Bluegrass goes through a renovation every twenty years or so, as the musical style is revamped with the changing of the guard. The first generation of bluegrass music began in the 1940s but when the electric guitar hit the scene, bluegrass, like every other musical genre, changed forever.

Bluegrass has its roots in folk music from the United Kingdom. Bill Monroe, who came as close to inventing the genre as anyone can claim, (the name is derived from his band “the Blue Grass Boys”) says bluegrass is “Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin’.” With the inclusion and subsequent mainstreaming of the electric guitar, it wasn’t long before bluegrass began including the new instrument.

This has made bluegrass much more familiar and friendly to people who might not have taken to listen to “old-timey” music. Electric guitars are what every kid knows equals music. Suddenly bluegrass is not stuff grandpa listens to, its music that a kid can make with his violin-playing sister and drum-playing neighbor. Bluegrass can now be expanded on by a new generation of musicians who aren’t nervous of the sound anymore.

What has the electric guitar done to bluegrass? It has launched it into a whole new universe of followers, contributors, and lovers.