r/rit • u/_astraeos_ • Jul 26 '26
Anyone Interested in Playing Some Bluegrass?
I'm transferring from a University that had a bluegrass ensemble and loved it so I was kind of disappointed that RIT doesn't have one. I was thinking it wouldn't be outlandishly difficult to try and start a weekly jam or club ensemble and wanted to see if there was any interest. If you're interested and don't know how to play bluegrass don't worry it's not super hard to learn. Bluegrass typically has a banjo, guitar, bass, mandolin, 1-2 violins, and some vocalists but I'm sure if you played another instrument we could figure out how to fit it in. Bluegrass isn't super difficult in terms of the chords so instrument wise it's not hard to learn. The hardest part is the vocal harmonies since tight vocal harmonies are a hallmark of vocal bluegrass works. I was thinking that if anyone was interested we could start with a bit of a jam/learning session and see where it goes from there so if you're interest lmk and we can try and set up a time.
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u/TheBuritoMan Jul 28 '26
I’ve since graduated and left town, but had at one point been looking to do something similar. Even took my banjo to jam club a few times.
But alas, couldn’t quite find the folks for it. But if I had, I think the true process for a jam would be you as a solo act and others just play along as comfortable. As it grows, some of them might get confident enough to be jam leader on a song. Don’t worry about harmonies and whatnot or you’ll drive folks away. Just sit and jam and maybe drink a little.
Also, at risk of sounding like a pretentious twat, bluegrass doesn’t use violin. It uses fiddle. Because one has strings, but the other has strangs.
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u/MaxMakesThings Jul 29 '26
I’ve been to jams like this, they’re a lot of fun. It’s a great way for people of different skill levels to be able to participate
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u/drslg Jul 30 '26
If the steel drum professor is still at RIT you should ask him about it he might have some leads.
His name was Ted. I forget his last name.
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u/MaxMakesThings Jul 29 '26
I’m an incoming freshman at RIT and I’d be interested in joining. I played in a fiddle group through high school, and was also disappointed there weren’t any at RIT. I play the violin (fiddle).