blues jams

[ratfinkdan]

Hey guys

A while back I posted that I was going to a local blues jam now and then, I would go once every 3 or 4 weeks, played ok but kind of felt like I was a few levels below most of the other players. So i started going every week to the same jam, I have a freind who is almost always there and he gives me advice and tips. I think it probably been two and a half months now and I'm really starting to notice a difference in my playing, becoming a lot more confident in my leads. Have been getting to know most of the regulars that come out and have had quite a number of the guys tell me they are really surprised at how far I have come in a short time, which really helps to boost the ego now and then. It really does push you as a player to get out and play with better players, and after a while you really do start to hear things that their doing or pick up on little tips and stuff. I still have a long ways to go in my playing, but every week is like going to guitar lessons with a bunch of different teachers. If you've always wanted to go out and jam but were afraid to , I really suggest you just jump in there and try it and keep coming back, get to know a few players and it will start happening. Its always scary at first and yeah you'll make mistakes, everyone does but you'll get past that, you'll have weeks you suck bad and weeks that your just on fire, you just need to get out there and try it. Anyway hopefully this might help encourage someone out there to get out there and Jam!! Dan

[MichaelRobinson]

Here, where I live, I don't think there is a place to go to and jam. It' would be nice if there was one.

[tytlblues]

Sounds great Dan.......of course now we will want a quick sound bite or video :) We have a group here in town called the San Antonio blues society. They host blues jams every week. One of these days I would like to check it out. They are usually on the days I am gone out of town though with my job :(

[Blindboy]

Open mic's are a killer way to learn, grow, and gain experience. I have hit up open blues jams in bars all over the western states, and almost all of them were fun and kind to new players.

[PMG48]

Ok this seems like an old thread but I will post anyway...Longtime reader, first time writer, lol....OK so Ive been playing guitar 4 yrs or so and even play in a band that will play 3 or 4 parties a year. I play some blues harp in the band and acoustic guitar--A strummer if you will. I say this to give a bit of background. I just recently starting to learn playing some lead guitar...So I show up at the local Blues Jam here last weekend...the organizer asked me if I was gonna finally get up on stage tonite...I told him no not yet, the standard "some day" response...I mean I suck at lead guitar...well guess what? After the opening band played 2 songs I hear my name being called out to come up and play something....OMG I was literally PARALYZED with fear...I presume this feeling was similar to how someone feels before get raped in prison, lol...the worst thing was he just handed me a guitar and I had no strap and the band is starting a slow Blues in A...I sat in a chair as this Les Paul type guitar just keep sliding down my belly and I couldnt even get out many single notes..I kept knocking the pick into the big pickups and the strings seemed like they were only a mm apart and I couldnt pick them...I wanted nothing more than to throw the guitar down and run outta the place...all while 75 people are lookin on....never ever more embarrassed in my life....about the 4th time thru I found a way to barely hold this thing up and managed to play some choppy ADE barre chords as the song came to an end, the main dude gathered an appluse for me and I scurried back to my table wanting to be invisible......so I'm looking for company here, has this happened to anyone of you before? On one hand even though I SUCKED (I mean it) I did accomplish a goal of playing a live Blues Jam, and now I feel the need to work harder and go back to redeem myself some day.....anybody have a similar experience and/or advice or words of wisdom? I mean I will redeem myself someday but right now even almost a week later I still feel embarrassed...Signed Wannbe Bluesman....

[tytlblues]

Thanks for being honest! Unfortunately the open mics near me are always on the days of the week i am gone out of town with my job.. You could start by posting right here on the forum?? This is a great place to build up some nerve. If you have been lurking here you have noticed there is never any harsh criticism here from anyone! Just encouragement and help. Look back at all the regulars here that post, you will find good and bad tracks from everyone !!!

Jump on in, the blues waters here are fine!!!

