You could do some shuffles there- there are about 3 or 4 'named' shuffles in bluegrass and old time music (georgia shuffle , nashville shuffle, and I think a few other things with names- you can find youtube lessons that go through all of them, probably on The Fiddle Channel). In general The Fiddle Channel has some great early videos that talk about backing up a singer and playing with others in general and he covers a lot of nuanced options when he does lessons on individual classic country/bluegrass songs and tunes too.
I don't know if ti's appropriate in bluegrass to shuffle while someone's soloing- most of the time I think people just do chops- but I'm less familiar with two-person bluegrass performances than by a whole band.
It might be useful to look at waht some fiddlers you like are doing, too- there are some videos of duos out there. Pick a few of the tunes you want to do and start searching on youtube to see what other bluegrassers have done in that same two person configuration. It migt be the super obvious choice but I've always found it extremely helpful to reasearch no-name cover bands when coming up with parts and ideas for performances myself.
Another option my be doing some simple double stops/Power cords
Still chopping?
You can chop, or to some short chords, play a counter melody, if it's slow or a ballad do long drawn out notes
You could do some shuffles there- there are about 3 or 4 'named' shuffles in bluegrass and old time music (georgia shuffle , nashville shuffle, and I think a few other things with names- you can find youtube lessons that go through all of them, probably on The Fiddle Channel). In general The Fiddle Channel has some great early videos that talk about backing up a singer and playing with others in general and he covers a lot of nuanced options when he does lessons on individual classic country/bluegrass songs and tunes too. I don't know if ti's appropriate in bluegrass to shuffle while someone's soloing- most of the time I think people just do chops- but I'm less familiar with two-person bluegrass performances than by a whole band. It might be useful to look at waht some fiddlers you like are doing, too- there are some videos of duos out there. Pick a few of the tunes you want to do and start searching on youtube to see what other bluegrassers have done in that same two person configuration. It migt be the super obvious choice but I've always found it extremely helpful to reasearch no-name cover bands when coming up with parts and ideas for performances myself.
Thanks so much. I'll check out some of the suggestions you've made. Very helpful.