All Activity

That's the whole point of jam sessions like that! Some of the most memorable nights of my musical 'career' have been blues jam sessions (admittedly with semi-known experienced players, rather than with novice players getting up)!

Is this for those of us who need a few pints in the system before being able to play live at (blues) jams?

Sorry, you said VIP housing. These aren’t available separately. The Future Compact ones are.

Beshchat?!

That's a hell of a P bass collection!

OK, enough of all this talk about blues jams (go and create your own thread for that boring nonsense) Dany rules, and this is our new logo!

Yeah, I didn't like it much! Still, I'm still playing so I must have learned a bit from it. I'd had this idea that it might be a good place to learn how to play live, and envisioned a crowd of old sweats who'd nurture the youth; sadly not. in this instance!

Totally this. Blues can be many things, and a lot of them ain't easy. Listen to Robbin Ford play blues and imagine having to back him up. Firstly, how does move through the changes? Not all blues is 1-4-5, and even if it you need to make it sound good. What and where are the turnarounds? What cliches are the right ones? I know we're only talking about a jam night but if it's with an audience and not in your mate's front room you don't want to show yourself up.

That goes against the whole point of inviting relative novice players to get up at a jam. The idea is that inexperienced players can get the opportunity to learn how to play with other musicians and develop their playing, especially how to busk / improvise. I would hazard a guess that the guys who slagged you off were not that great themselves! I'm glad that you had better experiences with later blues jams.

It's not that bad if you've got a free corner of a room in which to lean it. The main difficulty is getting it down the stairs...

I would vouch for that @dmccombe7 , I bought a Stagg eub for an americana/country/blues band. Used to get some funny looks when playing live but it sounded pretty good. Nick on drums in the photo was definitely giving me a funny look, possible bum note moment. (Pic is from 2012 I think).

That's an awful introduction to live playing and commiserations for having to endure that. There certainly are some guys who are happy to be a big fish in a tiny pond. Good that you came through that and weren't disheartened. I would hope the organiser banned them from playing.

That's fine, in that case the simple solution is don't go along to a blues jam. However, you said that you don't think 'there are many people who couldn't play at a blues jam'. That is certainly not true! Plenty of people think that because they know what a pentatonic scale is, therefore they can play blues because it's easy. Then they get upset when it becomes obvious that they suck. If you have the technique to play a relatively complex heavy metal riff and can play in time, then you're good to go (to a certain level). Same with most other genres. Just about anyone can play a blues scale and know a couple of blues licks, but that doesn't mean that you can play the blues convincingly and when you are playing blues, there is no way to hide behind basic technique. You really have to know how to interact with the other players on the bandstand and have a bit of melodic nous not to sound completely cr*p. Nothing will find out a poor player quicker than a blues jam! I would suggest that one of the best things you can do to become a better musician is to learn how to navigate a blues jam, even if playing the blues is never going to be your main thing.

Look Away - Big Country

You obviously don't do the sort of gigs I sometimes do... I'd never refer to playing any gig as a "privilege". I'm not bad at this playing lark, having done it for the best part of 60 years, during which time I've done many thousands of gigs, ranging from great through to "Beam me up, Scotty/kill me now".

Ah, but I have straplocks in my bits box. Not fussed on them, so will be genuine Basschat washers (also from stock).

"Can you give me a strap button for my Kay?" "Aye, that seems like a fair swap..."

It's a Kay. It will probably double the value.

Yes. But bar work is boring/hard work, whereas performing music is 'fun'. Therefore, they're doing you a favour by asking you to play.

Ive only caught up with him recently and hsve subscribed.