How was your open mic or jam night last night?

[tauzero]

I can't help but think that quite a few of us have mentioned these, yet nothing much gets said about them. So, as we've got threads about gigs and rehearsals, how about an open mic/jam night one?

 

Tonight's open mic night at the Cavern in Tamworth was quite a fun event. Assorted bands and performers as always. There was a featured band (as there sometimes is here) called Fortunate Sons, who started their set with Fortunate Sons - although the effect was slightly spoilt by the singer forgetting the words. Gearstalking - their bassist had a 5-string SUB Ray which I thought (as it was a 5 string) was a Ray35, but he insisted that it was a Ray34. Mrs Zero and I did a bass and vocals set - Killer by Seal, Wicked Game by Chris Isaacs, Dancing in the moonlight by Thin Lizzy. There was a somewhat unusual band - the Drayton Brassets I think they're called, a band of brass rather than a brass band, trombone, trumpet, tuba, tympani (just kidding, it was a drummer), and a couple of others (also cornets or trumpets I think), doing assorted songs by Green Day among others. I got called up for a couple of numbers by the organiser, and for the final jam, Route 66 and Hog for you baby seguing into the final bit of Freebird. There's a young guitarist called James Bartholomew who is very good (just wish he could turn the volume down to 10) and he did some blistering solo work.

 

Oh, and I also met a guitarist I haven't seen for 40 years or so, since he was supposed to be playing with me at a gig and jumped in the canal instead. More detail in the Spinal Tap thread.

 

Tomorrow is the weekly open mic at the Shirley Royal British Legion, which I may report on.

[pete.young]

We have a new acoustic blues jam in Ipswich, every last Wednesday of the month at The Duke, Ipswich.

 

It's run by Tim Ainslie (guitar, vocals) and Adrian Day (harp, vocals) . I'm not normally one for jamming but since I have a high regard for both these guys and play in a band with Adrian, I went along last week.

 

Acoustic instruments only, no drum kit (there is a Cajon), no electric guitars and the pub's Yamaha  piano. Adrian provides a low-volume PA and some DI boxes.  I took my double bass. Another bass player eventually showed up with some kind of pseudo-semi acoustic thing, which I didn't recognise. Both basses sounded OK at low volume through the PA.

 

Usual format: Tim and Adrian did a few songs, then rotated the line up through the 5 or 6 guitarists, 2 keyboards and bass players who put their names down on the list. The atmosphere in the pub was great, quite a few people had come along to listen and chat, and were able to do both thanks to the low volume. There is a very loud electric blues jam once a month in the Shamrock, and I enjoyed this session far more, the lower volume being a major factor.

 

I'll probably go again, and might take along the mandolin and/or the Weissenborn to give a bit of variation to the sound.

[Terry M.]

10 hours ago, tauzero said:

Gearstalking - their bassist had a 5-string SUB Ray which I thought (as it was a 5 string) was a Ray35, but he insisted that it was a Ray 34

The bassist insisted his 5 string was in fact a 4 string? I'm not doubting that you can count btw 🤣

[Happy Jack]

Last night's blues jam at [identity withheld to avoid upsetting people] was WAY too loud. Again. 

 

I tried arguing with the organiser (an old friend and long-time collaborator in bands) that this might conceivably be the reason for the on-going tail-off in numbers attending.

 

Wouldn't have it. Just wouldn't have it. Even in a small, nearly-empty pub the volume level has to match the O2 or it's not a "proper" jam. 🙄

 

Lord save me from delusional musos.

 

 

[Acebassmusic]

9 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Last night's blues jam at [identity withheld to avoid upsetting people] was WAY too loud. Again. 

 

I tried arguing with the organiser (an old friend and long-time collaborator in bands) that this might conceivably be the reason for the on-going tail-off in numbers attending.

 

Wouldn't have it. Just wouldn't have it. Even in a small, nearly-empty pub the volume level has to match the O2 or it's not a "proper" jam. 🙄

 

Lord save me from delusional musos.

