Traditional bluegrass, as the name implies, emphasizes the traditional elements of
bluegrass music, and stands in contrast to
progressive bluegrass. Traditional bluegrass musicians play folk songs, tunes with simple traditional chord progressions, and on
acoustic instruments of a type that were played by bluegrass pioneer
Bill Monroe and his
Blue Grass Boys band in the late 1940s. Traditional bands may use their instruments in slightly different ways, for example by using multiple guitars or fiddles in a band.