What exactly is a "jam night"?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='YouMa' post='598818' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:04 PM']He would probably get barred for putting up some weird installation art in the beer garden.[/quote]
I thought that was the smoking shelter.

[YouMa]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='598824' date='Sep 14 2009, 10:08 PM']I thought that was the smoking shelter. [/quote]

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='YouMa' post='598818' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:04 PM']He would probably get barred for putting up some weird installation art in the beer garden.[/quote]
It's a shame you've moved back to Newcastle just as the [url="http://musicfilmbroth.com/MR.html"]Musical Restaurant[/url] has ceased to be. You might have enjoyed it. That's exactly the sort of thing that happened there -- always a strange mixture of performance art, industrial noise, turgid singer-songwriters and jam sessions. Hopefully they'll get a new venue sorted out and be up and running again soon.

[OldGit]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='598666' date='Sep 14 2009, 08:38 PM']It's not always the case that anyone announces the key - sometimes the only clue is 'It goes like this -1-2-3-4' ..................[/quote]

One of the most annoying things I find is the guitarist who gets up and then tells you all the chords and stuff but doesn't tell you the song title ...
Trying to work out that they are about to play "The Weight" from their botched chord list is almost impossible So be prepare to ask "what's it called an what key is it in?" before the tune starts.

Getting a chance to play as a bass player at a jam is sometimes a bit hard. The Jam organizer is looking for willing singers and, especially, singing guitarists, preferably ones who sing and play like Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton or one of those young bands .... They can lead a song whereas a bassplayer can't. In some jam nights bass players and drummers don't get a go because of this.

I agree with the comment above - go and watch for a few weeks. Get known by the organiser and make a note of every tune that's played and check it out on Spotify or Youtube so you have half an idea of how it goes in case they play it when you gee your go. Then do the same for any you don't know on subsequent visits.

Having said that when I arrived in Cardiff and went to the first jam night I'd not ordered a drink before I was cornered by the organiser and booked for the next slot (quiet night) I got up with the house band and played Crossroads and something else 12 bar-ish.


After getting to know him and being asked what I know every time I went I printed off a list the 400 or so tunes I've played in covers bands on stage and gave it to him. He still sometimes calls stuff I don't know but it made the point Oh and he also plays tunes I know in different ways - so the odd bar, half bar and beat gets dropped out and chords often change in the wrong places.
If you get one of those just follow the singer.

[OldGit]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='598664' date='Sep 14 2009, 08:38 PM']Not sure the previous replies have actually answered your question.

Firstly, if you've really never done this before, then go along as audience rather than player. Don't take a bass, don't tell them you play. Just have a pint, look & listen.

If the mood takes you and you think "Christ! I could have done this!" then the house band bass player will usually be prepared to lend you his bass (it's part of the job description).

When you get to a jam intending to play, ask who's "running the list". Usually there will be a paper list in the keeping of the organiser, sometimes there's a blackboard (yuk), and sometimes the organiser just keeps it all in his head (double yuk).

What you want is to introduce yourself to the organiser, tell him what you play, and be completely honest with him. Tell him the sort of standard you play to, the sort of songs you can play, and ask him to put you up with people who'll help you - ideally it should be the house band.

Eventually your name will be called. You walk up on stage and plug in (having tuned up earlier of course), and there will be a quick whispered conference as to what you'll all play. Then away you go.

With that format, the emphasis is on songs which either (a) everyone knows ([i]Sweet Home Alabama, All Right Now, All Along The Watchtower[/i], etc.) or ( are easy to play if you don't know them (most 12-bar blues).

If you'd rather be prepared, then practice a specific slow blues ([i]Red House [/i]is a good call) and a specific fast rocker ([i]Johnny B Goode [/i]or something) and ask if you can just play those.

Be prepared to stand your ground. If one of the guitarists wants to do, say, [i]Little Wing [/i]and you don't know it, do NOT agree to "give it a try" ... you'll be crucified! Stick to what you know.

When I started going to jam nights (only a little over two years ago) I frequently got caught playing stuff I'd never heard. So after each jam night I went away and learned whatever song it was that I'd cocked up. Within a few months I had most of the regular songs sorted.

Good luck.[/quote]


+ 1 to all of that.

