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Thinking about quitting going to jams!
- Thread starter Hevy T
- Start date
I've been going to a local jazz jam each week for the last 8 months. Great house band - one of whom, the ex-Berklee prof is now my teacher. I'm the worst bassist of the 3 or 4 who show regularly (that hurts!) but I'm getting a lot better - to the point where I get regular "wow you've been working!"-type comments. That delta improvement is the thing that hooks me.
It's really well run; generally everyone who wants a slot gets up. Some weeks I'm the only bassist to show up, sometimes I just get 2 songs, but I always learn. And I've made friends.
Although a few weeks ago the house band sax player did give 6 of us Covid…. hmmmm…
It's really well run; generally everyone who wants a slot gets up. Some weeks I'm the only bassist to show up, sometimes I just get 2 songs, but I always learn. And I've made friends.
Although a few weeks ago the house band sax player did give 6 of us Covid…. hmmmm…
It's just a jam (crap shoot) would not worry about it . I'm always asked to come to these jams , but I really don't need to sit around hours eating wings to maybe getting to play 1-2 tunes , if there isn't a line of better known bass players in front of me that night .
Yeah, that sounds about par for the jams, IME.
I loved jams in high school & college. After I hit my mid 20s or so, I don't have the patience for the egos, or the desire to stay up that late, anymore.
No way I'm going to show up at 9 on a Sunday/weekday to wait until midnight to play, by which point everyone is too drunk to play or has left, just because people don't know how to stop playing and cycle through musicians.
I loved jams in high school & college. After I hit my mid 20s or so, I don't have the patience for the egos, or the desire to stay up that late, anymore.
No way I'm going to show up at 9 on a Sunday/weekday to wait until midnight to play, by which point everyone is too drunk to play or has left, just because people don't know how to stop playing and cycle through musicians.
I hate jams.
There is always that hierarchy that you described.
And no one actually "jams" at jams, as in improvise, guess it's a jazz jam.
There is always that hierarchy that you described.
And no one actually "jams" at jams, as in improvise, guess it's a jazz jam.
Yep. That'll happen. It's happened to me. I mean, heck... the first time I ever went to an open jam, I actually got turned away by the guy running it. He told me to go home and learn some more. I came back next week and played anyway. It's easier to take the loss this time and wait for a win next time.
For any big, "loose" jam, i.e. jams where you can just show up on your own without a pre-set group, getting everybody up is always going to be a challenge. And in these sorts of situations where you have many more players than you have time slots for groups, it's very easy to screw somebody over. I've sometimes showed up to blues jams where there are so many bass players that each one only gets to play like a song or two. And it's really kind of difficult to truly keep everyone at the same priority when you have stuff like older players who can't be hanging around til 11pm to play every time, or some players who really want to go up with specific other players, or prioritizing people who were first on the list. If you choose to entertain restrictions like that, it complicates things.
If this jam is truly just being run by incompetent or unfair people, then I would need more evidence to come to that conclusion, But otherwise, I would highly suggest filing that emotion away, going back next time, and trying again. Unless you have some other jam you can go to, I say playing is better than not playing.
If playing can't be the reward-- that is, if either you don't enjoy the playing enough to go or if it's a consistent pattern that you don't get to play, then yeah, I say carrots to them.
I hate jam sessions for this very reason. Usually very unmusical and a lot of showing off, with subtlety in very short supply.... Even those in bands....
So, here is an awkward truth: I am scared of Jams.
I have always played music for myself, to relax, to vent my anger when I was younger. I have never actually practiced anything. I have been in some bands and am perfectly able to improvise a bassline over anything that has been thrown at me recently.
I have no knowledge whatsoever of any Jazz standards, I can play autumn leaves and I recognize a I-IV-V blues, but I have always been a pop / rock player, playing originals or covers with (more or less) fixed parts.
I often think of Jams as an elitist kind of thing, you either impress and are a great player that gets invited or you are the guy that others complain about behind your back because you didn't live up to their standards.
On the one hand, I really like the idea of just grabbing my bass and go to a bar, but this whole judgemental thing on the other hand was never my approach to making music.
