How to Play Banjo in a Bluegrass Jam
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- In this free lesson, John covers how to play banjo in a bluegrass jam. Tips like: How do you find the "center of gravity" or the key of the song? What roadmaps or clues can you take from the players who are jamming around you? What are some tips to help you solo on the banjo?
That was so much fun watching you. Love the energy.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
There are times when I need to be inspired to pick . Man, hearing you pick inspired me . Thanks for sharing
Oh man. Thank you for that great compliment! We all need inspiration at times. Keep that picking up!
I just learned more on this video with you than at any time from others. I am 80 years old and running out of time. Thank you for this time.
You are so welcome! Check us out at the banjomounntain.com if you want a lot more!
I’m right behind you, brother. Us old dudes gotta learn as much as we can while we can.
Wow!!!
This was SO HELPFUL!!!!
Thank you!!!
So great that your actually at a jam and your off to the side teaching us what your doing and why
Glad this was helpful to you!! Learning to play in a jam can be intimidating but it can be done! :)
I’ve been picking the five since 1972 this helped me with some jamin
Glad to hear it!! Since ‘72 is impressive!!
Very good simple explanation, wish I had known this information forty years ago, I have always thought there should be an easier way of learning by ear, thank you for your time and talents!
Glad it was helpful! Happy picking!
Very helpful video!! I’m a long term closet player just starting to participate in jams - it’s been a challenge. The part of the video demonstrating chord inversions was quite interesting
I just decided to learn how to make sounds I find pleasing on a banjo today. I strung one up and put on a 'How To Tune Banjo' video. When the video was finished, autoplay put your video on....
I loved your playing Sir, well played Champ, you defo make that instrument sound gravy!
I have played guitar with trad musicians many times here in Ireland over the years but I am on my first day, today, learning Banjo! Thanks for the music and peace from Ireland to you and yours mo chara.
Go n-éirí an bóthar leat chun bualadh leat. Go raibh an ghaoth i gcónaí ar do dhroim!
Love this! Thank you for the compliments and happy picking!! Sending some banjo power all the way to you in the great country of Ireland! 🇮🇪
@@thebanjomountain
Thanks, send them vibes over and I will jam along, ☺
Nice. Good info.
Glad you think so!
Interested in lessons. Please. reach out. FYI: you spelled mountain wrong on your post. Great video.
Thank you for the compliment and for the FYI! Hate it when we make errors, particularly simple ones. 😭 Where did we misspell Mountain? We’ve got over 200 lessons on our site with both a bluegrass school and Clawhammer school. We also have a monthly practice competition for members where you can get feedback on your playing.
Thank you. You responded to a message a couple of months ago and had the misspelling
that was awesome thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Where are you from Banjo picker I'm in Bristol TN let's jam some
Hey Jerry! We are based in god forsaken Los Angeles (heh heh) but travel often to festivals. If we come your way we'll post on UA-cam!
What's your shirt mean?
It's the album cover of a punk band called Me Frist and The Gimme Gimme's John used to tour with when he toured with Old Man Markley.
@thebanjomountain Che G? Cross with cancel sign? You play banjo and hang out with whom I would assume are mostly Christian. Free country....but good taste goes a long way.
This is the band. They do spoof album covers. It’s not Che. music.apple.com/us/artist/me-first-and-the-gimme-gimmes/95123641
His shirt looks communist. What's up with that?
It's the album cover of a punk band called Me Frist and The Gimme Gimme's John used to tour with when he toured with Old Man Markley.
Looks like degenerate, anti-God socialist bullshit to me.
Is it Che? Sorry, I’m out.
Cross that's crossed out and Che G? Correct me if im wrong.Don't you realize what that is and where you're at?
This was really great bc we could hear the group but hear you more, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the sounds in a group (there’s a lot going on) so this was really helpful
Glad to hear it was helpful!! Happy picking!
Don't try to complicate having fun jump in and play
Who knew Woody Allen could play banjo!
Very helpful, thank you!
What rolls did you use?
This 100 lb antifa guy is really good. I think a new genre was formed: red and bluegrass
Ha! John is not Antifa and he weighs at least a buck 40. See comments below about his shirt.
Thank you sooooooo much!! I just got a banjo last week and this is the best tutorial I've seen!!!!
Our pleasure! We've got over 200 lessons on our site. FYI. :)
This is amazingly helpful. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for checking us out!
just the video i was looking for!
Glad it was helpful!
I'm learning banjo. I was at a bluegrass festival and sitting with a group of people and jamming. My problem was figuring out when finger roll I need to do.
A lot of the time, it doesn't matter which roll you are playing. If your in the right chord, pick a roll and go with it. If by some chance it doesn't sound good, just choose another one. Its good to try different rolls.
@@areeves1002 thats what my banjo teacher told me. pick one and go with it, change it up if you have to. we even did a little jam. i started on the banjo, he hada guitar and we just played. pretty fun. i'm getting the hang of it now.
just the video i was looking for!
Glad it was helpful!
