How was your open mic or jam night last night?

[Chienmortbb]

I have played at one several times  and it always bugged me those that went home after they had played.

 

How long do you give each artiste? 

 

I have 5 mics but need to get more mic stands. I have several DIs and lots of guitar cables. I  am not thinking that there will be bands but can accommodate them if I take my subs.

 

Now new strings for the acoustic and some real practice, fingers all soft from playing bass. 
 

 

[rwillett]

Where we play, each artiste has three songs. They are free to come back round at the end of the list. 

 

That makes the assumption that they aren't doing Freebird, Bohemian Rhapsody and Moby Dick (live version).

 

This is across a few open mike clubs.  

[tauzero]

Keep them to three songs or have time slots. Monitor the buggers because you can be guaranteed that if there's no adult supervision, 50% of them will play a fourth song.

 

The one open mic I go to that I'm not house bassist for[1] squeezes as many acts in as possible, and does this by keeping it to two songs apiece in ten minute slots. Others go for 15 minute slots. Changeovers need to be pretty rapid, which is bound to include moving furniture like stools and chairs onto and off the stage[2].

 

How big is this place that you're talking of subs? I take my 10" Deltalite cab and Tecamp Puma along to the ones I'm house bassist for, and there's a vocal PA. Acoustic guitarists go through the house PA (straight to desk, no mucking around with DI boxes) and electric guitarists will invariably bring their own amps for "their own sound".

 

[1] Anyone that wants a proper bassist asks me, otherwise Tom is liable to perpetrate something bass-related on them. Just imagine someone who has generally got lost by the second verse of "Stand by me" and who plays "Folsom Prison Blues" with a walking bass line (which also gets lost around the second verse).

 

[2] The term "stage" applies simply to the zone within which an act will perform, with no implications as to height, isolation, etc

[rwillett]

There is no stage at the Craven Heifer, we all play in one corner. There is a PA provided by the organiser, everybody uses that single PA including vocalist. No space for your own amps but the BassChat 8" might just fit. PA speaker on a table. 

 

The drummer has a toy drum set, that's not a joke, it really is a kids set with a bass, a tom and a cymbal. Thats all that fits so she brings that. She has a Led Zep sized drum kit as well but zero chance of it fitting.

 

I take a headless as less chance of it hitting anyone. I may take the Ibanez Mikro next time as that's even smaller. 

 

If anybody moves, it's like The Shadows as we all have to move in sync. 

 

We have space for two mikes and possible two music stands so the bass player looks over the shoulder of the guitarist or singer. 

 

 

 

[Geek99]

Big headstock strat, approve of that 

[rwillett]

That's my Strat but I don't recall it looking that big 🙄

[ricksterphil]

Played one on Sunday with a mate as a duo, me on acoustic, him on his Tele. We did Sonnet (the Verve), Jean Genie (me and him used to be in a Bowie tribute band) and Sit Down by James as a tribute to a close friend who died recently and someone we had done numerous gigs with. It was his favourite song. The whole pub joined in and most of us had tears in our eyes at the end. Hopefully a fitting tribute to a remarkable man. RIP Brian Lund

[Geek99]

12 hours ago, rwillett said:

That's my Strat but I don't recall it looking that big 🙄

It looks very much like the bigger rounded 70s style - which I much prefer aesthetically. Obvious it would be preferable not attached to a guitar …

[rwillett]

The Strat is a lovely guitar, it's a MIJ 87 which appears to be a 62 reissue, thee bolt neck etc. I'm not that up on these things TBH but it's lovely to play, has EMG active pickups, the vibrato is locked with a block of wood and at one time in its life was routed for a humbucker at the bridge. 

 

Im trying to write songs, so I use the Strat, my 3d printed headless bass and a macbook. It's hard work but it's very different to my day job so it's a good way to unwind. 

Edited December 26, 2025 by rwillett

[tauzero]

Took the Poseidon V out last night and remembered that I still haven't changed the strings from 45s to 40s. A night of technical hitches - my Variax acoustic wouldn't power up (battery holder, not the Line 6 original which I've mislaid, played up), someone else managed to turn the volume right down on his guitar while putting on a capo, some shenanigans around a guitar and pedalboard, and at the end of the evening, in our final jam (the customary Freebird outro) after I'd gone walkabout to the back of the room and was heading back, my sound cut out. Not wireless, not pedal, amp. The power lead had pulled out slightly. With that pushed back home, we finished the song.

 

Featured band was a punk and post-punk band doing assorted covers, Green Day, Weezer, Beastie Boys to name a few.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

16 hours ago, tauzero said:

Took the Poseidon V out last night and remembered that I still haven't changed the strings from 45s to 40s. A night of technical hitches - my Variax acoustic wouldn't power up (battery holder, not the Line 6 original which I've mislaid, played up), someone else managed to turn the volume right down on his guitar while putting on a capo, some shenanigans around a guitar and pedalboard, and at the end of the evening, in our final jam (the customary Freebird outro) after I'd gone walkabout to the back of the room and was heading back, my sound cut out. Not wireless, not pedal, amp. The power lead had pulled out slightly. With that pushed back home, we finished the song.

 

Featured band was a punk and post-punk band doing assorted covers, Green Day, Weezer, Beastie Boys to name a few.

 

 

I hope you did some Free, what with having Paul Kossoff guesting.