Bluegrass jamming

[Angela]

I am new and would love to practice struming and changing chords. What is a good very basic struming pattern to practice and learn for bluegrass jamming?

Angela

[mrmoonray]

Angela, the great sound of the mandoln in Bluegrass come from the chop. The chop happens on the off beat and is made by striking the chord and then letting up with the left (chording) hand, which makes a muted "chopping" sound. If you listen to almost any good bluegrass CD, you will hear the mandolin chop. To me it's as much fun to play as ripping solo. IMO it really make the song.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Angela - Learn what some folks call the '3 chord trick' in the major keys ie. in the key of 'G' major - G,C & D. In 'A' major - A,D & E etc. Also learn the relative minor chords in each key - 'G' = E minor. 'A' = F# minor.Those chords should see you through lots of songs & tunes.As you become more familiar with the fingerboard,learn where to play them higher up the neck in the 'alternative' positions. A good chord book will help. I use the 'Gig Bag Book of Mandolin Chords', it's got 1,100 chords & chord shapes/positions in it,
Ivan

[Angela]

I havent learned to chop yet. I'm looking forward to learning. I hear it a lot in bluegrass music.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Angela - As a rider to my post above,if you attend any jam session,somebody will show you the way to 'chop'. It's very simple, & once you've seen it done,you'll have no problems. I had to learn to 'chop' on the banjo when i began. Playing back-up on the off-beat,banjo players grab a bunch of strings,pull them upwards slightly to sound the chord,then release the left finger pressure,letting the strings up from the fingerboard,but with the fingers still touching the strings.This 'damps' the strings & gives the
short,percussive 'chop' sound,
Ivan

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Angela, bluegrass, as we all may agree, is very sensitive to rhythm and drive. And it's good to see that you obviously well understand that. I wonder if it makes much difference what you do with your left hand, as long as there is one of the (mostly) various fitting chords and some dampening to get, as Ivan well put, a percussive "chop" sound. Although, of course, both hands matter, the more interesting role plays the right hand, I believe. In a jam or band situation, it's not only in the hands of the mandolin, of course, but the chop sometimes decides whether the music sounds hectic or more smooth and even relaxed. A lot of players these days prefer just a very short, and very percussive back beat "chop" mostly on the lower strings (which is a good start anyway). I still believe that the most wonderful chops to learn from are Bill Monroe's. (Mike Compton, though himself a stylist, has absorbed a lot of Monroe's chop and - like Mon a lot of times - covers both a little on beat and the back beat. Some call them "on and off beat".) May I humbly suggest to listen again listen, and play and again play to the early Monroe. In songs such as "Molly and Tenbrooks" and "Blue Yodel #4" you'll already find different subtle approaches to chops. That all is a wonderful world, I think. Depending on how much you already accomplished, my shortest tip would be: Keep your right hand not too stiff and start by gently "shaking out" a back beat chop, a bit like - sorry for the metaphor - shaking out a toilet brush.;)
Enjoy your playing,
Henry

[swain]

Welcome, Angela,

Try John McGann's dvd "Rhythm Mandolin,,,,"

Also, do an online search for Roland White's free video clips.

Oh, I have no financial interest in either.

swain

[CES]

Agree with the advice above, especially Ivan's advice to learn G, C, D; A, D, E, and their relative minors. You can play a LOT of bluegrass songs just with those 3 and 4 finger chop chords. There's also nothing wrong with strumming the two finger variations until you get comfortable fretting.

There's a pretty good chord library here (look in the upper left hand corner of the home page) to get you started. As for figuring out rhythm and timing, there's no substitute for playing with others, or, playing along with music you like. The speed of BG can be intimidating, but there are plenty of slower songs (Old Kentucky Home), waltzes, and gospel tunes/hymns to play, as well.

I still consider myself very much a beginner, but I'm always amazed at how much I pick up when I play with more advanced players. It also motivates me to improve so that I can contribute to the music more next time! You don't want to be a "jam buster," but as long as you use common sense (contribute when you can, back off and play quietly or watch when you can't keep up, etc), most people will be very accommodating (there are always some jerks out there, and there are also players who really want to jam on an advanced level and will exclude beginners to maintain the quality of their jams, but there are plenty of others who will help). Btw, I don't have a problem with advanced jams/exclusions as long as they're not advertised as open jams...I'd love to be good enough to play at that level some day!

Welcome, and have fun!

[Angela]

Thank you everyone for the great information. My chords are a work in progress. My fingers have trouble stretching and my hand wants to cramp up. I know I have to keep on keeping on. It will all come in time and lots of practice.

God Bless
Angela

[Beanzy]

Angela,

Rather than confusing myself with all the fancy patterns, when starting it helped me a lot just to figure out where I can play those two fingered chords all around the finger board.

They're the shape made by your index and ring finger when playing the G chord. Root note is your ring finger and third is the index. You can work those up and across the fingerboard by following the root note, just by counting up from the open string (no gaps between B&C or E&F).

Once you get that down then try playing the note on the string directly below the root. Because we're playing an instrument tuned in 5ths that's the 5th note added. So you'll have root 3rd and 5th all ovet the fingerboard. If you get that down you'll never be phased by someone calling any key.

There's obviously loads more once you want to build 4 course chords. But this will take a lot of the sting out of starting off.

[Phantoj]

They're the shape made by your index and ring finger when playing the G chord. Root note is your ring finger and third is the index. You can work those up and across the fingerboard by following the root note, just by counting up from the open string (no gaps between B&C or E&F).

Which G chord is do you mean? 0023 (GDBG) is how I play a two-finger G chord, but I use the index and middle fingers for it. Is that the one, or do you mean a different chord?

Sounds interesting...

[Beanzy]

Yep the fingers on the 2 & 3 make the shape I'm talking about. B=3rd and G=1st

The basic Bluegrass chop G is 7523, which people get to once they've got the two or 3 finger one down and the hands familiarised with the open chord.
But with the two finger chord you're only striking the notes you fret, so you can use it to navigate around the fingerboard and get familiar with where they relate to chord progressions. Once you get that down then you can make chords using other fingers so you can reach additional notes, but you'll never lose sight of the root and third if you've got them as two then three finger chords.

These aren't the finished product, (not the nice full power chunky chop you'll get later) just an easy stepping stone which takes a lot of the mistery out of building chords and means you won't be intimidated by moving about the board or playing in unusual keys.

[Phantoj]

Thanks!