After Midnight All My Lovin' As the Years Go Passing By Black Snake Moan Blue Jean Blues Blues with a Feelin' Bo Diddley Born In Chicago Born Under a Bad Sign Bring it on Home Caldonia (Call it) Stormy Monday Cocaine Cold Shot Crosscut Saw Crossroads Dust My Broom Everyday I Have The Blues Five Long Years Further On Up the Road Goin' Down Slow Got My Mojo Workin Have You Ever Loved a Woman Hoochie Coochie Man If Trouble was Money I’ll Play the Blues for You I'm Tore Down Key To The Highway Killin' Floor La Grange Lay Down Sally Little Red Rooster Mannish Boy Mary Had a Little Lamb Mean Ol' Frisco Messin' with the Kid Nobody's Fault But Mine One Way Out Pride and Joy Ramblin' on My Mind Red House Roadhouse Blues Rock Me Baby Shake it Baby Smokestack Lightning Statesboro Blues Still Got The Blues Stop Messin' Round Texas Flood The House is Rocking The Sky Is Crying The Thrill is Gone Tin Pan Alley Tush Voodoo Chile Voodoo Chile, Slight Return Walkin' by Myself Wang Dang Doodle You Don't Love Me You Need Love =========================================== Blues Jams - General Tips In a sense, you don't need to know any specific songs, only how a 12-bar chord sequence goes. And the common variations, like minor blues (e.g. "The Thrill is Gone"), or "quick change" (IV chord in bar 2). Then maybe some idea of jazz variations, like ii-V instead of V-IV in bars 9 & 10, or a passing #IVdim7 in bar 6. The "Stormy Monday" variation (for slow blues) might be useful too (the Allman Brothers' chord cycle in bars 7 & 8 - which doesn't appear in the T-Bone Walker original BTW). Then you would need to know the 8-bar formats (2 main variations: either I7 or V in bar 2)). Maybe the 9-bar variant ("Sittin on Top of the World" or "Come on in My Kitchen"). 16-bar blues can come in a few different forms. There's even 19-bar blues ("Milk Cow Blues", "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl"). And then there's John Lee Hooker's flexible structures (is it going to be 10 bars this time? or 10 1/2? LOL). Bottom line is there are generic formats, rather than specific tunes, that it's better to know. An exception is distinctively riff-based tunes, like: "Born Under a Bad Sign", "Spoonful", "Hoochie Coochie Man", or the walk-down pattern in "I'm Tore Down". =========================================== 10 Tips to Make You a Better Jammer There’s no formal guide to jam etiquette, but like the Boy Scouts, a good jammer’s motto is "be prepared." That, good citizenship and serviceable chops go a long way in the world of jamming. So here’s a list of tips you might want to consider before bringing your axe down to the local watering hole and making a B-line for the stage. #1 - Maintain Your Guitar For working players, this is a no-brainer. But if your guitar lives in the closet for extended periods of time, be sure it’s properly intonated, that there’s no rust on the bridge (which can create buzzing), and that all your toggle switches, pots and jacks work. When you plug in at a jam, you need to be good to go or you’ll risk embarrassment and perhaps not be invited back. And, of course, an improperly intonated instrument or loosey-goosey tuning pegs means you won’t be in tune with the rest of the band, which ain’t good. #2 - Be Deferential Don’t be a stage hog. If someone else is soloing, lay back and add support, don’t fight for space or overplay. And look to the leader for cues to step to the fore. Every jam has a leader. #3 - Know Your Jam It’s perfectly cool to walk into a jam for the first time with your guitar, but if the jam’s mostly composed of regular players, you might not get invited to the stage until you’ve attended a few times and get to know the key musicians. And some jammers group together on the same stage every week and do a segment. Strictly speaking, a jam shouldn’t be anybody’s showcase except the house band’s, if there is one, but certain jams let the regulars do their thing regularly - and if too much time is taken up by these "bands," hanging out might be a waste of time for you. These regular aggregations also are likely to play the same material every week, which makes for a boring scene. #4 - Bring Minimal Effects If you plan to use tones that require effects, try to keep it spare. The more time you take to set up, the less time people can play. At a jam, you’re always a guest, and a courteous guest is always considerate of others. One solution is a small battery powered plug-in-and-play pedal board that can be dropped on the floor and be ready to go. Any more than three or four pedals - maybe a tuner, an overdrive or distortion, delay and wah-wah - and you’re hogging real estate and getting into overkill. #5 - Bring Necessities Bring the basics with you - picks, cables and a tuner. Often the volume at jams tends to get out of hand, so don’t count on being able to tune by ear. And while bringing picks, if you play with them, is self-explanatory, don’t assume there will be cables waiting there for you, either. Often the backline provided includes cables, but after the heat of playing, these cables often leave the stage with players in the throes of post-jam thrill. Honest mistake, but if you don’t have your own cable you could find yourself hunting for one instead of getting down to business. #6 - Amps If you need to bring an amp, never bring more than a 1x12 combo. Overpowered jams end up being more like the arms race than a musician’s social. A single player who is too loud can throw off the balance of the entire affair, inspiring others to crank up to be heard. Truth is, the quieter everybody plays the better it’s gonna be, since jams are ideally about listening and communication. And if you’re using a backline amp, try to find one that’s comparable to your usual rig so you’ll feel as comfortable as possible. #7 - Watch Your Volume It’s worth saying one more time. Controlling volume is part of being respectful and deferential to others, and if you find you need a little more tone or attenuation to compensate, that’s where a pedal comes in handy. #8 - Be Versatile Most jams are blues jams, but blues is pretty broadly defined. Typically at a blues jam you’ll need to have a grip on the basics of Chicago, Texas and West Cost blues. So listen to Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf, Stevie Ray Vaughan and T-Bone Walker to gain perspective on where you’re likely to be required to go. A little Chuck Berry never hurts, either. And if you’re a jazz player, think Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian, because that mode of playing is far more likely to be on the menu at a jam than John McLaughlin’s flash or Pat Metheny’s smoothness. #9 - Two-Song Limit Unless the leader of the jam insists, plan to stay for only two songs. Many jams have more people on the sign-up sheet than can be accommodated, so plan to get your rock on and then get off stage. It’s good citizenship. #10 - Show Up Early, Stay Late You’ll want to show up early to be sure you get a spot on the sign-up sheet. But if you split as soon as you’re done, you’re not making payback for the folks who’ve watched you play. Every band needs an audience for inspiration and energy, and the players on stage at any jam are no different. The simple rule is, if you’re playing, you’re staying.