Jam nights - cliquey

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Wombat said:

they come back again getting better & better each time.

 

There was a chap who in three years went from a nervous acoustic covers to writing songs with a band.

[12stringbassist]

On 09/05/2018 at 10:03, shoulderpet said:

Jam nights - cliquey  - Anyone else found this? The concept is appealing and the chance to play some songs you have not played before is in theory a good way to learn and improve , the reality is that most of the jam nights I have been to you see the house bands first pick their favourites that they let play several songs then the remaining people wait half the night to go up and play maybe 3 songs, I generally enjoy jam nights but the cliqueyness is so off putting

We've run one for about 11 years now (9.5 years with our band line-up).
Anything but cliquey, as we will NOT allow that, but you do tend to get the same people turning up playing the same things badly.
We have never ever told anyone what to play. People have asked to play with us and we give them a set list to choose from in that case, but it's their night, not ours, which is why it's been going for so long.
But we do get some new blood doing different things, we match people up to play together, or back them and people get decent length spots.
I will be doing it up to the end of the year and it will no doubt carry on without me.

 

Edited Friday at 09:32 by 12stringbassist

[Dan Earp]

On 09/05/2018 at 14:34, magee said:

I have been to quite a lot of jam nights over the years. I think some can be cliquey, and some can appear so but actually the host is juggling competing priorities the punters don't know about, and they jump to the wrong conclusion. 

Certainly a long-running jam will grow to reflect the taste of the hosts as they will give longer time and more prominent slots to people they rate - that's natural and OK by me, as long as less able people at least get a chance to play at some point.

I love going to jams if my band's having a quiet month as it gets me out the house and playing in front of people with no hassle/gear/organising. 

I also love how it develops my playing and overall musical awareness. Playing with a group of randoms of at-times extremely mixed ability is a great test of how your decision-making as a bass player can hold a fraying song together. Helping the drummer find the 'one' in a bar; sticking to roots to help a guitarist understand the key or progression; controlling the dynamics to encourage a guitarist to stop hair-dryering the front row with a blistering solo for a sixth minute - it's a fun, low-pressure way to develop skills that have helped me become a better group player. 

You really understand how quietly influential the bass can be in shaping the tone and colour of a song. It stretches your listening and reacting muscles in a way that another run-through with your well-rehearsed band doesn't always do.

And occasionally there is some unexpected musical magic and you step down off the stage with the sense that you really made some affecting, spontaneous real music. That feels great. 

It's also the best way to meet/hear players who you might want to use in the future in a band, or who might want to use you, or to test out players you've found via ads without going through an excruciating formal audition. 

 

Here speaks a musician…….

[Dan Earp]

On 10/05/2018 at 15:46, markdavid said:

Went to one last night and it was "Interesting", ended up playing bass with a punk guy on guitar and vocals, first couple songs we played some blues numbers, went fine all good, then he decided to play some punk songs,  i've never felt so out of my depth! usually if I haven't heard a song before I can figure it out really quickly but there just seems to be no structure to punk music just a bunch of chords thrown together randomly, lessons learnt  a) Punk is not my thing b) I will mention next time that I really don't want to play punk music

*Apologies to anyone who loves punk music, no offence intended ,is just not my thing at all

I assist at an open mic, I bring bass and keys. I do collaborations with some of the regular players on the night, all I ask is they have some sort of chart or tab for me to follow. 
I also attend Norfolk Blues Society jams. Well run, they have a host who plays a few songs at the start and end, in between the jammers are called up to play two songs. Because of that, I have played with some of the best Norfolk musicians…..and some of the wannabe’s, but the former makes up for the latter. And over the years, have realised how important the better musicians are in allowing the less confident/able to shine and have their moment. 
there is no doubt that the quality of the night is mainly down to the person who decides the jamming group

[chris_b]

We put no pressure on anyone. They can do what they want to do and sometimes our band leader will make suggestions, which they are free to ignore. We see people starting as nervous wrecks and gaining confidence month by month. Then you see those same people coming back with others they've met, at the same stage of development, and playing as a band. Sometimes they are good sometimes they are not, but several youngsters have gone on to be professional musicians.

[knirirr]

12 hours ago, Geek99 said:

 

how does a solo acoustic player fit in with a jam night, where by definition more than one person would be playing at once. 
I do  agree that a given night could feature both setups, if the house band take a break, for an example but that’s an edge case 

 

We have sometimes had solo/duo performers turn up at our jam, and have tried to fit them in where we can. Unfortunately, their attempts to play with the band haven't been particularly successful.
There are three monthly events in the town of the open mic format and only one which is an actual jam with a full band playing, so we  try to discourage the solo/duo stuff and have a website explaining how we expect the session to go.

[MacDaddy]

16 hours ago, Count Bassy said:

 

And he'd rip all your frets out!

 

And cover your strings in chicken fat!