Thinking about quitting going to jams!

[Frankjohnson]

I've never run a blues jam, but I have played in the house bands for popular/well attended blues jams quite a bit and have observed the machinations that the jam leader/organizer has to do and it's nowhere near as easy as it looks to make it all work. A few challenges/issues that often come up ...

1) More players attend the jam than there's time for everybody to get a decent shot.
2) Some players don't want to play with certain other players and/or only want to get up with the A listers.
3) The organizer has to assemble coherent ensembles with someone to sing from a disparate group of players.
4) Some players hog the stage by soloing endlessly which leaves less time for the players who follow them.
5) It can be tricky to balance entertainment value/fun for participants when total beginners want to play.
6) Bands or groups of players will want to get up together to perform a showcase of songs they've worked on.
7) Sometimes it seems like every bass player in town shows up and other times hardly any.
8) Some players will show up late and want to get squeezed in.

Bottom line, it can be difficult to make everybody happy.

WOW -

Almost exactly what I have run into SO MANY times!
YOU sir - nailed it!

AND - Sometimes it goes really well too!

Any chance you know Reid Doughten? Curious......

 

[pbassnut]

WOW -

Almost exactly what I have run into SO MANY times!
YOU sir - nailed it!

AND - Sometimes it goes really well too!

Any chance you know Reid Doughten? Curious......

Don't know him ... a blues player in the "greater" Washington, DC metro area I assume?

 

[Frankjohnson]

Don't know him ... a blues player in the "greater" Washington, DC metro area I assume?

Frequents the falls church area - I think used to play with Little Roger

 

[dougjwray]

One jam that I went to occasionally had a strict two song limit, which was designed to give everyone a chance to play.
But there was a young band who would get up there and play two prog rock monstrosities, each one lasting at least 15 minutes. It was infuriating.

 

[MichelD]

For me, I'd happily sit in as the house bassist for jams and back whoever pops up and let others sit in as called. But, I have no interest in waiting in line for a random spot to backup some random wankers for tunes I may not know.

I'm not a flashy player and can't even imagine how to "stand out" as a bassist well enough to land gigs off of doing so. I won't even start on the politics of public jams.

I can add no more.