mando techniques to use while leading a vocal song in a jam

[joni24]

I'm finding it not as effective playing mando when it's my turn to lead a song in our monthly jam, although these days I prefer playing mando over guitar. The group I play with are mostly intermediate pickers; some have problems remembering what the chord progression is if they don't have a guitar player's hands to watch. (And just to be clear, the songs I do are mainly the simple 3-chord bluegrass variety). Another problem I've noticed is that it's hard to keep a steady rhythm going since I normally don't emphasize the 1 & 3 beats as a guitar or bass would. Any recommendations, suggestions, or techniques that you've found to be effective?

[OldSausage]

Sing the chords instead of the words the first time or two through is one approach. Your only other good option is to secretly train a guitar player. It does help a bit if you chop loudly on the first downbeat after a chord change, as well as chopping your normal offbeats. Your last resort would be to just strum it like a guitar.

[joni24]

Four very good ideas, thanks! I usually end up strumming like a guitar but then the downbeats get somewhat drowned out by the other instruments. I'm going to practice chopping loudly on the first downbeat after a chord change, I think that might work until people get familiar with the song. And yes, it sure does make things easier to have a guitar player in your pocket...

[terzinator]

I hear ya. I'm at a loss when I play in a jam where the guitar player from our band isn't there!

Yelling out 1-4-5, etc, is a good habit to get into, too. Because if it's in A or B or whatever, the guitar players might be capoed, and they'll get confused when you yell "A" and they need to make a capo-2 G.

[Phil Goodson]

...
Yelling out 1-4-5, etc, is a good habit to get into,...

Yeah, I'd agree, .... but 90% of the guys I play with have NO IDEA what Nashville numbering means! Makes it harder!

[if6was9]

I usually call well-known (or really easy to follow) songs when I play mandolin. I switch to guitar if I want to lead a more challenging song. Sorry if that is not a very helpful answer, but it saves lots of frustration!

[Beanzy]

I only have about three songs I could even think about leading. So I did up some chord squares for the A&B parts. It worked once really well when I sat next to the accordion player (plays fiddle too so reads the mando lef hand) and was raggedy as heck the last time when I was sat between two guitarists.
Tonight I know who I'm sitting beside . I don't care with leading tunes I'll just smack them out. But I'm really new to singing in public so need a strong hand on my back-up.