 

I think excessive volume is a common problem for many jams (and gigs). For a number of years I used to be in the house band for the local blues jam. I kept saying the volume is causing people leave. People would be sat with their fingers in their ears and then leave, it was that obvious. We had a really good sound guy who would (as requested) mic everything up......and then mute it at the desk as the stage volume was so high he couldnt do anything with it! He had a superb Nexo / Allen & Heath system at his fingertips that he could only use as a vocal PA I eventually tired of it and passed the batton to others.

[Geek99]

Going to one tonight, I shall report

[tauzero]

Last night was my regular Wednesday night at the British Legion in Shirley. Took the 10-string Dean for a change. Mrs Zero was feeling unwell so I got to sing and play guitar, which the audience suffered without wincing too much. Accompanied a few people, notably Blind George, who is blind, called George, and is a 14 year old rather good blues guitarist who will be doing a slot at the Upton Blues Festival this year.

Edited February 6 by tauzero

[Geek99]

Another Jeff healey? 

[Geek99]

At the gate in Coalville 

about to learn “she sells sanctuary” on the fly, small beer to you talented types but a huge step for me 

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

At the gate in Coalville 

about to learn “she sells sanctuary” on the fly, small beer to you talented types but a huge step for me 

 

The more you do it, the better you get.

[Geek99]

Had a great quick play thru in the hallway with guitarist and cajon player - okay for next time

uber talented double bass player stole the show thereafter 

 

sanctuary is being played on an acoustic and cajon so really going to need to know it. Guitard thinks it’s all eighths but there’s quite a few twiddly bits. I find his acoustic “gentle”version quite hard to follow and I’m also nervous that my Stingray might rather sonically stamp over him and Mr Cajon 

he’s chosen D, some weird voicing of C ** and regular G so the chords actually sound quite similar 

 

c7 possibly, with b string C played as open b and g fretted on E string. The work of Satan obviously 

Edited February 8 by Geek99

[Geek99]

As I said to him “you totally sent me back to school” and fair play he is more talented and clearly practices a lot more 👍

[NancyJohnson]

Attended a couple of open-mic things donkey's years ago, not playing, mind.  Not much talent on show, quite painful, much heckling and people running to the bar.  Credit to the performers and while you have to applaud their tenacity, most of it was just balls.

 

Never been to an open jam session in my life; part of me thinks there'd be this opportunity to unearth some like-minded musicians and find a musical soul mate, but conversely there's the nightmare scenario of being stuck in a pub with a load of old hairy-biker types that took up the guitar when they retired and just want to play Wonderful Tonight.

 

[Rapid edit]  Went to a barbeque once while we were staying with some friends in Devon.  Word got out that I played bass and would I like to sit in when the guitars came out.  (Not really.) There really is nothing worse than being berated by some three-chord Johnny (especially when one's technical ability exceeds theirs by several country miles) for playing the wrong notes in a song that you've never heard before?

 

"It's a standard, mate," he said.  "Call yourself a bassist, everyone knows <whatever Eric Clapton song it was>."

 

No mate.  No.  They don't.

 

 

 

Edited February 7 by NancyJohnson

[Terry M.]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

Attended a couple of open-mic things donkey's years ago, not playing, mind.  Not much talent on show, quite painful, much heckling and people running to the bar.  Credit to the performers and while you have to applaud their tenacity, most of it was just balls.

 

Never been to an open jam session in my life; part of me thinks there'd be this opportunity to unearth some like-minded musicians and find a musical soul mate, but conversely there's the nightmare scenario of being stuck in a pub with a load of old hairy-biker types that took up the guitar when they retired and just want to play Wonderful Tonight.

 

[Rapid edit]  Went to a barbeque once while we were staying with some friends in Devon.  Word got out that I played bass and would I like to sit in when the guitars came out.  (Not really.) There really is nothing worse than being berated by some three-chord Johnny (especially when one's technical ability exceeds theirs by several country miles) for playing the wrong notes in a song that you've never heard before?

 

"It's a standard, mate," he said.  "Call yourself a bassist, everyone knows <whatever Eric Clapton song it was>."

 

No mate.  No.  They don't.

