Getting Started with Bluegrass Jams

Bluegrass is one of the most social, and beginner-friendly styles of music on earth.

If you are interested in getting started with bluegrass music, or just looking for some friends to play music with now and then, here are my suggestions.

A great place to start is Pete Wernick's resources for slow jams and total beginners. They are inexpensive and I can vouch for the quality of Pete's material. I believe you can stream some or all of them.

Also, look through Pete's list of 2-chord songs. Listen to some of them on Youtube (or wherever) and pick a couple you like. Try to learn the songs by just playing along with the chords. Don't worry about the melody or soloing for now. Just try to follow the chord changes and play along.

Also try to locate some people to play with ASAP. It's more fun to learn together and it's easy to just sit in the background and strum along. Most jams don't expect you to solo unless you want to. You also don't have to play every song. Read the "Bluegrass Jamming Basics" tip sheet on Pete's site and you're ready to jump in!