So, Im a relatively new guitarist and have been working with "Guitar Method- Beginner Blues w/ CD".

Ive got a couple of friends who play bass and drums and play together and I inquired whether they needed a guitarist. We will be playing grunge and alternative. I know much of rock has a blues background so I started there.

How do I not make a fool of myself? Is there any literature or practice books you would recommend to be able to sufficiently jam in a trio?

Ive worked through the beginner and just purchased "Mastering Blues" and "Solo Blues" and am going to begin going through those soon.

I guess Im just looking for advice on how to contribute the most I can to the band and working well together.

Not everything you've learned with blues will be applicable with a grunge/alternative band, but you already have a more solid foundation than most players in that style do.

You might want to learn some Led Zeppelin and other classic rock songs to serve as a bridge from blues to alternative. You also should try to learn the modes. Sometimes in modern rock the pentatonic scales don't sound right, and you need to fall back on the modes. Santana is good for learning how to incorporate the pentatonic scales and modes. The song Europa is a good one to learn for that.

Also, listen to the bands that the other people in your band listen to and try to learn to play in their style. It's very tempting for me to listen to blues, jazz and soul all the time but the two bands I play in are both modern rock ranging from mellow pop to hardcore. And I've learned the hard and embarrassing way that you can't play Chuck Berry licks with a shuffle feel in a screamo song.

I'm sure there's going to be much more advise for you from some of the more knowledgeable members of the forum, so stay tuned and listen to what they say. They can probably explain things better for you.

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Thanks guys. Good advice is good. I may have discounted my abilities too much... Ive learned to play just about every Nirvana song there is as well as a ton of soundgarden, melvins, mudhoney and a few others. I had some formal lessons for about a year then basically went from looking up tabs and learning to play any song by using tabs from the net for the past 4-6 years to diving into the "Guitar Method Beginner Blues".

But, I guess I feel like Im merely mimicing and not really... playing. I knida feel like just about anyone can go look up a tab and play but I want to be able to set myself apart from that and be a "Musician".

I love playing blues for my own pleasure but when with a band want to ROCK OUT (as Im living up the grungy, liberal arts grad student kinda thing)


What are modes?

And I've learned the hard and embarrassing way that you can't play Chuck Berry licks with a shuffle feel in a screamo song.


I dont know sometimes it works out.

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Yeah, I've managed to squeeze Albert King into several songs we play, and Jimi Hendrix always works.



They're something I really can't explain well, maybe someone else could try?

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Advice in jam session:

If you don't want to make a fool of yourself, just be yourself (Unless you are a fool, then you're out of luck). Know what sounds you want to make and then do your best at trying to produce them on your instrument.

Modes are the different patterns in scales when you start on a different note. Let's say you're playing in C major. If you start on C and follow through the notes on the scale to the octave, you would have just played the C Ionian mode. Now if you start on D and play the C major scale up to the next octave (DEFGABCD) you would have just played the D Dorian mode. The list follows through with Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, and then cycles back to Ionian. Hope I helped >_>

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1)learn more than TAB
2) learn your major chords
3) know what key you are playing in
4) learn how to use barre chords
5) learn some rudimentary music theory

It's not as daunting as it sounds and one thing leads to another. Stick with it and enjoy

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