Jam nights - cliquey

[knirirr]

On 20/04/2019 at 17:27, Dan Dare said:

They welcome those who are prepared to put in a bit of effort, but if you are the type who turns up, does your 3 or 4 numbers and then buggers off, you cannot expect them to be overly thrilled with you.

 

I have been finding myself a little ticked off with those who habitually turn up at the end of the house band's (short) introductory set, beer in hand, want to play my bass because they never bring one, then vanish out the door the moment the last piece finishes.
When I've turned up to jams where I'm not in the house band I make sure to be there at the start, offer to help set up if it looks like that would be useful, and bring a bass guitar.

 

 

[Sean]

I went to a jam night tonight for the first time and it was fantastic. I was made to feel very welcome indeed, chatted to so many people. I did some songs with one of the Spectors and had a cracking night out. The sound was great, everyone was chilled, the music was good.

I'm going back.

[HeadlessBassist]

5 hours ago, Sean said:

I went to a jam night tonight for the first time and it was fantastic. I was made to feel very welcome indeed, chatted to so many people. I did some songs with one of the Spectors and had a cracking night out. The sound was great, everyone was chilled, the music was good.

I'm going back.

 

Sounds good - was that the one on Barton Street? Was Mark there from A.Remus Sound?

[HeadlessBassist]

Yes, Jams can often be 'Cliquey'. We run one on a Sunday afternoon with a separate sound guy who generally keeps things in check. As the two professional musicians running it, we get off the stage as quickly as possible and spend the rest of the afternoon backing everyone else.

 

Annoyances over the years? Yes, there's sometimes a player who turns up without an instrument - we've got a house bass, guitar, drums and keys for those eventualities. In the previous incarnation of the Jam, there was one annoying bloke who would always turn up empty handed and expected to play my bass, and didn't seem to understand that it was a professional instrument set up for me and no, he wasn't welcome to play it. You do tend to get the local blues/classic rock mob who insist on turning all the backline up and think that 109dB is perfectly acceptable, but you just turn them down again.

 

Generally we aim to be very welcoming and supportive, always encouraging others getting up to play and backing others where needed.

 

 

[Burns-bass]

21 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

Sounds good - was that the one on Barton Street? Was Mark there from A.Remus Sound?

Mark is a lovely chap.

[peteb]

12 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Annoyances over the years? Yes, there's sometimes a player who turns up without an instrument - we've got a house bass, guitar, drums and keys for those eventualities. In the previous incarnation of the Jam, there was one annoying bloke who would always turn up empty handed and expected to play my bass, and didn't seem to understand that it was a professional instrument set up for me and no, he wasn't welcome to play it.

 

I'm always a little bit surprised about this. A ew years ago, I used to be the bass player for a few jam nights, either at a pub in the next town or a couple of blues festivals that a guy I played for was involved in. A few people would bring their own instrument, but the expectation was that you would provide a house bass that most people who got up would use.

 

I generally would bring something decent, but usually not my main gigging bass (for the pub jams at least). To be fair, I would feel a bit stupid dragging a bass to a jam night where I didn't know any of the guys and might not get called up. I suppose, different jams have different ways of doing things. 

 

[knirirr]

22 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

. A few people would bring their own instrument, but the expectation was that you would provide a house bass that most people who got up would use.

 

I generally would bring something decent, but usually not my main gigging bass (for the pub jams at least).

 

 

 

A house bass makes sense in a jazz context because we're often playing DB and having several of those hanging around is a bit of a nuisance, particularly in some of the cramped pub venues we have to play in. 

 

Recently I've been bringing an EUB I got cheaply on Ebay; it doesn't sound as good as the acoustic but will do for the jam, and in any case there are several players who turn up with bass guitars. When they want to play then the EUB fits nicely into a coat rack, out of the way. It is also easier to carry, which means I can bring guitar kit for the large part of the evening when a bass guitarist is up.

 

My personal opinion, which others are sure to disagree with, is that anyone who plays guitar or bass guitar should bring their own to a jam and not complain if others aren't willing to hand theirs over to strangers in a pub.

