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I'm...to put it mildly, very nervous. My improvising is coming along very well, I've started transcribing and my vocabulary is really developing but I want to get out and start playing at jams. Thing is, I'm scared I don't know enough tunes...I'm working on the standards all the time and can play a good blues - Mr PC or Tenor Madness but my knowledge of other tunes is kinda limited. I know Blue Bossa, Take The A Train, All The Things You Are, Days of Wine & Roses, Four, So What...
Can anyone offer any advice? I've heard horror stories about getting shamed at jams and things like this, or just not knowing enough tunes. Also, what are the ten or fifteen tunes you absolutely have to know?
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06-05-2014 01:49 PM
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Have you scoped the jam out you plan on attending? Go for a few weeks and listen...bring a pen and paper...there will be patterns in what gets called and who calls it.
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Jeff's advice is great. Also, if you go a few times and just listen, you'll get a feel for the kind of talent you'll soon be rubbing elbows with. It never hurts to make a friend. Buy someone fresh off the bandstand a drink and tell them you're learning, want to start contributing to jam sessions, but you want to know if you're ready. You might get some good advice.
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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definitely bring a tune you know. bring lead sheets for everyone just in case. relax and have fun. most jams are fun and relaxed and pretty forgiving for the noob. but as, mrB say, check it out first.
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Yeah scope it out. Hopefully you can pick a couple of tunes you know and pick the tempo and just play those.
I was in the house band for a recurring every other week jam at a restaurant/bar. I would struggle with the up tempo tunes which the horn players seemed to like to call. I can't play swing eights at 220bpm and above, if I try I just suck. I learned to let them know before the count-in that I wasn't going to take a solo.
I did it for a few months, decided I wasn't having fun playing tunes I didn't know with players, many of whom weren't very good. The moments of 'magic' where way too infrequent.
It's hard to come up with a top ten list, it seems half the Real Book was called when I played. The ones you listed are good and all got played.Last edited by fep; 06-05-2014 at 02:30 PM.
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Shop around. Attend different ones if your town is fortunate to have that luxury. I've been to some where things were really easy, including the company. Some where the music wasn't bad but the attitude was not welcoming, and some where the musicians were top notch and they welcomed all those who came with a good attitude. Great chops with bad attitude? They'd be coldly kind; trying and open, you'd learn a lot. Once I didn't know a tune and they said "Of course you do! Just start playing, it'll come" and it meant so much to me. GREAT ear training. It's all about the people. Be friendly, be prepared, be open to a good time.
Great advice by Mr. B
David
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This all tremendous advice.
Thanks so much. Have scoped out one local jam. Will go back this weekend and do more homework. Guess I just need to bite the bullet.
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So lucky that this site exists. What a great resource.
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Like jumping in a pool. Only scary from the outside. And let me tell you something, there's something you learn from jams that you don't by studying, practicing a little and play along recordings. I can't really describe what that will be for you but I recognize it in new students. There's something about a guitarist who's cut his/her teeth in the jam scene.
Maybe it's that they have learned that the world comes easiest to those who know how to have a good time.
David
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being humiliated at a jam is part of the process in becoming a great player, like the legend of Bird having a cymbal thrown at him in his early days.
There are always some people at a jam who level the playing field.
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Ah yes, humiliation! One of the great motivators in life...
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Just play rhythm during your first few jams. Get used to being up on stage. You'll probably lie awake in bed the night before the first jam but after a while you won't even think twice about jumping on stage.
Serve the song first and don't think you'll play like (insert your favourite player) in the first few jam sessions.
Once you are used to getting up on stage, and aren't nervous, then you can start taking music to real places.
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Get a feel for what's going on... if people aren't reading tunes then don't bring music. At a session where guys are playing tunes from memory bringing music shows you're inflexible and is kinda weird. Lots of sessions the guys will ask the new person what tune they want to play so just call something you know. If they start calling stuff then don't be afraid to say you don't know it. If they get frustrated and tell you to sit down and come up again later then no biggie... or if they tell you to play a tune you don't know because "you'll hear it" ... then do your best and ready yourself for the beating. Nothing wrong with a good beating.
There's just no reason to be nervous. Of course you will be nervous but just make it because you're playing and it's getting the adrenaline pumping - don't make it because you're worried about what people think. They don't care <- I promise. If you're cool and fail with dignity in whatever manner they see fit then there will be no worries whatsoever.
Two things to remember (though I'm in a big city so I might be generalizing here) - 1. Like Mr. Beaumont said - if you bring a pen and paper then you can get a really good idea of what to practice but try to remember that a session is not, in and of itself, practice. You might play one tune or you might not play at all. Practice is for the shed. 2. You won't get gigs from a session. You have to be really god d*** good for people at a jam session to find you after and say "hey man play on my new album, please." 3. A jam session IS for meeting people. Getting gigs is a process. Meet people and you'll have people to invite out to see shows or to put on your own gigs when you get them. People will like hanging with and/or playing with you and months down the road will call you.
The takeaway from this is that the stakes are not high at a session. People aren't going to give you a years worth of gigs if you sound good or write you off for the rest of your natural life if you sound bad. People will like you if you're a good hang. So go and play a little and grab a beer and chat up the local cats. Talk about the Word Cup or traffic or the weather and make friends.Last edited by inwalkedbud; 06-06-2014 at 04:36 AM.
