Bluegrass Music has been around for over 100 years in America.
Though it was not originally called Bluegrass.
The name 'Bluegrass' was penned by Bill Monroe, who is often credited with its rise in popularity.
Though the heart and soul of this musical genre goes all the way back to at least the 1800's.
Bluegrass music developed with the help of Irish immigrants who brought their celtic flavor of music to America's Southlands, particularly rural Appalachia.
The Irish music, and instruments blended well with the homegrown instruments that the Southerners developed.
 Many times the instruments were homemade, or improvised items to keep a tempo to the music being played.
Pretty much everyone who had a desire to play, became part of the overall musical sound.
Music could be made with bones from dead animals, or pieces of hard wood.
Commonly called 'bones', these are held in pairs in each hand and are used as a percussion instrument.
They are very handy at helping to keep the time and the tempo of the music.
Bones are becoming popular again and are typically made from the rib bones of bovines.
Though sometimes very dense hardwoods are used, and even tempered with fire to increase the 'ring' and percussive nature of the sound.
Glass or pottery jugs that were blown into.
These jugs would sometimes be partially filled with water, or other liquids, to change the size of the open space inside, thus changing the sound that results from blowing sideways across the opening of the vessel.
Common household spoons.
A pair of these were held in one hand, and were then 'slapped' or tapped on the other hand, knees, thighs, or various places on the player's body to achieve different tones and percussive sounds.
A scrub board designed for washing clothes.
These were held in an upright position against the player's chest.
A metal utensil, pick, and even finger picks were used to brush up and down against the 'waves' in the scrub board's surface.
When this is done to a tempo it adds another percussive sound to the mixture of music.
A 'jaw harp' that has a piece of spring steel that is plucked while being held between ones teeth.
This plucking action results in a tonal vibration that reverberates through the players mouth.
By changing the shape and size of the oral cavity different sounds, notes, and so forth are created.
There again this instrument adds a percussive nature to the music being played.
Almost anything that would make noise, especially noise that can be controlled in its tempo, or can be played to replicate notes and chords, was used by these musicians.
Metal, glass, or ceramic objects that would rattle together to make a musical tone.
Pieces of very hard, or hardened, hard woods that can be simply struck together.
Virtually anything that will make noise that can be controlled to the tune and tempo of the music.
Folks would gather together on a neighbor's porch, in barns, or even around a firepit in an open field.
The music, camaraderie, and fellowship with family and neighbors would carry on long into the wee hours of the morning.
Sometimes gatherings and festivals today will take up entire 3 and 4 day weekends, up to full weeklong events.
In the State of Georgia, there is a series of Mountain Festivals every summer.
These are an excellent way to experience the music, the performers, other fans, and if you don't mind spending a little time traveling around the State, you can literally spend your summer at many different events.
I'm sure that other States in the South offer a similar choice of events, I just happen to be familiar with those in the State of Georgia.
Of course more 'sophisticated' instruments were used as well in this down home style of music.
Typically a guitar, a fiddle, a bass guitar, a mandolin, and a banjo.
Though not all these instruments were available at every gathering, there was typically a good mix of various instruments to provide the entertainment.
The gathering of musicians typically will congregate around 2 or more of these instruments.
If the number of musicians becomes too great, they simply break off into smaller groups, allow an appropriate amount of space between them and start again.
The Banjo:   The 5-string banjo has the reputation for being the only musical instrument developed in America.
All other instruments have their origins in other parts of the world.
Including the banjo, which usually had 3 or 4 strings.
The original banjo was brought to the U.
S.
during the slave trading years.
Banjo types of instruments are still common on the African continent even today.
One rather large instrument is called the 'Akonting'.
It's a skin stretched tightly over a large gourd, with a long stick for a neck, and 3 strings.
A banjo was fairly simple to make, a piece of animal skin stretched tight over a large gourd, or other hollow vessel.
Strings were made from the guts and sinew of animals that had been slaughtered.
The neck was made sometimes of just a stick of the appropriate size.
The man who is credited with adding the 5th string to the banjo, or 'banjer' as it is sometimes affectionately called, was a traveling minstrel named Joel Sweeney.
The fifth string is shorter than the other 4, and was tuned up to make it the highest note.
It was alternately plucked in combination with the other strings and offered a 'drone' note to the melody being played.
The 5th string of the banjo is utilized in much the same way today, but some of the more accomplished players will even fret and play different musical notes on the 5th string.
Of course there were as many different ways to pluck, or play, the strings, as there were people to play them.
Some played the instrument by strumming, some by picking with the thumb and one finger.
These were the two most typical styles.
Sometime around the 1930's a young boy named Earl Scruggs inherited his father's banjo when his father passed away.
At the young age of only 4 years old he began teaching himself to play, with some assistance of his brothers and sister.
At a fairly young age of 8 or 9 he was playing one day and realized that he was actually playing with his thumb, index, AND middle fingers.
This was the beginning of what is today known as the 3 finger style, or Scruggs style.
It is the favorite style of Bluegrass players throughout the world today.
The 4 string banjo, or tenor banjo, is alive and well also.
It is typically strummed and used mostly in 'Dixieland' and Irish/Celtic styles of music.
Another popular way to play the 5-string banjo is known as 'old style' or 'frailing'.
This involves using the thumb to pluck down on the strings that play the lower notes, and alternately strumming, or frailing, the remaining strings.
This type of playing was losing its favor for a lot of years, but is now coming back strong.
At various 'banjo camps' around the U.
S.
and the world, Scruggs and Old Time pickers gather together and have figured out many creative ways to meld their musical styles together.
Time and space does not allow an indepth article on the banjo and other original instruments.
The information here does not claim to be 100% accurate in its reporting.
This is simply a synopsis of the authors understanding of the subject.
It is my desire that it will give you a bit of a tease to spark your interest.
You can then use a myriad of information available on the internet to learn more.
There are also places where you can find and purchase copies of this original American music and song.
Pick up one of the inexpensive instruments, or make your own.
Pick, strum, thump, rattle, tap or stomp your foot, or whatever you'd like to the tempo and tune of the music.
Soon you'll find yourself immersed in the history and the mystique of an ages old form of music that has been enjoyed for hundreds of years...
and more than likely...
much longer than that!