 

Edited Thursday at 08:08 by knirirr

[Sean]

56 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

Sounds good - was that the one on Barton Street? Was Mark there from A.Remus Sound?

It was in Swindon.

[HeadlessBassist]

4 minutes ago, knirirr said:

My personal opinion, which others are sure to disagree with, is that anyone who plays guitar or bass guitar should bring their own to a jam and not complain if others aren't willing to hand theirs over to strangers in a pub.

 

 

This. Exactly.

[peteb]

29 minutes ago, knirirr said:

My personal opinion, which others are sure to disagree with, is that anyone who plays guitar or bass guitar should bring their own to a jam and not complain if others aren't willing to hand theirs over to strangers in a pub.

 

 

My view has always been that if you are not prepared to let someone else play your bass, then you shouldn't take a gig as the bass player in the house band at a jam session. 

 

[Sean]

5 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

My view has always been that if you are not prepared to let someone else play your bass, then you shouldn't take a gig as the bass player in the house band at a jam session. 

 

I was chatting to a guitarist last night about his "new" guitar and he said it was bought specifically for jam nights for this very reason

[knirirr]

3 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

My view has always been that if you are not prepared to let someone else play your bass, then you shouldn't take a gig as the bass player in the house band at a jam session. 

 

 

...a view with which I'd reluctantly agree in the case of the double bass (which offers similar logistical issues to drums and keyboards), but not the bass guitar.

 

BTW, we have had jams where multiple people have brought double basses and or keyboards, which has been a bit of a pain. We have yet to see multiple drum kits being set up, but multiple drummers at a jam are rare.

[SumOne]

I'd like to go to one that is actually what I'd consider a Jam: informal free-flowing improvisation. All the ones I've been to have basically been karaoke with a backing band that occasionally swops musicians.  

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

My view has always been that if you are not prepared to let someone else play your bass, then you shouldn't take a gig as the bass player in the house band at a jam session. 

 

Why? What next? Should you lend a guy your car to get home after the jam because he hasn't brought the bus fare?

 

When I've been the bassist at jam sessions, I've been quite happy for people to play through my rig (obviously), but they don't play my bass. Seems reasonable.

Edited Thursday at 09:36 by Dan Dare

[chris_b]

The replacement value of my bass is £5400.

 

No one is borrowing, playing or touching it, at our jam or at any other time, under any circumstances.

 

The rule for our jam is you bring your own instruments, drumsticks etc and during the height of Covid singers brought their own mics, if they had them. Any idiot, drunk or not, can get up and damage your gear, so they are required to bring their own. It also ensures a better class of jammer turns up.

[Dan Dare]

2 minutes ago, chris_b said:

The replacement value of my bass is £5400.

 

No one is borrowing, playing or touching it, at our jam or at any other time, under any circumstances.

 

The rule for our jam is you bring your own instruments, drumsticks etc and during the height of Covid singers brought their own mics, if they had them. Any idiot, drunk or not, can get up and damage your gear, so they are required to bring their own. It also ensures a better class of jammer turns up.

 

Exactly. Even if your bass isn't expensive, it's yours and you have the right to decide who, if anyone, plays it. I used to take a cheap eBay special to jams as a loan instrument. Several people turned up their noses at it and demanded to play my vintage Jazz or my Spector. Sorry, sunshine. Not happening.

[knirirr]

13 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Any idiot, drunk or not, can get up and damage your gear, so they are required to bring their own.

 

One of those drunk idiots once said to me, after chipping a headstock against a wall, "what are you looking at me like that for? These are supposed to be bashed around a bit!"

[Dan Dare]

1 minute ago, knirirr said:

One of those drunk idiots once said to me, after chipping a headstock against a wall, "what are you looking at me like that for? These are supposed to be bashed around a bit!"

 

The entitlement of some people is quite staggering, isn't it?

[gjones]

I occasionally played a gig where jammers were allowed to get up during the interval. I never did like people using my bass (you never know where they've been...yuk ).

[PainInTheBass]

I'd be aggrieved having to buy a cheap bass off Amazon for the drunk greasy dipsticks to play. I'd sooner scour charity shops or car boot sales for something with 2 strings and a bowed neck with 1 inch action and a flaky pickup that only works half the time.

