jam night woe

[EBS_freak]

Rant disclaimer.

So, treated myself to a night off to check out a local jam night. Here I am just come off "stage" and I don't think that I have been so disillusioned in my life.

I have been to jams where you really have to be on your toes but this is a completely different kettle of fish. I wish I could record some of the tosh going on here.

So... I was on stage and the first question I was asked if I knew how to play a 12 bar blues. Alarm bells. I said "yes" and some cock of a guitarist proceeds to show me how to play a 12 bar. FFS. I'm in my own personal hell. I repeated that I was more than capable of playing a 12 bar but the clown decided to keep showing me. I walked off to the other side of the "stage". Hilarious. I should have asked what style... Beebop?? Quick turn around? Ugh... So we launch into our 12 bar which sounds suspiciously like a retarded version of Honky Tonk Woman. Oh. It is (to a fashion) Honky Tonk Women. OK. Hardly taxing... Let's roll with it anyway. Hang on... What the fcuk is the drummer doing? He is playing something but its certainly not in any sort of 4 that I recognise. It seems that playing a straight 4 on the floor is beyong our tubthumper. OK, he's trying some flash harry skills now. I should have pointed out to him that he needs to have a general sense of time and the ability to lay down a straight beat (let alone groove) to get anywhere. Very annoying. I enquired about him and he has been "playing" for nearly 30 years. Feck.

We ramble on through the most meaningless shizz (with me trying to keep up with a sh*t Peavey practice amp. (Why do bass players suffer with backline in this way?)

Anyway, stumble through the next song as quick as possible in a bid to get off stage. So I get off stage and drummer is all over me. "We really locked in". Really? What feckin planet is he on? The rest of the band were sucking each others as they thought they were amazing.

Never again.

I seem to have stumbled into a club full of people who are basking in their own glory. Come on people... Open your ears.

And drummer... Actually, just quit.

And what is it with guitarists playing pentatonic twazz at the end of everything?? In fact, not just at end, everything.

Man, these guys would be dead at a proper jam.

Anyway.. I better stop writing this cos I'm getting more angry. The attitudes and the self belief in here is really getting to me...

[steve]

blimey, sounds like you did well to keep your cool

[leschirons]

Feel for you there. Last week I depped as second guitar to help someone out. Just some pop and rocky blues and Hendrix covers. The guitarist told me he'd been playing for 45 years so I guessed I'd stay back in the mix, expecting some sort of Trower/Malmsteen monster to start up.

He totally lost the plot on Can't get enough of your love and then proceeded to tell me it was because he wasn't using his own amp and he can usually play that solo backwards. In fact, that's what it sounded like.

Well, you know not to go there again. Stick to musos who are up to your level.

[chris_b]

I'm in the house band for a jam. Sounds like just another day at the office! To be fair, some days are worse than others!!

[bubinga5]

Been there...invited to a jam once, got out the Sadowsky, and the guitarist said, nice Fender didnt know they made fives.

Drummer was good but couldnt form any sort of groove as the guitarist had his 100w Marshall on full with maximum distortion..the guy didnt have a clue what he was doing musically, and any chords he did know were just a god awfull screaching mess..

He asked me if i wanted to write some stuff together..i said a polite no..

Another time is when we rehearsed a guitarist for a Reggae outfit..he pulled out his £3000.00 PRS, and a effects board, no lie, about a metre wide..Then started playing bluesy stuff over Declaration of Rights Riddim..
Im very funny when it comes to guitarists and this is why.

[LukeFRC]

i stopped my self on my drummers rant there.
how is it some drummers dont realise they are there to keep time and a beat? everything else is a bonus.
it would be like us bassists... actually i can't think of a comparison, playing a detuned one string slowed down version of teen town to EVERY song we play, just cos we can..... (or actually cant, but think we can, hense the problem with cack drummers)

Edited August 27, 2009 by LukeFRC

[Oscar South]

Where was that at? Used to live in Lichfield and went to a few jam sessions there, it was almost always just 12 bar in E (and occasionally G).

I've been running a jam night in Chester recently 'my own way' and its really starting to take off. Some incredible musicians and some really cool people coming down, I spend half of the evening just standing is awe of some of the stuff people play and I've learned so much from jamming with and chatting with people there.

[JTUK]

always best to check the lie of the land... It is often for people who can't get a gig

I never put myself up for these and even then I need to know who will be on it..

Some of them are for charity and that is ok...but if it is just a cheap way for a landlord/club to fill a slot, then, no thanks

[Pete Academy]

Jam nights...aaarrrgghh!!! My advice is to keep well away. It's always a 12-bar, or Johnny B. Goode, or a Stones song, etc, etc. An excuse for a guitarist to show off. I HATE blues songs where the guitarist insists on soloing for ever and ever.

And don't get me started on crap drummers.

[Pete Academy]

Cue a certain member who will disagree with me. Yes, you know who you are.

[wateroftyne]

That's a lot of bad luck.

We have a few good open mic / jam nights up here. They're usually pretty whacky with quite a wide range of abilities.

The key to these things is to focus on songs, rather than instrumental SHIZZLE.

In fact, here's a (non-whacky) last-tune-of-the-night from a week or so ago..

[EBS_freak]

Got to love The Band.

[wateroftyne]

I'm just glad we didn't butcher it to the point of being unrecognisable

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='583186' date='Aug 28 2009, 08:09 AM']I'm just glad we didn't butcher it to the point of being unrecognisable [/quote]

Nah! Always been a big fan of the band and their songs are pretty jam friendly. Would have loved to have played a bit last night - Up On Cripple Creek would have fit the bill nicely. In fact the only song I know of theirs that would be killed at a jam night would be The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down... you know within minutes it would turn to slurge with a load of pentatonic riffage over the top - that you know just wouldn't fit!

