How to Play Banjo in a Bluegrass Jam 

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.

Glad to hear it was helpful!! Happy picking!

Oh man. Thank you for that great compliment! We all need inspiration at times. Keep that picking up!

Glad to hear it!! Since ‘72 is impressive!!

Glad it was helpful!

Glad this was helpful to you!! Learning to play in a jam can be intimidating but it can be done! :)

Glad it was helpful! Happy picking!

Our pleasure! We've got over 200 lessons on our site. FYI. :)

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for checking us out!

Thank you and glad you enjoyed it!

Glad it was helpful!

Glad you enjoyed it!!

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, ☺

Glad you think so!

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!

Glad it helped!

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.

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

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 RU-vid!

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.

John did go join the jam once we were done shooting. 😀

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

Ha! John is not Antifa and he weighs at least a buck 40. See comments below about his shirt.

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 RU-vid. 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.

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?

Glad it was helpful!

Glad it was helpful!