Very helpful! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Really, wearing a Che Guevara shirt?
See the comments below. It’s not a Che Guevara shirt. It’s a bands album cover and each one was a spoof.
Why are there so many overly-sensitive people like you on this video? Sensitive and ignorant is a bad combination. Even if it was a Che shirt, cry about it lol
Brilliant! And helpful.
Thank you and glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for showing this has always been my problem when I ask other musicians how they know when to change cords they would always say oh you’ll just know wha I don’t just know.
Glad it helped!
Thank you so much for this video!!
Glad it was helpful!
So much help really appreciate it. Do you have a video on lead licks for transition ? Thanks
Glad this was helpful for you Ruday! We do have some licks lessons on our site ranging from beginner to advanced. Perhaps we'll upload some here for free. Thanks!
Why didn’t you go join the jam?
John did go join the jam once we were done shooting. 😀
Another component that is a real issue is that we left handers have to interpret your right hand chords in action then transpose that to what we would play left handed. This takes a micro second however by the time you have played it right handed our transposing is behind the music flow.
No doubt left handers have it harder! But if you learn your I, IV, V chords in the typical keys you should be able (with time) to follow by ear. Keep it up!
This may sound logical however clearly unknowing by you as a right hander. . Let’s try this….. you put down that right handed banjo, get a left handed banjo, play it for a month, take it to a jam session and attempt to play along, and get back us and let us know how it went. Thanks for your response.
Not trying to dismiss the difficulty of the situation. Just trying to be encouraging as I have seen left handed players playing successfully at a jam. Wish you the best and happy picking!
I appreciate your comment and understand that it is well intended. Yes, there are left handed pickers that do well in jam sessions however just not me. I’ve attempted to join in a number of jam sessions over the years with no success. Disappointing as I can play very well. For actual understanding I suggest that you get some experience in playing a left handed banjo and get back to me. With all due respect you claim to be a teacher. How can you authentically have this claim when you only teach right handers. To be a real “teacher” I suggest that you would teach from both points of view.
@@barrysmith8193you can’t just blame everyone else because you play left handed… great advice to learn I IV V chords! Train your ear if you can’t covert right to left.
Thanks for reading the Chinese phone book to me. This did nothing to get a beginning picker over the act of actually starting to participate. I’ve been to several jam sessions and left without any playing as I have no ability to start the first note when the song is played at a fast tempo. Once the song is started there is no hope on my part to catch up. I’ve spent thousands of dollars with teachers that have no understanding of having the end in mind. Shouldn’t getting us to play in a jam be the teachers goal? Did I misunderstand your intent here?
Hey Barry. To be able to jam along with other players, regardless of what instrument you play, requires a basic foundation of skill usually aquired by an intermediate player. That isn't to say beginning players can't play with other players but they will need to know the song or have the tab in front of them. This video gives tips for how to play in a jam, assuming you know your chords and have a strong familiarity with the fretboard (which John sets up at the top). As a beginner player, I'd recommend focusing on learning your chords shapes and inversions. This will allow you to watch other players in a jam and quickly figure out the few chords being used (most bluegrass songs will have less than 5 songs). That's a great place to start and you can memorize chord patterns very quickly starting with the most common Bluegrass chords. The rest of John's tips will quickly become helpful (looking for capos being used help figure out what key etc). So that's a great place for a beginner to start. Hope that helps!
I'm also still waiting on a video that tells us, overall and in general, what is going on on the banjo when you're actually playing along with others. All I can find is isolated songs or dumbed down lessons that don't help me actually get rollin with others.
Berry I think you are right. Too many teachers teach the rolls and breaks to songs but fall way short when it comes to jamming. I played for years and took lessons. Still at a jam I was totally lost. I just recently went to a Pete Warnick jam class. This isn't intended to be a plug for him but I learned so much in 8 hours. I've went from sitting alone playing lead breaks on my banjo and not understanding a thing about cords, to now, at least I'm sitting with and playing along with UA-cam. videos vamping along to the cords of songs and playing a break as it comes up. I have a long long way to go but there is the smallest glimmer of hope and I actually feel like I'm learning. I think the video is great. Its probably just a little advanced for where you are in the learning curve. If I may suggest maybe taking a very simple cored song, say Kentucky girl 2 cords G and D. Pull it up on youtube and try just vamping along with it. I printed out the song lyrics and cords then just followed along. After a while you will start to hear the cord changes coming, if you miss it first time around grab it next time around. I find it very fun and non stressful. The video dosnt care how much you mess up. Good luck.
@@something3441 I'm in the same spot. Rolls are no problem, songs are no problem, but I still don't understand how to backup and jam. No one really gives you the grand picture of how to piece everything together. Was this class in person? Is there online video? Really wanting the aha! moment already..
He was telling you guys to watch and listen to see what the other players are doing. Just watch for the parts you don’t understand. That’s what I did thirty some years ago when I was learning. I tell you this if you dont know the song anybody will be lost at start until they get the cords and when they change. Learn the most popular played songs in ur area at home so you can fit it all in.