So You Went To An "Open" Jam.......

[HolmeBass]

I have had great luck with open blues jams. The quality of the players in general is excellent, which honestly surprised me. If you don't sing you do have to be ready to back up whoever does on their tunes of choice, and there are some curve balls in the sense of blues that don't follow the 12-bar form, or just have unusual turnarounds.

 

[btmpancake]

I have to admit I am tired of going to open jams as a non singing bass player. You are at the whim of the guitarists songs. If you try and get them to play a song that they don't know they will shun it. However you MUST play the stuff that they know!!!

I play rock and blues rock, sorry I don't do country but they try and make me though I have seen and played with the same guys at the same jam at different times and we do hardish rock and blues!!!

STRAT you are not alone. This is one phrase I am working on now,all easy popular covers in my key.

 

[interp]

I regularly go to a Tuesday night open jam at a little bar here that is frequented almost exclusively by local Bavarians. Which means very few tourists. (A good thing, IMO.)

Sometimes it's heaven, sometimes it's hell. When it's hell, I just sit and have a beer with my German friends.

 

[bigfatbass]

With such a jaded attitude from someone who has never participated in one, I'd suggest staying in the basement playing alone.

 

[Old Blastard]

We have some amazing players and some not so amazing players in the jams around here, but it does make you use your skills, your knowledge base and theory in trying to make a good performance. We also have some amazing bassists here -- one jam had six basses and two guitars, a harp and ukelele -- so there are chances to see what others are doing. And I find playing with people better than me makes me a better player

 

[Dana R Gregory]

Definitely go to an open jam. It is an excellent learning experience and will only improve your skills. You can also network and you might find a group of musicians to form a band with without the hassles of Craigslist. I always have a good time when I play at an open jam. Good luck.

 

[wmhill]

Most open jams need to be taken with a grain of salt (and maybe a shot of Jack). Obviously some are better than others, but just by nature of the beast they have to be dummed down a bit to make them work. They can be fun and you get to mingle with fellow musicians, so give it a try- just keep your expectations at bay, and take it for what it is.

 

[petrus61]

One thing you'll definitely want to do is attend a few before sitting in. I find what tends to happen at many of these jams is a clique or close circle of musicians that are pretty much there to play with each other and aren't really interested in "outsiders" will pretty much lock out anyone they aren't familiar with. They take what they perceive as the best talent and pair them together, while lumping the newcomers in with the hacks and less talented musicians. It's pretty much been the case at every one I've attended, even the well run ones. After a while and if you're good enough, they wind up letting you into their little circle and you get to play with better players.

They really are one of the best places to network and hook up with other bands. Two of the best bands I ever played in were a result of meeting a player at an open jam. As others have said, they can be really good or they can be downright horrible, more often than not they're a combo of the two, ime.

 

[RoadRanger]

Kinda funny, I absolutely hate open mics but one of my projects is the host band for one that the BL used to be involved in and has revived - It's basically across the street from his house where we rehearse. Third one next Friday, I've started to push for changes to make it less lame. We play a set of just us (we're adding a set each month to our stuff) and two guys come and play to their tracks (!!!) how lame is that? 2-3 songs are jammed after all that at about 11. I've had our BL push it back an hour (from 9 to 8) so we have more actual jam time and offer us to back the tracks guys instead - last time our drummer sat in on a few and I did too, nobody died . We'll see how it goes .

 

[TrexPlaysBass]

Jams can go through phases too. There used to be a good jam in my hometown basement bar, but I remember one night a ton of new people showed up, and to get everyone playing they put too many new guys on stage together at a time. The real players got very little time that night, and it was borderline noise coming from the stage.. Since then less of the good players come back, and it spiraled down for a few months because none of the cats were showing up. But then eventually this killin drummer and singer started to regular it, and it's on the rise again, although they have pretty much commandeered the jam as their own.

Point being, gotta go more than once.

 

[buldog5151bass]

There is no "norm". I was house bassist for one I. cT, and could swing from jazz to Hendrix to Johnny Cash to Janis Joplin in 30 minutes. There was one excellent guitarist who would bring different instruments every week - try Hendriz on banjo and making it work. Other nights you might be playing 12 bar blues all night.

But you cannot beat it as an opportunity to meet musicians who want to play, but don't have a band.

 

[InhumanResource]

I mean...in the jazz scene, jam sessions at clubs are how you network. I've gone to plenty of blues jams (mostly because I'm a pretty flimsy jazz player) and they range from really good to a collection of old dudes showing off their Fender collection. It helps to find several different spots/scenes so you can pick the one you like. For example, I used to regularly attend a jazz jam session at a small bar that had mostly younger players like I was, and a few older guys who knew more. It was more like a clinic than the typical jam session and we all got to learn a bit. Go explore.

 

[TripleDouble]

If you like people and being social, it will be fun no matter how bad the music can often be. I met my current lawyer at one, and he's a great guy too, so it's not just about networking among musicians, it's all types of people from the community. There's something cool about relative strangers of all styles and skills getting together and trying to make something happen.

The open jams around here attract everything from crappy country pickers, great country pickers, jazz snobs, music teachers, dudes bashing on acoustic guitars drunkenly playing Wagon Wheel, some pretentious Berklee dropouts, some cranky showboating Berklee grads, washed up journeymen players, French Canadian folkies, stinky hippies, the guy with the face tats, and screeching women who think they can sing but my goodness they can not, unless sounding like a dying crow counts as music. It may suck, but if you're into demented fun, it aint boring.