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I'm sure you'll do this anyway, but look around and see if newcomers are treated well. Some jam session emcees are good about finding a spot for a first-timer to sit in (and also letting them now when now is NOT the time for a novice to be onstage.)
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Loved it! Originally Posted by inwalkedbud
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The movie Bird--one of the 3 or 4 really good movies about jazz IMO--has a scene where he's humiliated at a jam session. The next time he shows up he blows them away. And the rest is history.
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Plenty of less traumatic stories. So many great guitarists I know tell stories of really friendly jams, weekly hangs, the high point of the week going into the club and trying out new ideas, having a good laugh and feeling like a million bucks every time they finish a solo. Every one of the people there had exactly the same first jam. So there's an understanding.
When Kurt Rosenwinkel arrived at Berklee he had it all together, feel, his voice, confidence on the instrument. I asked him "Where'd you get that all from?" and he told me there was a weekly jam at a place I think was called The Blue Note where he grew up in Philly. That's where it came together with a lot of support.
I was in Philly, there was a place called Natalie's, and the people there had played with people like Sonny Stitt and the great Philadelphia jazz scene. I got more there than could ever be possible in the ensembles of Berklee. Different thing of course but a really good memory and a whole lot learned by what rubbed off on the bandstand.
David
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I'd say keep alert to what's happening around you on the bandstand. Don't OVER PLAY. This is something guitar players can do easily without knowing. If there's a good piano player on the gig don't come in comping and bashing away on top of him. It will drive him and other soloists nuts. Most guys want to hear the direction of one comper. Just be aware.
I recently had a buddy come and sit in on guitar. After his solo when the bass player was soloing he decided to do 8ths with the bass solo. Confused the guys in stage, like "Who the F are you? You took your solo already!" But because he never looked up he never got that he was breaking some rule.
Playing is always about little tacit agreements. Little eye contacts or nods or head shaking no, raised eyebrow. No reason to be offended unless you don't look up for these cues.
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That would be quite painful to watch!
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Yeah that's another great point Henry.
When you're new to jamming and going thru a little stage fright the tendency is to introvert on stage which is the exact opposite of what you should do. You'll play better too if you keep your head up and be part of the group.
Just wanted to clarify my earlier post on bringing music. It's not for you, its for your back up. Chances are if the house band is any good they'll know the tune you've picked but its not unacceptable to bring music for the band and you should know the song well enough not to need sheet music.
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Originally Posted by Michael Kaye
That really depends on the session. At many it is 100% unacceptable. You should be flexible. The learning experience from a session comes from seeing what goes on with the guys in that particular crowd. If you bring music then you're implying you're not interested in what they're into. What's the point of bringing music to a session for the other guys? All that tells the band is that you can only play that one tune and don't trust yourself to be able to play something else if they don't know it and call another tune. If they don't mind then - sure - you'll sound good but what did you learn? You learn by seeing what guys play and why they call what they call. How they react and how you react when you or they get into uncharted territory.
The smaller point of this is that there are definitely a lot of sessions where music for you or others is absolutely not welcome. Doesn't matter why it's there it's about the principal. It's a rote music. It's an ear music. They play it that way.
The larger point is that if you bring music then you may sound good on the tune you chose but you lose a little credibility with the guys your playing with and (*** star underline bullet point all caps) you keep yourself from learning the lessons that make sessions worth they time.
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Just scope it out...if other cats bring sheets, bring sheets.
But if you're reading, you ain't listening...
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I don't know why is should be 100% unacceptable. Singers sit in and generally bring charts. Especially if it's a bit of an arrangement or in an odd key. I have charts a lot of the time for other musicians because I don't know who's going to know what. And I'm beyond the point of trying to be "all that" by impressing people at jam sessions that I know all the tunes and don't need to use a chart, ever. It's a bit of a game, really. But you can get "type cast" quick if you're a younger, less experienced, player. LOL! With me it's OK because I generally play as good or better than most of the cats. So what if I don't know a tune I should? My excuse is I play mostly original jazz. But I don't run into that problem anyway.
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Singer: ok, body and soul, in Gb...1234!
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Definitely with Mr. B here ... scope it out. If it's okay then cool. If you don't see people bring charts then don't assume that's okay. Here's my question. If you bring a chart to a jam session (and by jam session I assume we're talking about an open session held by a house band at a restaurant or bar or club or whatever... very different from a session that you're invited to at a home or wherever by a couple guys you met or whatever) what exactly are you learning? What's the point?
There is one very good reason why at some sessions cats aren't cool with bringing charts. That is: this is a wrote music. To quote Mr. B ... "if you're reading - you ain't listening".
Also to Henry's comment - you won't impress people by knowing the obscure tunes they call. I don't think that's the point though. Henry probably doesn't need to be going to sessions for the same reasons that young guys like myself need to be going to sessions. Going to sessions is for hanging and meeting people - not for showing off. Bringing charts to ensure that you sound good shows people that you're there for the wrong reason.
Also - I did qualify this by saying that I live in a big city with a big scene. Could be different other places - I'm just saying - if you don't see charts then don't bring one and expect people to be cool with it.
Also... sure ... a singer is a different ball game.
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