Blues jams on the Front Range

What gets played

The music is mostly twelve-bar blues in E, A, G and C, the keys guitarists like, played as shuffles and slow blues. Bands also play a handful of standards most players can fake, like Stormy Monday, The Thrill Is Gone and Sweet Home Chicago, and someone usually calls a minor blues or a funk blues.

How signup works

Most blues jams keep a paper list or a whiteboard near the stage. The host builds small bands from the list and calls players up in groups, mixing instruments so every group has drums, bass and someone playing chords.

How a set goes

Each group usually plays two or three tunes. The player who calls a tune names the key, counts it in and leads it. Solos go around the band once, the leader signals the last time through, and the band finds the ending together.

Habits worth knowing

• Keep a solo to one or two times through the form unless the leader waves you on.
• Play softer than you think you need to behind a singer or another soloist.
• Learn the quick change, the jump to the IV chord in bar two, because hosts call it without warning.
• If you don't know a tune, say so before it starts, since the whole band stalls when one player is lost in the form.