Song Advice

[Mando_liz]

Okay, so I guess I'm just looking for some "what to learn" song advice. I really listen to mainly jammy rock/pop accoustic stuff (jason mraz, tristan prettyman, dave matthews, jack johnson, simon and garfunkel, sara bareilles, brian webb, etc.) I love lyrics (just a side note), and have not listened to much bluegrass until recently.

I have been going to a bluegrass jam twice a week for about six months now, and I find that I don't have a repertoire that fits the jam. Also, I started on the guitar, and have only a month ago switched to the mandolin. I have gone out and gotten some albums:
bill monroe stuff, some pickin' on bluegrass, some dave grisman and sam bush stuff, a jack johnson bluegrass tribute, willie nelson, and patsy cline stuff to get my ears working with some of the common music at the jams.

Being relatively new to music (and especially the mandolin), I would like some advice on some songs that would be pretty easy (but sound nice and work on some skills) and probably known around bluegrass/country/folk/gospel circles. Please let me know :) I would really appreciate it.

[OldSausage]

Have a look here:

http://www.banjohangout.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=80383

Learn any of those songs, you can't go wrong.

[CES]

For your local jam you may be best off to take a recorder (hand held, simple, cheap) or a pad to jot down the tunes played...chances are you'll get a lot of the same songs repeated, especially as folks get to know each other. There's a lot of tab online (though not as much as for guitar)...

Man, that list posted above is impressive...I'll have to start hanging out over there a little more (maybe :grin:...of course, that smiley should be missin' a couple teeth if I'm gonna be at the Hangout :redface:)...

For a more specific rec or two, try to learn Blackberry Blossom and Whiskey Before Breakfast. These are pretty common.

Also consider checking out one of the Parking Lot Picker series or possibly Dennis Caplinger's Bluegrass Mandolin Book. The latter is relatively inexpensive and has several standards with chord progressions/chop chords as well as lead licks, and comes with a CD. Once you figger em out you can probably pretty easily adapt them to the versions/keys you play at your jam...regardless, KEEP PLAYING WITH OTHERS!! It's amazing how that fun and motivation will keep you improving!

[Mando_liz]

thanks for the advice folks!

Hey, I love the way that banjohanout is organized by chord number (so it can be transposed easier. I heard some people talking about that method. Is there a name for it?

Can't wait to start working on some of these.

Liz

[OldSausage]

Hey, I love the way that banjohanout is organized by chord number (so it can be transposed easier. I heard some people talking about that method. Is there a name for it?

It's called Nashville notation.