Seeking other players near Ashland, VA

[tannisroot]

Hello,
I'm a novice mandolin and tenor banjo player located in Ashland, VA (near Richmond) with an interest in Irish/Celtic, New Orleans jazz, folk music, jug band, ragtime, tin-pan-alley, gypsy jazz, novelty songs, old-time, country blues & standards. I will soon be also getting a banjo uke.

I'm looking for someone or someones in my area with similar enough musical interests who would like jam, practice & share some tunes. Fellow beginners welcome. Not interested in forming a band or playing in public, just low-key, no-pressure living room/garage/kitchen/backyard jamming.

Outside of traditional roots music I also like “contemporary” bands Grateful Dead, Phish, Dr. Dog, My Morning Jacket, Ween, MGMT, O'death, Camper Van Beethoven...some of these songs might sound good on uke.

Cheers

[rgray]

I am also a beginner, primarily learning to play Celtic, at the far end of King William County near West Point. Maybe we can get together. Here is a link to a calendar for Live Roots Music & Traditional Dance for Central Virginia that may be of interest.

[Tripp Johnson]

I run an old-time session at Cary Street Cafe in Richmond every Sunday afternoon from 2 - 5...come on by and pick with us.

[tannisroot]

Hi Tripp,
How does the Cary St. jam work? Is the tune always named beforehand and what key it's going to be in? And would it be OK to bring a music stand and the Mandolin Picker's Fakebook and just kinda sit back and listen and play along when I can?

I only ask because I can pretty much only play along to a tune if I have the tab in front of me...I don't play by ear at all...0% by ear I'm afraid, which is why I've avoided traditional jams where players are used to playing by ear and fakebooks are frowned upon.

[Tripp Johnson]

Once you know the commonly played tunes of a particular jam, try learning them at home and use the jam as a measuring stick of your progress. If it's too much to memorize entire tunes for a jam, start with chords and play rhythm quietly. That way you're at least in the game and the tunes will be familiar when you go to learn the melodies. Just an idea...

To answer your question about the CSC jam, no one reads, there's not enough room for music stands and the tunes are moving pretty quick.

If you're interested in old-time, come on by. We'll get ya up and runnin'