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='583189' date='Aug 28 2009, 08:14 AM']In fact the only song I know of theirs that would be killed at a jam night would be The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down... you know within minutes it would turn to slurge with a load of pentatonic riffage over the top - that you know just wouldn't fit![/quote]
...or, even worse, a sprightly country singalong. When that happens, it makes me want to cry for all the wrong reasons. ha ha.

[vmaxblues]

Very nice mate

[gafbass02]

I found em useful when I first moved to Cheltenham for getting known and making friends. But since have realised that by and large the same people play the same songs to the same people week in week out. As I know very few covers and only play bass I always ended up rather left out anyway. I still often go but only to see friends and to smoke and drink outside lol.

[Veils]

I once went along to play at a jam night and found myself surrounded by people who wanted to tell me their stories of past glory and generally bounce their incomprehensible soundwaves off the side of my head. I quickly discovered that it is not for me. I have a friend who is a regular at one where I used to live and because he is the only bassist in the place who can play, he is a minor celebrity.

I appreciate they have their uses and, done right, can be a really good fun way to connect with musicians, but it just isn't for me. I'd much rather go and sit with my guitarist and bash out some tunes

[Rich]

When I lived in Swindon, some mates and I used to be regulars at a jam night at The Brown Jack in Wroughton. It was not an entirely blues-free zone, but there was a definite soul/groove bias to the occasions. I remember in particular a very long version of 'Lovely Day' with some nice tasteful soloing from guitar and keys players. Good times.

[dave_bass5]

Ive never played a Jam night although i went to one once.
I got invited along by a very good guitarist who told me the musicianship was very high there. Well, it was i guess but the song choices were a bit lacking.
I was persuaded to get up and play (i had taken my bass along) and it was almost the same sort of thing as the OP.
I was told we were going to play some blues and did i know how to play it? I had my P5 with me and never having met me etc i figured it was a reasonable question.
I made a joke about not knowing the third chord and was then forced in to watching both guitarists (not my mate) show me, in real time but out of time with each other how to play E A & B in the right order. In front of a semi packed pub.
We started to play some 3 chord drivel but just after the first change one of the guitarists came over and said i was playing it wrong. He told me to play the low E on the E string, not the A as "it didn't sound right". I didn't bother changing how i was playing and it went down well. He said afterwards that it was a bit unconventional and maybe i need ot work on it.
They wanted me to stay on to play some more but i asked if they knew anything that had more than 4 chords in it. They said its not what people want to hear on Jam nights.
I said good night, walked off stage and went home.

[Bilbo]

I have mixed feelings about jam sessions. I started out playing jazz at jam sessions at the Four Bars Inn in Cardiff and got my first jazz gigs off the guy who ran it (Dick Hamer) so to complain would be disingenuous.

I guess we have a real problem in this country with telling people who have not repertoire that this is a problem and they should deal with it. In fact, we have a problem telling people who are crap to go home and practice some more before they do it in public (trust me, the Yanks would tell you ). We are actually letting people make fools of themselves. I also think people should be told (shown?) how to prepare charts (not dots, just a grid/list of the chords) so that people have a chance of nailing something more sophisticated than a 12-bar. Most good rhythm section players can play almost any popular song if you just give them the chords.

At the same time, I sometimes like it that people who are never going to play in a proper band get to 'have a go'. Maybe some of us (including me sometimes) should get off our high horses and let beginners be beginners. Its as if we want to show ourselves in the best possible light and are aggrieved that others stop us from doing so. Is it really that important to look that good to a crowd of punters in the Grinning Rat in Ipswich?

[chris_b]

Our house band with Nigel Bagg



Nigel was sitting in. Sometimes a jam can be fun.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='583707' date='Aug 28 2009, 04:18 PM']I have mixed feelings about jam sessions. I started out playing jazz at jam sessions at the Four Bars Inn in Cardiff and got my first jazz gigs off the guy who ran it (Dick Hamer) so to complain would be disingenuous.

I guess we have a real problem in this country with telling people who have not repertoire that this is a problem and they should deal with it. In fact, we have a problem telling people who are crap to go home and practice some more before they do it in public (trust me, the Yanks would tell you ). We are actually letting people make fools of themselves. I also think people should be told (shown?) how to prepare charts (not dots, just a grid/list of the chords) so that people have a chance of nailing something more sophisticated than a 12-bar. Most good rhythm section players can play almost any popular song if you just give them the chords.

At the same time, I sometimes like it that people who are never going to play in a proper band get to 'have a go'. Maybe some of us (including me sometimes) should get off our high horses and let beginners be beginners. Its as if we want to show ourselves in the best possible light and are aggrieved that others stop us from doing so. Is it really that important to look that good to a crowd of punters in the Grinning Rat in Ipswich?[/quote]

see i cant play jazz (yet, i've not tried) and I can't think of a better way to learn than just playing with folk.
but jazz is different to blues/rock, and I would think works better (?)

[skankdelvar]

All excellent points, Bilbo. Organisers need to vary and extend the repertoire while leaving some room for beginners to paddle round at the shallow end. But I suppose it must be a logistical nightmare.

I've only ever been to a couple of blues jams and the songs tend to be the oldest of old chestnuts - mostly mid-tempo Jimmy Reed rtms in A and E. Thus it sounded all a bit Claptout and - er - British.

The other thing that bothered me was a gaggle of guitar-hero Dads seating their pre-teen kids 3 feet in front of a [i]very[/i] loud PA. These suffering mites spent the next two hours with their hands over their ears. Don't these gobbins realise that their kids' hearing is easily damaged?

Edited August 28, 2009 by skankdelvar