 

 

 

That's a really unfortunate experience. Not cool at all to say that to you. Wow!

[tauzero]

4 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Attended a couple of open-mic things donkey's years ago, not playing, mind.  Not much talent on show, quite painful, much heckling and people running to the bar.  Credit to the performers and while you have to applaud their tenacity, most of it was just balls.

 

Quality is very variable but open mics generally offer a friendly audience. Some players improve through playing in front of audiences - Mrs Zero was one of those, when I took her to her first open mic night to do some John Denver standards she was rubbish but I knew she was better than that, took her along to the next one and she was much better, and she finished up fronting a rock band. However, it is a two-edged sword - one guy who turns up sporadically to a couple of open mic nights should have the mic closed (his guitar playing is OK though).

[nekomatic]

We did have a how was your jam? thread a while back, but it sort of petered out. No harm starting another one though.

[tauzero]

Not quite last night - Tuesday was the Kingfisher in Castle Bromwich, started by running through a few songs with mine host while the attendees trickled in, then the other bassist (Simon) and I partnered with various people, including me on bass for Simon while he guitared. I made a right cockup of a couple of songs with Annette, who I regularly accompany here and at the Shirley Legion. Mrs Zero and I did three songs from films - Ring of Bright Water, The Hanging Tree from the Hunger Games tri/quadrology, and I'm a Believer from Shrek.

 

Wednesday was the Shirley British Legion again, no Blind George for a change, and there were three bassists. To be more accurate, there were two guitarists who know which end of a bass to blow down and one bassist. Did a song with Annette which we had intended to do the previous night but she'd decided not to at the last moment, Bad Dreams by Teddy Swims, plus Back to Black, and got them both right. Seeing as Mrs Zero and I had given Ring of Bright Water and The Hanging Tree a run-out the previous night, it seemed only right to do them again.

[Count Bassy]

On 07/02/2025 at 07:48, NancyJohnson said:

Attended a couple of open-mic things donkey's years ago, not playing, mind.  Not much talent on show, quite painful, much heckling and people running to the bar.  Credit to the performers and while you have to applaud their tenacity, most of it was just balls.

 

Never been to an open jam session in my life; part of me thinks there'd be this opportunity to unearth some like-minded musicians and find a musical soul mate, but conversely there's the nightmare scenario of being stuck in a pub with a load of old hairy-biker types that took up the guitar when they retired and just want to play Wonderful Tonight.

 

[Rapid edit]  Went to a barbeque once while we were staying with some friends in Devon.  Word got out that I played bass and would I like to sit in when the guitars came out.  (Not really.) There really is nothing worse than being berated by some three-chord Johnny (especially when one's technical ability exceeds theirs by several country miles) for playing the wrong notes in a song that you've never heard before?

 

"It's a standard, mate," he said.  "Call yourself a bassist, everyone knows <whatever Eric Clapton song it was>."

 

No mate.  No.  They don't.

In jam/open mike/ private party situation you have to just go with the flow and accept that there will be people of all abilities there, some not as good as you (everyone has to start somewhere) and possibly some better.

Even if you are the best musician there, I am of the opinion that you can learn something from anybody, and other people can learn from you..

 

(Take a deep breath and) Enjoy it for what it is.

[TrevorR]

Still loving the Weekly Monday Night Jam in Woking. It’s a great atmosphere and really supportive environment to play in. The organisers always try to make sure that everyone who comes gets a fair shout at playing and trying to hog the stage is highly frowned on. Also, it heads to be proper tunes from all genres played - not just 2 hours of turgid pentatonic blues widdling. The tunes can vary from pub cover standards to some swing and jazz to indie to pop… It’s an offshoot from the Woking Music school hence the ethos.

 

We’ve got a fabulous house band led by an amazing guitar player called Nicolas Meier who is a bit good - as in he used to tour in Jeff Beck’s band good (we’ve had some amazing band leaders - Carl Orr (an Aussie jazzer) and Pete Roth (a jazz guitarist who is currently touring his trio which includes Bill Bruford)) but they’re all lovely and ego free.