[YouMa]

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='598827' date='Sep 14 2009, 10:10 PM']It's a shame you've moved back to Newcastle just as the [url="http://musicfilmbroth.com/MR.html"]Musical Restaurant[/url] has ceased to be. You might have enjoyed it. That's exactly the sort of thing that happened there -- always a strange mixture of performance art, industrial noise, turgid singer-songwriters and jam sessions. Hopefully they'll get a new venue sorted out and be up and running again soon.[/quote]

That looks brilliant mate,im going to start checking out the town again,i forget stuffs gone,i nearly found myself looking for the broken doll pub the other day when i was there. Forgot it was knocked down

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='YouMa' post='598830' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:13 PM']That looks brilliant mate,im going to start checking out the town again,i forget stuffs gone,i nearly found myself looking for the broken doll pub the other day when i was there. Forgot it was knocked down [/quote]
Get yerself down to the Egypt Cottage before that gets pulled down too!

[AndyTravis]

My answer:

They are weird social gatherings. Examples below.

[list]
[*]There are usually really badly run affairs, half arranged by music students who can't find a band.
[*]There are ones where really average players who consider themselves 'Heavyweights' on the 'Scene' intimidate less experienced players who actually turned up with a hope of learning something.
[*]As above, but the 'Heavyweights' are the in house 'Band' and each member of said 'Band' are eventually replaced by talentless show offs, basically ending in a useless spirally affair.
[*]The ones where sensitive singer songwriter acoustic types get up with their 'talented' girlfriend vocalist, with pre prepared songs. The accompanists are inevitably a shredding metal guitarist, a Latin Jazz drummer and a 'Funky' bassist.
[/list]
So in conclusion, they do not work. They are not what everyone wants them to be.

Some people confuse the term 'Open Mic Night' with 'Jam Night' and basically, it's an oppertunity for a lot of nepotistic nonesense.

[YouMa]

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='598831' date='Sep 14 2009, 10:14 PM']Get yerself down to the Egypt Cottage before that gets pulled down too![/quote]


Is it still cool upstairs,you used to be able to get away with a cheeky smoke in there.

[RhysP]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='598803' date='Sep 14 2009, 10:53 PM']Seventh Circle of Hell - Middle Ring:


Anyone recognise the gig?[/quote]
Cambridge Folk festival 1992 - the one in the middle is me. I woke up the following morning in a skip.


Talking of Hell - I was in a Pret a Manger in Oxford St on Saturday buying some sandwiches & a coffee. My bill came to £6.66 & the guy that served me laughed & pointed to his name badge - it said "Damien".

Edited September 14, 2009 by RhysP

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='YouMa' post='598833' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:15 PM']Is it still cool upstairs,you used to be able to get away with a cheeky smoke in there.[/quote]
Haven't been in years, but I doubt it. But you might enjoy the nostalgia before the wrecking ball arrives... (three weeks, I think)

Anyway, bit of a thread derail there. My bad. Less OT (On the Toon) and more OT (On Topic).

[chris_b]

I’m the house bass player for a jam in West London and we get great, good and hopeless players, a drum band, a didgeridoo player and people who can’t even tune their instruments. We get guys who think playing at 11 is cool and every now and then we get a player who uses his ears and listens to the others.

Like most things, a jam night is what you make it. You get idiots and you get "normal" people. You don't let them walk all over you and you listen a lot and play a little, hopefully at the same time as the others. Be positive and you'll usually get something out of the night.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='RhysP' post='598837' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:18 PM']Talking of Hell - I was in a Pret a Manger in Oxford St on Saturday buying some sandwiches & a coffee. My bill came to £6.66 & the guy that served me laughed & pointed to his name badge - it said "Damien". [/quote]
:ph34r:

[YouMa]

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='598840' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:20 PM']Haven't been in years, but I doubt it. But you might enjoy the nostalgia before the wrecking ball arrives... (three weeks, I think)

Anyway, bit of a thread derail there. My bad. Less OT (On the Toon) and more OT (On Topic). [/quote]


Sad to see it go.

[RhysP]

[quote name='chris_b' post='598841' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:21 PM'].....a didgeridoo player..........[/quote]
Oh Christ.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='598832' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:15 PM']So in conclusion, they do not work. They are not what everyone wants them to be.

Some people confuse the term 'Open Mic Night' with 'Jam Night' and basically, it's an oppertunity for a lot of nepotistic nonesense.[/quote]

Outstanding!