I have always played music for myself, to relax, to vent my anger when I was younger. I have never actually practiced anything. I have been in some bands and am perfectly able to improvise a bassline over anything that has been thrown at me recently.
I have no knowledge whatsoever of any Jazz standards, I can play autumn leaves and I recognize a I-IV-V blues, but I have always been a pop / rock player, playing originals or covers with (more or less) fixed parts.
I often think of Jams as an elitist kind of thing, you either impress and are a great player that gets invited or you are the guy that others complain about behind your back because you didn't live up to their standards.
On the one hand, I really like the idea of just grabbing my bass and go to a bar, but this whole judgemental thing on the other hand was never my approach to making music.
I've never been to a "jam" but what I'm reading here sounds like they could either be cool (like if a bunch of great musicians get together and know how to play with each other) or they could be unbearable (like a bunch of terrible musicians who don't know how to play nice with others or just can't play).
Bottom line, whatever it is, if it's not fun, don't do it.
Bottom line, whatever it is, if it's not fun, don't do it.
I'm blessed here. If I'm light on gigs for the week, I'll play some of the jams here. We have a Monday and Wednesday blues jams (at two different venues - some overlapping, but mostly different crowds) and a Thursday open mic jam. It's been mostly positive experiences for me so far. The networking has paid off in the form of sub gigs.
It really sounds like the jam you were involved with was run extremely poorly. Find a new one and hopefully it's a better experience!
It really sounds like the jam you were involved with was run extremely poorly. Find a new one and hopefully it's a better experience!
I've been to two as a player. The first one, I got dragged out to. I was sick as a dog and just wanted to go home. I was so relieved when they didn't call me up, as I picked my bass up to leave the host came up saying wait a minute. "I don't remember you playing tonight. we're going to do another song". Grabs by the arm takes me to the stage announces that he screwed up big time not bringing me up to play. So I got my 3 minutes of fame playing Brandy…. LOL.
The other one was here is St. Louis which is much better organized. Online is a published song list, you make your selections, and about a week before the jam you find out which songs you are playing. You can go online and find out who you are playing with,and most players have contact info for questions. At the jam the order of songs is posted.
The Jam lasts about 3 hours and your evolvement is dependent on how many musicians sign up. The organizer has a core of 3-4 regular bassists that show up and over all there is 40-50 musicians at each event.
I had 3 songs. The first song of the night, one in the middle, and one at the end. It was a good time.
It's on you to let them know how you feel about what occurred, or not, that's up to you. When I feel I've been done wrong and just walked away from it, I later regretted that I didn't at least make them aware of their own ignorance. Just sayin.
Ask your friends how they got permission to run this jam. Was it free? Maybe you should host one. You will have control and can run it better.
The local blues club has a jam set between the two sets of a headline band. The same friends of the organiser would show up every month. Get on stage with music stands and chord charts. Not really jamming!
I dislike straight blues. R&B? Love it. Funk? Disco? Soul? Souljazz? Sure.
Plus at jams you're reduced to a number and they kinda bark "play a shuffle in A". Boring. I grew out of that before college.
I guess I'm lucky enough to have the skills and resume to avoid such places. A dude once stated I was lucky to always be in a band. "Luck has nothing to do with it, bruh. Practice, knowledge and ability. You show up at an audition I show up at you better know the tunes, use multiple techniques, sing tenor and be able to hit a flat 7 vocally whilst playing walking basslines..."
Plus at jams you're reduced to a number and they kinda bark "play a shuffle in A". Boring. I grew out of that before college.
I guess I'm lucky enough to have the skills and resume to avoid such places. A dude once stated I was lucky to always be in a band. "Luck has nothing to do with it, bruh. Practice, knowledge and ability. You show up at an audition I show up at you better know the tunes, use multiple techniques, sing tenor and be able to hit a flat 7 vocally whilst playing walking basslines..."
