Description
Bluegrass Jam Songbook: 22 Songs for Bluegrass Jams
I put this book together from songs I’ve enjoyed playing at bluegrass jams and festivals over the years. The goal is pretty simple: give newer bluegrass players a collection of songs they can learn and actually use at a jam.
Rather than just giving you lyrics and a few chords, each of the 22 songs includes several ways to look at the tune:
- Nashville Number chart for understanding the progression and changing keys
- Basic chord and lyric chart for singing and playing rhythm
- Standard notation for the main melody
- Mandolin tablature for learning the melody on the instrument
The book also starts with a primer on Nashville Numbering and an explanation of the chord-chart notation used throughout the songs.
The melodies are intentionally kept fairly basic. They aren’t meant to be the one “correct” way to play these songs. Bluegrass doesn’t really work that way. Instead, they give you the essential melody and a starting point for developing your own variations and solos. The Nashville Number charts also make it easier to move a song into a different key when the key in the book doesn’t work for you or the singer.
Songs Included
- Angel Band
- Angeline the Baker*
- Big Sciota*
- Big Spike Hammer
- Dark Hollow
- Foggy Mountain Top
- The Girl I Left Behind Me*
- How Mountain Girls Can Love
- I Saw the Light
- Little Liza Jane*
- Mountain Dew
- Nine Pound Hammer
- Old Home Place
- Old Slew Foot
- Rabbit in a Log
- Rocky Top
- Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms
- Salty Dog Blues
- There’s More Pretty Girls Than One
- White Freight Liner
- Will the Circle Be Unbroken
- Worried Man Blues
The songs marked with an asterisk are tunes that are also commonly played instrumentally. I included those because they’re particularly useful tunes to know: learn the song and you’ve also got something you can bring to an instrumental jam.
Whether you’re getting ready for your first bluegrass jam, adding some standards to your repertoire, or just looking for a straightforward collection of songs to practice, the Bluegrass Jam Songbook gives you the charts and melodies you need without turning every tune into a full-blown music theory lesson.
22 songs. Chords, lyrics, Nashville Numbers, standard notation and mandolin tab — all in one book.
Happy picking!
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