5 songs every one should know?

[auteq]

I am new to the mandolin, and I know 6 or 7+ fiddle tunes, but when showing up to a "bluegrass" jam my luck was out. I knew none of the songs being played and had to fake it.

So...What is everybody's most played jam tune?..... So the rest of us (newbees) can prepare.

(I don't mean to be bluegrass centric, if people have 5 tunes for irish, old time, classical, dawg jazz, etc., I am sure people would love to hear what those standards are too.)

[JeffD]

So...What is everybody's most played jam tune?..... So the rest of us (newbees) can prepare.
If I hear Salty Dog or Mountain Dew or Long Black Veil again I am going to .... well it won't be pretty.

[Susan H.]

The 5 most common ones at our slow jam are: Blackberry Blossom, Red Haired Boy, Arkansas Traveler, Cripple Creek, and Angelina the Baker. There are others we play, but we usually play these first and best. Hope this helps. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[CoMando]

At our monthly slow jam, we always play Whisky Before Breakfast, Red Haired Boy, Soldiers Joy, Cripple Creek, Liberty and a few others. For this month, we are learning Black Mountain Rag.

[gnelson651]

I find that bluegrass jams can be regional in the nature of standards played. For example, I rarely hear Salty Dog, Mountain Dew or Long Black Veil around here. So in depends. Go to a few jams and listen to what is being played, keep notes such as name of song and the key its played in. Then learn the tune either by finding the sheetmusic (tab or standard) or listen to it and figure it out. I go to iTunes to find songs I hear at jams, try to find the chords googling the song title and listen to it to learn the melody.

In the mean time, when its your turn in the jam circle, call out #one of the 6-7 fiddle tunes you know well enough to play with a group. Just know what key its in and the chords if anyone asks, especially if the chords are not the usual I, IV, V or I, V progression.

BTW, the most played jam tunes:

Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Old Joe Clark
Rolling My Sweet Baby Arms

Songs I learned #the words to sing and will call:

Rocky Road Blues
Handsome Molly
My Walking Shoes Don't Fit Me Anymore
Long Journey Home
Instrumental: A ton of fiddle tunes-Whiskey Before Breakfast, Soldiers Joy, etc ( I started jamming with the Nevada Oldtime Fiddle Association before going into BG)

[Pam2]

Kentucky Waltz, Rank Stranger, The Old Crossroads,
Ashes Of Love, Skinny Lanky Sarah Jane,
these are good starters http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Shelby Eicher]

Take note of the tunes most often played and learn those first. Really learn as many as you can. Once you get 35/40 it will be easier to fake the ones you don't know.

[Red Henry]

Some of the jams will tolerate mandolin tunes. For mandolin players, I used to be able to say, "Get Bill Monroe's 'Bluegrass Instrumentals' album and learn it." (Rawhide, Big Mon, Wheel Hoss, and lots more popular stuff.) But as progress marches on, that terrific group of tunes isn't available on CD.

Still, to judge from the picking in this area, "Big Mon" comes up an awful lot and in some areas it is one of the most-played tunes, so you might find the "Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe" CD to hear an authentic version to learn (plenty more good tunes there, too).

Sometimes economy is possible. Learn one break to "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," and it'll do for dozens more songs ("Mama Don't Allow", Will You Be Loving Another Man", and anything with similar chords). Good luck!


Red


Red

[Jim]

Shady grove, walk on the sunny side, you are my sunshine,will the circle be unbroken, Feast here tonight.
Most people at jams/sing-a-longs can at least join in on the chorus and they alow for easy or complicated instrumental breaks depending on you skill level.

[mandolirius]

It's hard to prepare for something like this unless you're going to the same jam every week. If so, you should be able to answer your own question after a week or two. If you're going to different jams, I think you'd be better off listening to a lot of stuff and learning whatever standards appeal to you most. No matter what tunes you learn, there will always be others you don't know. Bluegrass music is a style. The more tunes you learn in the style, the easier it will be to fake others. Unless you're jamming with the same group of people all the time, you need to be able to improvise or "fake it". There's always going to be tunes called that you don't know. What I tell my students who are concerned about this is just to learn to play the instrument as best they can, and listen to as much as they can. I discourage them from trying to prepare for a jam like they're cramming for final exams or something. Rather, I encourage them to relax, accept they won't know every tune and maybe carry and little notebook to write down names of tunes they want to learn.

[Jim Broyles]

Played at our jam practically every get together:
"Think of What You've Done"
"I'm on My Way Back to the Old Home"

Done fairly often:
"Shenandoah Valley Breakdown"
"How Mountain Girls Can Love"
"Live and Let Live"
"Nine Pound Hammer"
"Take This Hammer"
"Used to Be"
"Sittin' On Top of the World"
"Wait a Minute"

Done regularly:
"Salty Dog Blues"
"Earl's Breakdown"
"Foggy Mountain Special"
"Bluegrass Breakdown"
"Bluegrass Stomp"
"Raw Hide"
"Gold Rush"
"New Camptown Races"
"Sledd Ride"
"Remington Ride"
"Little Maggie"

There's more but I can't think of them right now.

Almost never done:
"FMB"
"OBS"
"RT"
"DB" < this one is truly never done.

[cgwilsonjr]

I'd recommend listening to a lot of great bluegrass and learning the songs you really think are great. Flatt/Scruggs, Monroe, Stanley Bros are a treasure trove of timeless songs. Listen to Tony Rice play these old songs. Learn the ones that sink deep into your head and you can't help but whistle the tune and smile. Good luck, Chuck