I run a weekly Blues Jam - a different host band each week. Jam runs 7-10 and I have the host go 30-40 mins to open, and use them as needed through the night. I used to go 3 songs - but they would do things like stormy monday, one way out, long acts of Wankery! I tell them now, you get 20 mins - counting your changeover. Sometimes, I can change a drummer or bass player as we get more of them than singing guitar, keys, etc. Some nights are magic, some are work. That said - if someone sings/leads, I can usually give them a second set or leave them up and change out one or two - as needed. It does happen that sometimes, I can't get everyone - BUT.....I really try.
That said - if they run out of time because the house band played too long, AND they get some up 2-3x and others not at all - not cool - not well run.
Thats my opinion - I think this one has run 12 years now - in a couple of different locations. its ok to say something to the people running the jam. keep in mind - its one of the hardest things I have done - with personalities, abilities, etc...... Being a team player goes a long way and sometimes, the magic happens, and a LOT of the time - connections can be made.
My $0.02 YMMV Objects in the mirror, etc.
I don't know if this link will show - facebook video - from a good set . if not - sorry
That said - if they run out of time because the house band played too long, AND they get some up 2-3x and others not at all - not cool - not well run.
Thats my opinion - I think this one has run 12 years now - in a couple of different locations. its ok to say something to the people running the jam. keep in mind - its one of the hardest things I have done - with personalities, abilities, etc...... Being a team player goes a long way and sometimes, the magic happens, and a LOT of the time - connections can be made.
My $0.02 YMMV Objects in the mirror, etc.
I don't know if this link will show - facebook video - from a good set . if not - sorry
I'm not aware of any public "jam" setup in my area, but there are loads of open mic nights where it's kinda read between the lines youd better play acoustic guitar and sing. No drummers means no bassists.
There are good jams and bad jams, depending on who runs them.
A good jazz jam I used to go to was run by a guy (a bassist) who made sure everybody who showed up got to play. It was open to beginners, so if you were new to jazz it was okay to suck at first, and he would give you some tunes to look up so the following month you could do better. Not only did you get to play, but if you tried to sneak out without playing because you were intimidated, he would insist you come up and play at least one tune, maybe an easy 1-4-5 blues at least, something to get your confidence a boost and get you to keep at it. Some of the jazzers there were long time players or even pros, and they were all cool and it was always challenging and fun.
Then there was an open mic/jam at a place across the street from a Gitar Centre, and the GC employees would show up early, make up fake band names to sign up on the list, and just hog the stage all night. If you weren't part of the in crowd, you were wasting your time even showing up. I stopped by there a couple of times and never got to take my bass out of the case. The hell with that.
A good jazz jam I used to go to was run by a guy (a bassist) who made sure everybody who showed up got to play. It was open to beginners, so if you were new to jazz it was okay to suck at first, and he would give you some tunes to look up so the following month you could do better. Not only did you get to play, but if you tried to sneak out without playing because you were intimidated, he would insist you come up and play at least one tune, maybe an easy 1-4-5 blues at least, something to get your confidence a boost and get you to keep at it. Some of the jazzers there were long time players or even pros, and they were all cool and it was always challenging and fun.
Then there was an open mic/jam at a place across the street from a Gitar Centre, and the GC employees would show up early, make up fake band names to sign up on the list, and just hog the stage all night. If you weren't part of the in crowd, you were wasting your time even showing up. I stopped by there a couple of times and never got to take my bass out of the case. The hell with that.
I used to go to a local roots-classic country-rockabilly type jam occasionally (please, no SRV clones needed) but even though the host bassists were always cool and sometimes grateful to be spelled off, I didn't like having to sit around for three hours buying beer for the chance to play three songs.
I get three two-hour+ sessions with three diffeent groups every week, so I don't have to do that to get my playing in.
I admit that it is a real networking forum at that jam though, I know I was recruited for a western swing band at one whom I played with f r years, and I know of numerous gorups that have been formed out of the schmoozing that goes on.
I just have better things to do with my Saturday afternoon.
I get three two-hour+ sessions with three diffeent groups every week, so I don't have to do that to get my playing in.
I admit that it is a real networking forum at that jam though, I know I was recruited for a western swing band at one whom I played with f r years, and I know of numerous gorups that have been formed out of the schmoozing that goes on.
I just have better things to do with my Saturday afternoon.