Tytlblues

[Blindboy]

Heck, I've emptied out bars from Oklahoma to the Rocky Mountains.
Seriously, No need to be embarrassed. All pickers who play live go through a similar trial. If... no, when you go back and play and hold it together, that is what they will remember. At least there was still an audience when you got done. I got together with a few friends who were all very good musicians, a bass player who was the music director of a school district and an excellent jazz bassist, a singer who is one of the top jazz singers in Albuquerque, a buddy who was a good rhythm player and decent lead player, and I was a pretty experienced bar blues player. We rehearsed up a few tunes, and went down to an open mic at a noted blues club in Albuquerque. The place was packed when we got up. Well, for all of our combined experience and talent, we CHOKED! Man, we sucked! And to put the cherry on top, when we finished our set, the place was empty.
I did wind up going back and redeeming myself, both with my friends, and alone, but that is my point... No matter how bad you think you did, it probably wasn't all that bad, and you gotta get back up there and do it again. This is how we learn. Makes for good stories later too...

[VikingBlues]

You do well to be able to post about your live Blues Jam experience. I stand in awe at anyone who can get up on stage and play in public, especially when it's the first time - I know I'd have run out of the building and would probably still be running a few days later!

Tytl mentions the open mics near him always being on the days of the week he is out of town with his job - if we had open mics near us here I think I'd be trying to arrange to be out of town so I'd have an excuse for not going.

I did accomplish a goal of playing a live Blues Jam, and now I feel the need to work harder and go back to redeem myself some day

That positive outlook is great! Bodes well for the future.

Oh ... and Would be intersting to hear you in the 12-Bar Blues Room BTW - as said we don't go in for caustic ctriticism here ... just as well for me!

[PMG48]

I will look into getting into the 12 bar Blues room...I'll just have to figure out how to post up something in there....I do really appreciate your encouragement, thats the sort of thing I was fishing for....LOL....thx gents I feel better already, plus its Friday for me, beers, guitars, and harpin' and the promise of the weekend await........wahoo...or as ya might say Good God Yall !!

[SlimShaggy]

Heck, I've emptied out bars from Oklahoma to the Rocky Mountains.

I wish there were open jams here in Ft. Wayne. I just switched jobs; I'll be on dayshift now and I'm looking forward to having evenings open to jam with some guys. I've been on 3rd shift for the last 15 years and I've met TONS of guys that want to jam, but my schedule would never permit. Everyone wants to jam on weeknights but never on Sunday.

[ratfinkdan]

hadn't noticed that this thread was coming back up, PMG48 yes we all go through those experiences its part of paying our dues so to speak. First blues jam I went to I was scared to death, I brought my guitar in with me so there was no backing out, I knew the host of the jam, so I get called up in the 3rd round of jammers. I get up there and the host plugs me into his rig and tells me the amp is wide open so control the volume from my guitar, never did that before, we played 4 tunes,the first 2 I did ok the 2nd 2 I sucked bad, Corry the host came over and talked with me a bit afterwards, said he purposely left me up there for those last 2 songs, like he said everyone comes in the first couple of times scared and usualy you walk out with your tail between your legs , its the paying your dues, but if you keep coming back you will get over the nervouseness and start to relaxe. I really do find that going out and jamming is a great way to keep learning and trying out new ideas and to get over that fear of playing in front of people. The jam that I was giong to when I started this thread shut down a month or so back, haven't really found a new one yet, tried one out but the guys running it were a bit full of them selves, didn,t feel very welcoming, a few freinds thought the same thing, anyway keep at it,some jams are good some not as much but its always fun to get up there and play! Dan

[12bar]

I've never played on stage, but sometimes it happens in various occasions that someone gives me a guitar ("I know you play guitar!"), and usually my fingers cramp the same way as when hitting the record button of my PC. It's good then to have a song or two you can really really play without thinking, something that plays on autopilot.

I will look into getting into the 12 bar Blues room...I'll just have to figure out how to post up something in there....

That's quite easy: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18