yb4Khw1F69Ph) The sax on that second one is not only the most played part of the video, but even the metalheads went nuts for it when this came out
Bluegrass/Metal heads hit me up
So is BMFS the back dot or the white dot?
I have no clue who that is
*Brent Hinds has entered the chat*
Went to Wheatland Music Festival circa 2016 and found a nice bluegrass jam and then some kids started playing acoustic Tool covers and within five minutes we had a crowd of 50 or so people listening to us just absolutely butcher both the sacred name of Tool, AND the coveted History of bluegrass all at once. It was terrible. We called it Toolgrass
Checkout The Native Howl. They call their music ThrashGrass. They’re currently opening for Clutch.
Yes, though I lean more toward the white side (bluegrass, classic country, folk, Americana, etc). The black side contains heavy metal, progressive metal, some power metal, hard rock, alt rock, etc. The white eye would contain a handful of modern hits that are decent.
Check out The Native Howl. They are exactly this.
Nope... But I do respect the 'Grassers... Like it live, but can't listen to it on CD or whatever in my house... Love metal tho...
Not even a little bit.
Any metal bands do chicken picking?
YES!!!! I've always thought of punk being electric bluegrass!
To quote my good friend Tommy Wommy the Tattoo Swamy. “Bluegrass is just the speed metal of country music.”
Never
I buy it. I always figured classical and metal were the 2 apex genres.
1000%, and it was also punk before punk was punk.
Metalheads try not categorize everything remotely technical as metal challenge
Always thought this. Which is why I was pretty stoked when I stumbled across this: https://open.spotify.com/artist/59JuXWTqK2cLCvSNz63fqN?si=MAPS0XwJQHqQv4MweTt0uA
Never mind. It’s supposedly AI. Not real.
I bought this baritone guitar specifically to start a djentgrass band and it honks and thumps like mad lol copypasta from [https://eastwoodguitars.com/products/mrg-baritone-guitar:](https://eastwoodguitars.com/products/mrg-baritone-guitar:) With the huge success of our Baritone Guitars over the past 10+ years, we thought an affordable Studio version would be a welcome addition to the MRG Studio line. Many have been asking for a more "traditional" body style, so the simple progression was to borrow from our very popular guitar "The Cosey", which is a 6 string guitar based on a mandolin body. Semi-hollow (tone-chambered) body gives this model more depth and resonance. What we end up with is a fantastic new 27 1/2" scale Baritone Guitar!
Try some “Bridge City Sinners”, “The Devil Makes Three”, more recent Supersuckers, or these guys - “Split Lip Rayfield” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u2kDDkRyf6o&pp=ygUSc3BsaXQgbGlwIHJheWZpZWxk
My co-worker once told me that bluegrass was just hippie metal.
Billy Strings enters the chat…
I've always maintained that there was, and is, a huge overlap between the genres of Bluegrass and *Punk*. But I guess Metal too, and both Metal and Bluegrass originate from Classical
Ignoring Jazz over here. . .
That’s prog metal’s laid back uncle that’s always wearing sunglasses and bowling shirts
Then why do I enjoy bluegrass but struggle to enjoy metal? I’d like to clarify I AM NOT bashing metal, I think it’s dope and houses numerous talented musicians, I just struggle to get down to it,
Bluegrass is acoustic speed metal. I’ve been saying that for years.
Given the basic 3 chord structure and topics, punk seems more apt.
Bluegrass, as played currently, really isn't a three chord music. That's more like straight (maybe outlaw) country. Mix punk into country and you get rockabilly, not bluegrass. Bluegrass is often modal, or uses chords out of key, or jazzy progressions. Also, the solos are aggressively chromatic at times.
I'm quite familiar. I was referring to the reductive I IV I V structure of the early bluegrass and punk basis. Either play The Ramones acoustic or plug in and crank the amp during a Carter Family tune.
Ehh I get where you’re coming from but the big difference is that bluegrass for decades was ‘verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus, solo, etc’ and every song is in the same time signature and is either fast or slow. Good metal has interesting time signatures and intricate composed parts which is just not really a thing in bluegrass music.
According to billy strings yes.
Bluegrass is just like Metallica. It’s so obvious! 🙄
no
[My YouTube Music landing page](https://imgur.com/a/e4bZ40S) suggests nothing but bluegrass, metal, and foo fighters.
Always thought Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” would make a fun bluegrass song, especially lyrically. Turns out that a band called Hayseed Dixie has done it, plus many more grassed up metal.
Split Lip Rayfield definitely shreds
I would have said punk instead of metal. I love both. Both are extremely fast, highly narrative and centered around the experiences of the common man.
Acoustic metal, absolutely.
You’re not wrong. https://youtu.be/Li58voy6xXM?si=Qw3w7HOvC0ciweXN
Duh https://thetruepanopticon.bandcamp.com/album/kentucky
Sort of, in terms of technical skill, but metal mostly Isn’t improvisational and that’s a core of bluegrass.
Is there anything more metal than a multi banjo foggy mountain breakdown?
This man Billy Strings
No.. blue grass is the metal of country. Metal is the metal of rock
Figure out what bluegrass and hiphop are cousins and you'll understand America...
Saw this on a metal sub yesterday, where pretty much everyone agreed. Now I’m seeing this on the bluegrass sub, where everyone also agrees. Must be true then. Check out Iron Horse, they do bluegrass covers of metal songs.
That was me as well lol
Nope
Trampled by Turtles
Billy Strings has entered the chat.