Troubadours Acoustic Music SIG

Troubadours Acoustic Music is a special interest group (SIG) of the Sun City Singers Club. Our objective is to have fun playing instruments and singing with fellow Sun City residents. We usually have 6 to 12 participants at our jam sessions. Ages range from the 50's to the 80's and skill levels range from beginner through advanced. And yes, we welcome and encourage both men and women players.

Weekly Music Jams: Wednesday 7-9 p.m. - The Oaks – 301 Del Webb Boulevard (by the Legacy Hills Golf Club)

We are an acoustic group meaning that we mostly play "unplugged" – with the exception of the bass guitar player and occasionally, a lead guitarist. The most common instrument is the guitar but we also appreciate those who play instruments like the fiddle, mandolin, ukulele, dobro and harmonica. Our song menu includes pop, country, oldies, and rock, with occasional bluegrass and other styles thrown in. You don't have to know the songs beforehand since we work from an almost-free online program called ChordPro from GuitarTapp. 

Attendees enjoy the socialization of our jams. Many friendships have been formed and a number of the individuals and groups that perform in Sun City and beyond, got their start as Troubadours jammers. Playing with other people is a great way to not only improve your skills but also to meet future playing mates.

Troubadours Jam Guidelines

1. The most important rule is to have fun. And if you are not having fun, let one of the jam leaders (contact info below) know and we'll try to fix this for you.
2. Feel free to visit and try us out. After two free sessions, you need to join our chartered club parent, Singers Club. It's only $15 per year so don't let this stop you. If you are already a member of the Singers Club, you can participate in Troubadours without paying additional dues.
3. At our jams, we use an application called GuitarTapp Chord Pro, which you can find on the Google Play Store. It runs on every type of pad/tablet and costs either $3 per year for the basic version or $9 per year for the ChordPro version (recommended). GuitarTapp has thousands of songs with chords and lyrics and you can easily save the songs that you and others play at the jam. The locale we play at has free Wi-Fi.
4. Since we all use GuitarTapp, we prefer you select songs that are included with this program and have both chords and lyrics so everyone can play along with you.
5. Even though you know the song or prefer it to be played in a different way, please follow along with the way the person who selected the song plays it. Likewise, the song leader gets to choose the song key.
6. On many songs, one person will play an instrumental solo (called a "break") in the middle of a song. Everyone else is welcome to play along but they should do so quietly so that everyone can hear the person who is playing the break.
7.  Not to say that we jammers don't enjoy challenges but, if possible, try to avoid choosing "jambusters", which are songs with highly complex chords or odd measures that are difficult for people to follow if they aren't familiar with that song.
8. Have fun. This is our first and last rule.

Troubadours Jam Leaders – contact for more information

Chris Ryan – [email protected]

Randy Schreitmueller - [email protected]