The definitive answer. That's what we needed, that's what we got.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='chris_b' post='598841' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:21 PM']a didgeridoo player[/quote]

[quote name='RhysP' post='598846' date='Sep 14 2009, 11:24 PM']Oh Christ.[/quote]

Don't judge people before you've met them.

[AndyTravis]

Looking at it 'Open Mic Night' is just an invitation for people who shouldn't be allowed the oppertunity.

[YouMa]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='598853' date='Sep 14 2009, 10:28 PM']Don't judge people before you've met them.


















[/quote]

Bloody students!

[OldGit]

Well there's no way I'd take my didge to a jam night though taking a tenor sax seems to guarantee me a go. People are so fed up with guitar tunes that anything different is welcomed, especially if you can actually jam.....

[OldGit]

Maybe we should list the regular tunes that come up to give jam night virgins a chance of going n pre-warned?
I'll start:

Rocky-pop jam nights
Mustang Sally
Valerie
G_L_O_R_I_A Gloria
Crossroads
Hey Joe
Can't get enough
Alright now
Black magic woman
The Weight
Sex on Fire
I predict a riot
I need your love so bad
Various types of 12 bars (4 on the floor, shuffle, blues)

Jazz Jam nights (much harder for a novice)
Autumn Leaves
Summertime
Footprints
Various types of 12 bars (4 on the floor, shuffle, blues)

Edited September 15, 2009 by OldGit

[Happy Jack]

[i]Sweet Home Alabama
Honky-Tonk Women[/i]

Any song with the opportunity for a ludicrously-extended guitar solo (which explains the perennial popularity of [i]Little Wing[/i], originally just over two minutes as played by Hendrix, now frequently bloated to 10 minutes or more by egocentric 6-stringers and SRV fans).

Some notes on [i]All Right Now [/i]and [i]Honky-Tonk Women[/i].

1. If you plan to play them "properly", i.e. with no bass at all during the verse, be prepared to get stared at - often in a patronising "don't you know this one, then?" sort of way - during the first verse.

2. Equally, if you realise after the first 8 or 12 bars that at least one of the guitarists has no clue what he's doing, then be prepared to abandon your principles and start playing during the verse just to keep the thing going.

If I had a fiver for each time the above has happened to me, I'd have ... oooh .... at least twenty quid by now.

[goingdownslow]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='599134' date='Sep 15 2009, 12:35 PM']Some notes on [i]All Right Now [/i]and [i]Honky-Tonk Women[/i].

1. If you plan to play them "properly", i.e. with no bass at all during the verse, be prepared to get stared at - often in a patronising "don't you know this one, then?" sort of way - during the first verse.[/quote]

This was from a review in a local gig guide...

"They get through to the end of the night without mentioning the most obvious track, so it's no surprise when an encore gets called for and they launch into "All Right Now" I'll have to check the record collection but they do it with no bass in the verses, only in the chorus and guitar break which I've never seen before,"

Where do they get these numptys from.....

Edited September 16, 2009 by goingdownslow

[OldGit]

[quote name='goingdownslow' post='599870' date='Sep 16 2009, 08:37 AM']This was from a review in a local gig guide...

"They get through to the end of the night without mentioning the most obvious track, so it's no surprise when an encore gets called for and they launch into "All Right Now" I'll have to check the record collection but they do it with no bass in the verses, only in the chorus and guitar break which I've never seen before,"

Where do they get these numptys from.....[/quote]


Probably only ever seen it played at Jams...
Couple of points on All Right Now:
If you are playing that at jams don't be afraid to play the famous high bass bit in the solo (every other bar) down an octave if you are playing a bass with limited upper access or it's dark
It's better to have the right notes at the right time but an octave down than struggle to find the right high notes every time. After the first two times no one will pay you any attention anyway.
It's also handy to know if the singer is singing the single version (comes back in to the chorus afer the guitar solo) or the album version (comes back in to the verse) I've had jam singers do both so I learned to ask prior to starting.

[chris_b]

You can make something out of nothing on most jam numbers, but my blood runs cold when one of the guitarists says, "Let's do a funky 12 bar." Everyone starts a completely different rhythm and 99% of the time they get to the end of the number without ever having played together once!

My mate Phil used to say, "They've got their ears painted on!"