Reply To: Jam Etiquette

[Luke Sommers]

For many, many years I was too afraid to join jams. Over the past 6 months or so, I took the plunge. My first attempt was not that pleasant, because two of the other guys playing (there were only 3 others) seemed impatient with me. After going two times, I quit. It was just too intimidating. But then I found another one where there were probably almost 20 of us, and what fun!! It was helpful that, like me, most of them had been playing for a long time, but weren’t a whole lot better than I. I did play on songs that I had never heard and it was both fun and educational. So I’d have to say it’s the best thing I’ve ever done (other than signing up w/ Mike Hedding 😉 toward advancing my playing. I couldn’t recommend it strongly enough. All those years I used the same excuses Mike gave in his lesson on jamming. One of the biggest things that helped me is that I got a better sense of rhythm, beat, and the flow of songs. I was amazed with how well I could pick up with the other folks there.