Hi, I've been playing Scruggs style banjo for three years and my on-line instructor has taught mostly solo songs. I would really like to play with others in a group/jam. Can anyone give suggestions on how to go about learning chord progression, theory and how to play backup with a group? Thank you.
One way is to go to jams, sit in the back of the jam and watch and listen, vamp along quietly. Watch the rhythm guitar and when he changes chords, you change chords, too. Don't play guitar? Ask a guitar picker to show you some basic chords: C, G, D, A, E. Eventually you'll begin to hear a chord change but may not know for sure what it is. After a while, you'll know one is coming up and get it right most of the time.
If you can't go to jams, learn a little theory. Either find an online theory site and learn about making chords and how chords go together or get a book and read up on it.
See if you can find songs that have chord progressions written in them (guitar song books usually do). You will find that many songs have the same progression and you'll get where you can recognize the chord(s) by the notes/tab being played.
When I was first learning about chord progressions, any song I found, I'd write down the chord progression; i.e., GGGG, CCCC, DDDD, DD,G or whatever the progression was. I put them all in a book and could look see that many were the same.
If you can afford it, get a basic Band in a Box software. You can input chords to any song, play at any tempo and in any key. That will not only help with chord progressions, but also help you play along with others, as BAIB won't slow down if you get to a hard part but will just keep on going. It'll help your timing.
As far as playing backup, there are books on how to do that. Janet Davis' Backup Banjo is a great start and Jack Hatfield also has a backup instruction book out. Start out simple, vamps, rolls, licks at the end of a musical phrase. As you get comfortable with that, add a slide to a root note at the beginning of a bar, a partial chord and a vamp, mix it up. You'll eventually get your own backup ideas down.
You can't do all this at once, but there might be some ideas above that will help.
I am in a similar situation. I have been working through Jim Pankey's back up lessons in the Hangout Forum: https://www.banjohangout.org/topic/355965
It seemed like a very basic place to start and to build from.
Sean Ray does a great 3-part backup banjo series:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF8Q0e6mpHM
Edited by - KCJones on 09/25/2023 17:07:51
Thanks y’all. Great ideas. I appreciate it.
quote:
Originally posted by TexasbanjoOne way is to go to jams, sit in the back of the jam and watch and listen, vamp along quietly.
You can also practice this at home; just with putting on recordings; playing along; listening for chord progressions; working them out.
Learning a little bit of theory helps. Initially first issue for beginners is just figuring out what key. So might want to find fairly common, standard recordings; or ones give that bit of puzzle, have some reference to the key. From that, want to learn to recognize common standard chord progressions; IMO easiest in what folks refer to by chord number; like very common 1, 4, 5 (as number can transpose to any key). With a bit of familiarity with common chords in a key, and common progressions; listen for when chord changes, and will have basis for not any random chord, but just few likely chords. Try one vs other and listen. At first in might help if you have a bit of cheat key, in form of notation/chord chart for that recording... that will guide you to what to listen for.
John Boulding has some nice lessons in his series of Licks of the Week Start with lessons 74-76 to understand the role (not roll) of the banjo. Then on to 41-50 for backup lessons. There are some lessons on music theory as well.
Eli Gilbert has lessons on backup too, here
I often commute on public transport. I usually listen to music while doing so and each time I can't identify a chord progression, I simply look it up on my smartphone. Reading the chord progression while hearing the music has taught me a lot.
You might benefit from a Wernick Method class.
wernickmethod.org
IMHO, should have been introduced from the get go. Warning, proceed with caution, music theory gets deep, real quick! Best taken small bits at a time. Having said that, being three years into it, perhaps a bit easier to comprehend. The good news is, you can get by without knowing it all.
The best way I know to learn to play backup, or lead, with a group is to play with a group! It would be nice if you could just go down to the local community center/watering hole to find people to pick with. Easier said than done. Start by asking your banjo teacher for leads. Even one other student, any instrument, is a good start.
As may be expected, Bluegrass Festivals draw more amateur bluegrass pickers than you can shake a stick at. They come in all levels of experience, they all started as beginners, and they all had to drive as far as you did to get there. Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while. Sooner or later, you'll hit pay dirt.
I'm a relative beginner also (2 years). One resource that gave me a huge leap forward was this item from the BHO archives "A Musical Approach to Learning the Banjo Neck"(hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...62013.pdf) . Even just page one! Learning those three major chord shapes and understanding they are ALWAYS in the same sequence and fret spacing on the neck was huge for me.
Good luck!
Great advice in every post above.
I'd add that the great thing about learning some theory now that you already play is that it will make more sense to you. Rather than introducing strange abstract concepts you can't relate to (which happens if you try to learn theory before you can play anything) the right amount of theory introduced now can explain what you've been doing musically. It shows there's a reason that certain chords come up in certain places in songs. For example: Not every song in G follows the exact same chord progression. There are all sorts of paths a song's harmony (chord progression) can follow from it's beginning to it's happy ending. But the vast majority of those songs are going to go to D (or D7) as the last stop before coming home (resolving) to G.
Not all, but a lot. And that's just one of the things you'll come to recognize as you learn some theory.
And the good thing, like I already said, is you may already recognize the sound of a D resolving to G --also called V (5) resolving to I (1) at the end of a song. The reason for those numbers is that the relationships of chords to each other is exactly the same in every key. So V to I has the same musical effect whether it's D to G, G to C, C to F, F to B-flat or any other five to one in a major key.
Others have compared learning theory after we can play to learning grammar after we can speak. I agree. We speak our languages fluently -- learning by ear and example -- long before we learn the names of parts of speech or the formalities of grammar or usage. But then learning how either language or music works can help us to be better at both.
