The instrumentation of bluegrass music has changed very little since 1945 when Bill Monroe stepped on stage with his mandolin, accompanied by Earl Scruggs on banjo, Lester Flatt on guitar, Chubby Wise on fiddle and Cedric Rainwater on bass. The only significant addition was Flatt & Scruggs’ inclusion of the Dobro starting in the 1950s. Although the boundaries of traditional bluegrass have expanded over time, the role that each instrument plays in the band has remained tried and true for over 60 years. The only real exception has been the development of a lead voice for the guitar. Until the mid-to-late 1960s the guitar’s role in the bluegrass band was predominantly rhythm accompaniment. In the 1950s a few guitar players, most notably George Shuffler and Don Reno, played a few lead breaks, but lead guitar was rare in the early days of bluegrass. It wasn’t until the 1970s and into the 1980s that the guitar role as a lead instrument became more common.

While players like Shuffler and Reno merit recognition as the pioneers of lead guitar, the true “heroes” were performers like Doc Watson, Clarence White, Dan Crary, Norman Blake, Larry Sparks, Charles Sawtelle, Russ Barenberg, and Tony Rice. These “flatpickers” brought the guitar out of the rhythm section and, because of their work, the guitar began to be recognized as a lead instrument with its own voice and unique contribution to the bluegrass ensemble. The first generation of major flatpickers inspired a second generation of super talented guitar players that included such notables as David Grier, Tim Stafford, Kenny Smith, Bryan Sutton, Wyatt Rice, James Alan Shelton, Jim Hurst, and others who built upon the strong foundation laid down by the heroes.

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