 

[gjbassist]

There are open jams almost every night of the week in my area. The majority are blues jams, but there are also some rock and country jams. Blues tends to work best because it is straight forward, which allows people who haven't played together before the ability to quickly get on the same page.
All the jams I have been to are well organized. They almost always have a sign up sheet. A good host will call up several musicians from the sheet, have them play a few songs and then go on to the next round of players. Of course this depends on how many people show up. I have been to jams where I ended up playing for half the night because only one other bass player showed up. I have also been to jams where six bass players showed up. It is a fun way to meet other musicians in your area. I have made a couple of good connections at jams which has led to me getting some paying gigs as a fill in bass player!

 

[HateyMcAmp]

I go to open jams about as often as I can, more now that I live in a new city. For me, they have a couple really great benefits-

1- You meet other musicians, get to hang and talk shop, and have the opperunity to pick up gigs and invitations to audition for projects. If I'm starting a band or looking for a sub, I'll almost always think to someone I have jammed/hung with in the past and liked before I ask other musicians for numbers or hit CL. Some people are hard and unfriendly at first, but if you have a good attitude and are there to learn, I've found even the kings of the scene will come around to you after some time.

1a- You don't need to play all night or hang all night. There probably will be other bassists who will be happy to trade off, so you can grab a beer/soda and not worry about treating it like a gig where you have a million responsibilities.

2- While you shouldn't just play whatever, jams can be a bit of a sandbox for learning new things. From a bassists perspective, it's a great trial-by-fire to pick up key signatures, progressions, and arrangements by ear. Sure, it takes practice, but open jams allows you to develop these skills in an environment where everyone attending is there to get better, as opposed to gigs/rehearsals where everyone is there to do a seamless performance or prepare for one.

2a- Learning songs on the fly at jams helped me break out of the "I need to have everything I plan on playing memorized before I walk in the door" crutch and develop my ears/musical vocabulary, and nothing has made me more employable as a professional bassist than that.

3- You learn other people's tunes, and tunes you know transposed to different keys, which prepares you to take new gigs and break into new call list. You can also teach other people the songs you play, but learn the words/melody if you want to lead tunes. Some jams will let you bring charts, others look down on this.

4- When I go to jams, I never fail to both impress and underwhelm over the course of the night. Stuff that sounds boring in the shed sounds really funky in the mix, and things I think sound really hip in the shed fall flat. It's a very honest wake-up call for what I'm doing right, and what needs to be improved on the play the music I want to play, with the people I want to play it with.

OP, I get you are a little apprehensive but I think it's worth a try. You honestly have a lot to gain and little to lose.

 

[eriky4003]

Go to an open jam - but don't bring an instrument. If you like the way it's run, return next week with a bass in hand. If not, onto the next venue...
Good luck.

 

[cnltb]

My musical undertakings consist of playing keys and bass, learning covers, writing and recording my own stuff (or reworkings of covers), singing, all done at home.
I have plenty of recordings of famous groups that I fire up and sub as the bass man.

No problem.....all good.

Lately I've been contemplating putting an ad in Craigslist to get together with some older dudes for informal playing and jamming etc. just for the hell of it.....

There are also some "open" jams not too far from me. Pub variety mostly.

When I think "open" jam I envision a bunch of people awkwardly fumbling through shopworn blues tracks,
mainly because everybody's likes are different and nobody knows anybody else's songs....

I've never participated in one.

I'd be interested in hearing your results from attending "open" jams......

Ass umptions.
Go have a looksee.
You might be surprised!
IME they range from what you describe to fantastic musicians playing fantastic music whilst networking.

 

[static0verdrive]

Depends on who shows up. On good nights, either we will murmer a key and go, or else we can fairly easily jump on something one guy starts. On... less than good nights, usually what happens is a guitarist (more like singer/songwriter type) just launches into a cover or chord progression, and that doesn't work out too well unless everyone knows the progression. I prefer shorter jams in one key than chord progressions for open jams, unless the chord progression is well known or discussed just before you start.

 

[Ric5]

My musical undertakings consist of playing keys and bass, learning covers, writing and recording my own stuff (or reworkings of covers), singing, all done at home.
I have plenty of recordings of famous groups that I fire up and sub as the bass man.

No problem.....all good.

Lately I've been contemplating putting an ad in Craigslist to get together with some older dudes for informal playing and jamming etc. just for the hell of it.....

There are also some "open" jams not too far from me. Pub variety mostly.

When I think "open" jam I envision a bunch of people awkwardly fumbling through shopworn blues tracks,
mainly because everybody's likes are different and nobody knows anybody else's songs....

I've never participated in one.

I'd be interested in hearing your results from attending "open" jams......

Open jams can be a way to meet some good musicians ...Some open jams are populated with really good players ... some are full of wanne-bes, has-beens, and never will-bes ...

 

[petrus61]

Jams can go through phases too. There used to be a good jam in my hometown basement bar, but I remember one night a ton of new people showed up, and to get everyone playing they put too many new guys on stage together at a time. The real players got very little time that night, and it was borderline noise coming from the stage.. Since then less of the good players come back, and it spiraled down for a few months because none of the cats were showing up. But then eventually this killin drummer and singer started to regular it, and it's on the rise again, although they have pretty much commandeered the jam as their own.

Point being, gotta go more than once.

Good observation. I've seen jams that started off good, with great attendance and great players showing up that eventually would evolve into disasters. It's almost the reverse situation I spoke of in my other post, where the good players lock out the bad ones. In these cases, the jams would basically be overrun by hacks and it would scare off the better players because they didn't want to get stuck backing some crap band. This invariably would lead to the regular customers leaving too, which in turn meant the demise of open mic at that location. Once a place gets a bad rap from the local musicians, it is almost impossible to completely recover. It takes someone with a lot of patience and capable of honest diplomacy and organization to run a decent open mic and those are the ones that usually succeed.