[knirirr]

18 minutes ago, gjones said:

I occasionally played a gig where jammers were allowed to get up during the interval. I never did like people using my bass (you never know where they've been...yuk ).

 

A sticky or sweaty neck after someone has used one's instrument is never pleasant.
I've got a bar towel stashed away for my EUB's neck, though I fear that one day someone will take offence when I wipe it.

[Dan Dare]

14 minutes ago, PainInTheBass said:

I'd be aggrieved having to buy a cheap bass off Amazon for the drunk greasy dipsticks to play. I'd sooner scour charity shops or car boot sales for something with 2 strings and a bowed neck with 1 inch action and a flaky pickup that only works half the time.

 

I bought a used Encore P bass for £30ish. I put decent strings on it and sorted the action, so it plays nicely. It's actually perfectly useable. I've occasionally taken it to gigs in iffy venues where I don't want to risk something better.

 

5 minutes ago, knirirr said:

A sticky or sweaty neck after someone has used one's instrument is never pleasant.
I've got a bar towel stashed away for my EUB's neck, though I fear that one day someone will take offence when I wipe it

 

Amen to that. Plenty of people don't wash their hands after a trip to the khazi. Just wipe away and sod what they think.

[peteb]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

The replacement value of my bass is £5400.

 

No one is borrowing, playing or touching it, at our jam or at any other time, under any circumstances.

 

The rule for our jam is you bring your own instruments, drumsticks etc and during the height of Covid singers brought their own mics, if they had them. Any idiot, drunk or not, can get up and damage your gear, so they are required to bring their own. It also ensures a better class of jammer turns up.

 

So, here's a scenario. I'm visiting someone in your town and they get me to come to your jam night. They come and say to you, we've got someone new in the audience tonight who's happy to get up and who's played loads of festivals, played with people who you may have heard of and been on a couple of albums. Are you going to say we're not going to invite him up because he doesn't carry a bass when he travels? 

 

I've done loads of these events, some (especially the ones at festivals) where there are some pretty decent players getting up. I would never take a £5k bass to a jam night, I generally just used to take out a bog standard four string Fender Jazz. We never used to allow drunks or idiots to get up (you can always tell) and even if they weren't the greatest players, we never had any issues. Some of the jam nights were great, but the regular ones used to run out of steam after a bit because you just get the same guys coming week after week. Insisting that you only play with guys who bring their own bass is only going to make that worse. It seems a bit pointless to me. 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:33 by peteb

[Chienmortbb]

On 09/05/2018 at 13:42, PaulWarning said:

What do you mean you don't know Wishing Well?" 

Are you some kind of heathen? Seriously though any jam/ open night mic should have a degree of elasticity in the songs that the jams are loosely based on. 

On the other hand I have had fun trying to play songs that I only know from hearing them. 
 

It is also important to curate the evening well and try to avoid rank amateurs, whether Jam or Open Mic. Most happen in pubs and clubs and you must not drive away paying customers. 

[chris_b]

48 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

So, here's a scenario. I'm visiting someone in your town and they get me to come to your jam night. They come and say to you, we've got someone new in the audience tonight who's happy to get up and who's played loads of festivals, played with people who you may have heard of and been on a couple of albums. Are you going to say we're not going to invite him up because he doesn't carry a bass when he travels? 

 

I've done loads of these events, some (especially the ones at festivals) where there are some pretty decent players getting up. I would never take a £5k bass to a jam night, I generally just used to take out a bog standard four string Fender Jazz. We never used to allow drunks or idiots to get up (you can always tell) and even if they weren't the greatest players, we never had any issues. Some of the jam nights were great, but the regular ones used to run out of steam after a bit because you just get the same guys coming week after week. Insisting that you only play with guys who bring their own bass is only going to make that worse. It seems a bit pointless to me. 

 

 

If Nathan East dropped in I would ask one of the jammers if he could borrow their bass. . . . cos he wouldn't be playing mine!

 

It's the rule, it's in all the advertising, and, so far, everyone has been happy to abide by the rule.