Have fun.
Thank you everyone for responding to my question. This gives me a lot of resources and direction. I really appreciate it.
In my study I haven't found an explanation for the following question. Maybe it's so simple I should have recognized it.
It's clear about the Major and Minor scales. The 12 notes, whole and half steps Notes are easy to follow with regular, sharp and flat. If these are all of the notes, then I have a question.
What are Am, Dm, Gm, G7, D7, A7 etc ?
Thanks.
quote:
Originally posted by scvihlen
It's clear about the Major and Minor scales. The 12 notes, whole and half steps Notes are easy to follow with regular, sharp and flat. If these are all of the notes, then I have a question.
What are Am, Dm, Gm, G7, D7, A7 etc ?
Those are shorthand chord names. As opposed to just single note names, need to know the group of notes for a chord; if it's major or minor, and any extension or alterations.
The capital letter represents root note of chord. If alone mean "major" chord. The m denotes "minor" chord. - Am = A minor.
It's defining is the major vs minor third of chord; as a basic chord is made of root, default perfect fifth to root; and then major or minor third.
The added number represents an extension added to the major/minor chord. For example an A7 is A major (a/c#/e) with a seventh note "g" added.
Edited by - banjoak on 09/26/2023 15:43:27
quote:
Originally posted by scvihlenThank you everyone for responding to my question. This gives me a lot of resources and direction. I really appreciate it.
In my study I haven't found an explanation for the following question. Maybe it's so simple I should have recognized it.
It's clear about the Major and Minor scales. The 12 notes, whole and half steps Notes are easy to follow with regular, sharp and flat. If these are all of the notes, then I have a question.
What are Am, Dm, Gm, G7, D7, A7 etc ?
Thanks.
Take a look at this
You can learn a lot of about song structure, chord sequences, and even chord formations, by leafing through songbooks. Even if you can’t read a note of the printed music, you begin to spot the patterns and similarities between different songs, especially if you know most of the songs in your head from hearing them sung over the years.
Back in the day before the Internet, and before the emergence of chord songbooks, etc. the only access to songs in written form was sheet music (often laid out for piano players), but you could glean a lot about music by trying to play the songs on guitar, banjo, etc. After a while, you got good at transposing songs into different keys, how to use the capo, and familiarity with common chord sequences, so not only did you get good at busking through songs, but you also gradually learnt to read music painlessly.
Like said, a little at a time, based on your need to know. 
Major chord (regular/common) aka: Triad, 3 notes, consisting of the 1, 3, & 5 every other note (interval) of the scale Upper case, ABCDEFG
Most commonly used chords in any key will be the I, IV, & V chords, expressed in Roman numerals. [Counting them on your (left-hand) fingers helps]
Dominate 7th D7 adds the flatted 7th note. D, F#, A, C (the V chord + 7b) Again, every other note. 1, 3, 5, 7b
Minor chord flats the 3rd interval A major = A, C#, E. Am = A, C, E, etc.
Most commonly used minor chords in any key VI, IX, & Xº (Diminished) count them on your right-hand fingers. Note the relationship between I, IV, V & VI, IX, X.
Every couple weeks, as one advances from a two chord song in G, three chord song, in C, yada, yada, yada.
Circle of 5ths....
Edited by - monstertone on 09/27/2023 09:29:44
quote:
Originally posted by scvihlenHi, I've been playing Scruggs style banjo for three years and my on-line instructor has taught mostly solo songs. I would really like to play with others in a group/jam. Can anyone give suggestions on how to go about learning chord progression, theory and how to play backup with a group? Thank you.
Check out these backup lessons
Everything posted is worth looking at. I'd take a look at Pete Wernick jams that he has a viable on Drbanjo.com . There is bluegrass bajo backup, basic level also. I like Ned Luberecki instruction books a lot. I'm working with a 8 year old that likes his stuff. He has 3 levels of books. They are all backed up by video. Good luck.
Rich
Good as they are, you can review all the previous links & comments until you're blue in the face, or thoroughly confused, whichever comes first....Or,,,,
watch Fiddlin' (preferably on big screen TV).
Give the computer a break & spend more time actually pickin' with real people.
There is a lot to be said for monkey see, monkey do. 
One of the first things I leaned was hearing chord changes.
My Dad would tell me the change while playing.
He said,"Someday you'll just get it.Let me know when you do so I can stop having to tell you."
At the tender age of 9, Ed Sullivan had a group called the Harmonicats on his "really big show." I was so taken by them, I spent my whole weeks allowance ($0.25) on a plastic Marine Band harmonica which included instructions on playing maybe a dozen popular songs of the day.
After a couple weeks, the instruction booklet was no longer necessary & I was picking up songs on my own.
Feeling a talent deserving nurturing, Mother enrolled me in violin lessons at school. GRRR. This required learning to read music. GRRR, GRRR! Somehow, I managed to wriggle out of violin lessons, & went back to playing harmonica. My reprieve was short lived however, as Mother then enrolled me in piano lessons. GRRR!!! As if reading music was not bad enough, I now had to contend with a tic-toc metronome!
Fast forward a couple decades and I'm taking banjo lessons with an old school instructor who insists if you learn to read music, you can play anything, as long as you have the music. This time I stuck it out, long enough to learn the basics + a little bit of music theory.
However, once out of the classroom & into the real world of Bluegrass jam sessions, there is no written music. The metronome is replaced by a doghouse bass, (yay) & if you're lucky, a good Bluegrass rhythm guitar player. You become totally relient upon the senses. Sight, sound, & plain old feel it in yer bones. 
Edited by - monstertone on 10/07/2023 17:23:28
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