Bluegrass 101

[deltasalmon]

Hi,

I'm not a bluegrass player. There have been postings of bluegrass sessions by my house and I am considering going over to listen in to one. I am an Irish trad player and play Irish sessions from time to time but I have little to no experience with bluegrass. I was wondering if someone could give me a basic Bluegrass 101 idea of what to expect at a bluegrass session. If I do end up going I will be instrumentless and going for listening but I wanted to do some research to see what to expect.

Thanks,
Sean

[bigskygirl]

Tune into the local BG station and listen to some music online.

There's so many different versions of BG jams you'll just need to go and see. Some are strictly BG at lightening speed, some combine old time and BG and others are anywhere in betweeen that.

Not sure how Irish sessions go but a BG jam usually plays tunes in a circle and each player takes a "break" or solo on the tune.

Most of all the people should be having fun, if they are not you may want to look for another group to join in with.

Have fun, most open jams are pretty fun and accomodate newbies the serious player jams usually require an invite.

[MandoJason]

Here are a few bluegrass standards (there are endless amounts of these tunes) that are nice and easy to learn...and chances are folks will know them, or be familiar.
Going Back to Old Kentucky
On my way back to the Old Home
Salt Creek
Blackberry Blossom
9 pound hammer
Bury me beneath the Willow
Big Sciote
On and On
Roll on Buddy
Rollin' in my sweet baby's arms
Long Journey Home

CHORDS- Learn the bill mornoe "CHOP" chord and get comfortable with it in the keys of G and A
PROGRESSIONS- Learn to move that movable chop shape through the 1, 4, 5 of said keys (its easier than it may seem)

IRISH to BG - I've done quite a bit of both. BG seems (to me) to rely alot on the chord progression for the melody whereas I've noticed in Irish sessions there is alot of droning, static chords, etc. Get used to that difference and you should be fine.

PLAYING MANDO in a session- sit by another mandolin player and practice chopping that backbeat when playing rhythm.

I hope this helps. Above all else just enjoy being part of a wonderful tradition...learn, share, teach...

Jason

[DataNick]

Adding to both very good responses above, fiddle tunes that you know from ITM (I'm guessing here: Red Haired Boy, Soldier's Joy, Bill Cheatham, Forked Deer, etc. should be a seemless migration between the 2 genres with the differences in practice as noted above. Meaning, if you know tunes like this from ITM, they will come up or can be called at a Bluegrass Jam.

Have fun!

[Josh Levine]

1 person plays lead at a time. That's going to be a major change as trad everyone plays at the same time as I understand. People will get mad if you play over their break so if it isn't your break you are chopping rhythm on the 2 and 4. So lots of chopping especially with a big group. Look up bluegrass album band on YouTube.

[Willie Poole]

So many opinions on this that is why I don`t do jams with strangers anymore, as much as I love to play bluegrass there is always someone in a jam session that thinks he is a super star and tries to out pick the rest of the players most noteably a dobro player...One of my mandolins still bears a scar from the peg head of a careless dobro player when he swung it around to show his stuff...Now I usually just pick with people that I know, usually a mixture of local band members, it`s all about having fun and that means different people look at jamming in a different way....At first just sit back and listen and if you feel your talent is good enough then jump right in...to enjoy it you will have to learn quite a few bluegrass tunes and that could take a while if you have to play by tabs or music, if you play by ear then you can learn them kind of fast....

[Ky Slim]

In my experience there is more singing at BG sessions than Irish sessions.

[UsuallyPickin]

Red Haired Boy in A
Whiskey Before Breakfast in D
St. Anne's Reel in D
Salt Creek in A
Cherokee Shuffle in D
Down Yonder in G
Billy in the Lowground in C
Arkansas Traveler in D
Blackberry Blosson in G
Black Mountain Rag in A
Learn the I II IV V and VIm chords in the keys of A Bb B C D and G when you are comfortable with them learn those chords in E and F ..... and the attendant Pentatonic scales and two octave dominant 7th arpeggios. With all that under your belt you will be welcome at pretty much any Bluegrass Jam but you don't need to know that much just to show up. Most players will be helpful. Some not so much. But everybody is there to have a good time....... R/

[deltasalmon]

Thanks for all the advice. I can start work on a few of the tune suggestions at home but it sounds like the best idea would be to show up and listen in on a session or two.

[tmsnyder]

I bet you'll be running home for your mandolin after a couple beers.