Banjo · Chapter 23 of 23
Backup, Jamming and Practice
Most of the time in a band, the banjo isn’t playing the tune; it’s backing someone else up. Good backup is quieter, simpler and makes everyone else sound better.
At a jam, players take turns: one person sings or plays the melody (a break), and everyone else plays backup. Here are the main ways a banjo backs others up.
Vamping (bluegrass)
Hold a moveable chord shape (no open strings), pick it with a short T+I+M pinch on beats 2 and 4, and loosen your fretting hand right after each pinch so the chord stops short: a “chop.” It sounds like a snare drum and leaves room for the singer. Here is G with the F shape at the 5th fret, then C with the F shape at the 10th, D at the 12th and back to G:
The shapes are the top three strings of the F shape from the More Chords chapter. On the beats with rests, your hand is still moving in time; you just don’t play.
Rolls as backup
Behind a fiddle or a slow song, play quiet forward or forward-reverse rolls on the chords, with no melody: a soft, ringing carpet under the tune. Play it much softer than you would play a break, and leave space when the singer sings.
Clawhammer backup
An old-time jam has no solos: everybody plays the tune together, round and round. The clawhammer banjo plays the melody with the fiddle, simplified as much as you need. When you don’t know a tune yet, play bum-ditties on the chords and listen; the melody will come.
How a jam works
- Tune up first, quietly, with a clip-on tuner.
- Listen more than you play. Play softly enough to hear the melody.
- Watch the leader. At a bluegrass jam, the person who started the tune nods to whoever takes the next break. It’s fine to shake your head and pass.
- Learn the jam favorites: Boil Them Cabbage Down, Soldier’s Joy, Arkansas Traveler and the other tunes on our songs page come up again and again.
- Keep going. If you lose your place, stop playing, listen for the start of the next part and come back in. Nobody minds.
A practice plan
Warm up (5 minutes)
Slow rolls or bum-ditties on G, C and D7. Relaxed hands, even notes.
New work (10–15 minutes)
One new tune or technique, slowly, with the loop and the metronome. Two bars at a time.
Play for fun (5–10 minutes)
Tunes you already know, at a comfortable tempo, all the way through without stopping.
Twenty or thirty minutes a day does more than two hours once a week. Stop while it’s still fun, rest when your hands are tired, and stop if anything hurts.
Check each one when you’ve tried it.
- I can vamp on beats 2 and 4 with the metronome.
- I can play rolls or bum-ditty backup while changing chords by ear.
- I followed the three-part practice plan for a week.
Remember
- Vamping: closed chord shapes, short chops on beats 2 and 4.
- Rolls make soft backup; clawhammer players play the tune along with the fiddle.
- At a jam: tune up, listen, play softly, watch the leader, keep going.