 

Last week we did a hair metal themed night. I played on You Give Love A Bad Name, a car crash version of Deadringer For Love where the singers got completely lost half way through, and Ozzy’s Crazy Train (which was a blast and such a fun line to play). Here’s Nic and the house band opening the evening with some obscure White Lion tune…

 

We were due to do Here I Go Again that week but our singer and drummer had work things come up that they couldn’t dodge - so we did it the previous jam (and Nick joined us on lead).

 

 

Edited February 16 by TrevorR

[Steve Browning]

Last one I went to, the other night, was near Swindon and was pretty wretched. Typified by a guy suggesting a song that nobody knew, and then playing it anyway. 

 

Best one I've been to was the Blues jam at the Lagerhalle in Osnabruk. It's been going for over 30 years and is well attended and also features some of Germany's finest players. 

 

Players get fed and watered too. 

[12stringbassist]

My band have been hosting a jam night for the last 9 years. It's getting to be rather groundhog day now, with a number of the same people fluffing their songs in the same place and the same way every week. I'm fed up of hearing the same joke week in week out for this long. I'm beginning to get really tired of backing people who aren't very good and who show no sign of improvement.

 

We have built it up and it is very well supported.

 

We have some new blood in recent times, a bunch of teenagers who are sticking in and learning songs and doing very passable versions of them.

 

Last night they asked me to play Everlong as their bassist was on holiday. Never heard of it. They couldn't quite believe it. I'm 66 and an amount of more recent music that young kids like has passed me by. I am still stinging from the dirty look I got shot for a slight mistake during Sweet child of mine (not a song I mess with). I could hardly hear the guitar for the drummer they had last night. Cymbal city. He left the spare guitar tuned down a semitone which messed up the next act.

 

I mentioned to our drummer that I want to stop doing the jam night in the new year. They can carry on with another bassist, but the money's not great and it's really hard work as I end up backing near everything all night. He wasn't overly impressed, but I've made my mind up to get my Sundays back and to play every other weekend 

 

The good point was that we worked up a song from our album and played it live for the first time at the start of the night and finished with it as well. It's a band album, but I ended up doing all the playing on about half of the songs and getting any of the album songs played live has been a problem.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_-1W3deukY

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 11:48 by 12stringbassist

[Steve Browning]

Indeed. If it's not enjoyable then there's no point in doing it. 

[12stringbassist]

5 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

Indeed. If it's not enjoyable then there's no point in doing it. 

When it becomes work.......

[knirirr]

Last night's jam had a higher turnout than usual. Across the room from me were four gypsy jazz guitarists and a violinist, plus a chap with some sort of breath-operated synth set up to sound like an accordion, with the result that we got a lot of gypsy jazz and not really much else.

There weren't as many horn players. One of them has been learning bass guitar and asked to sit in for a couple of tunes. Being aware of this beforehand I had brought a Les Paul(*) and small amp and was able to get a couple of guitar solos in. I think I got away with it. At least the tone was nice.

Useful side effect: I keep getting GAS for an acoustic guitar, thinking that it might be nice to not have to plug in to practice, just like when I practice my bass. However, hearing the LP alongside the acoustics reminded me that I don't much like the sound of the latter and this will perhaps  strengthen resistance.
 

 

(*) Well, an Epiphone LP special...

[tauzero]

Tuesday night - Cavern Club in Tamworth. Duties as house bassist consisted of accompanying mine host at the beginning and end of the night, and trying to jam "You give love a bad name" (I got 2/3 of the chords right). There's definite hope for the future - the girl singing said Bon Jovi song is 12, and there was another 12 year old girl singing, both with good voices, the teenage guitarist doing Bon Jovi is also a good singer and got another couple of teenage/early 20s girls up to sing. Mrs Zero and I recycled the film songs (Ring of Bright Water, Mad World, Hanging Tree).

 

Last night - accompanied various people. Cocked up accompanying on "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus, everything else went OK. Did "Kiss from a Rose" and "Sleeping Satellite" with Mrs Zero - I can never fingerpick the intro and bridge parts to "Kiss" cleanly but she insisted.