Yeah yeah, I know, I'm a slack tart... haven't posted about Mycroft in ages... yada yada yada. But I have been picking lots! I promise!!
In fact, it's been so long since I last posted that I have made no mention of the regular bluegrass jams I've been attending since January. I stumbled across this group on the Australian Bluegrass website - it was just a basic post with some elaborate directions on how to get to these bluegrass jams held in Everton Park every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays. The post was old and there were no contact details so I took a bit of a punt and tried to find this place on one of said Tuesdays, expecting to find either nothing at all or a few scary, toothless banjo players who may or may not attempt to disembowel me and make strings from my guts... OK so my imagination may have been going a little bonkers as I cautiously trekked through this quiet leafy church ground trying to find these guys...
And then I heard it - the unmistakeable root/fifth of a bass line, and as I got closer, some guitars and banjos, a lonely sounding mando and a fiddle. To my surprise, when I entered (a little tentatively I admit, given my bluegrass playing experience was absolutely zilch at that stage) there were even a few females and under 40's in the group. They welcomed me, I introduced myself and told them I was a cheating beginner who'd been playing 5 months, and I joined the circle and started trying to work out the chop chords. When it came to my "turn" I of course didn't know any bluegrass songs they'd know (just Punch Brothers songs really), but they let me play Jerusalem's Ridge, which I butchered slightly, but oh how marvellous to have live music backing you!
The weeks passed on, and I started learning the songs and having a crack at something new each week, and it turns out a few of these guys hold jams of their own, which have been great fun. The banjo players in particular always seem to be up for a jam, bless them, and they will jam on until the wee hours... We've only had the cops arrive once ;-)
These jams have been so vital for me to extend myself and learn new skills. I always used to avoid improvisation (on my other instruments) primarily because I was so bad at it, but because this group has a wide range of abilities I felt comfortable to have a go at the breaks and making an ass of myself was not such an issue. I was also fairly weak at playing chords but it's all so much easier on the mando than it was on piano. The improv is coming along gradually and the chop chords are almost second nature now, which is great, because I sure as hell wasn't practising them at home!
You gotta love community music making, it brings all kinds of people together with the common goals of having a great time and making some music.
