Re: Slow Jam Tips Needed
Coming from a different tangent, I lead a slow jam online via Zoom. We used to meet in person, but many older members, so won't be doing that for a while. Not bluegrass, more old time, so everyone plays together, no breaks. The group originally came together as older folks who played violin in school decades before and wanted to play again joining with folks who like old time. That means we have a very high percentage of music readers, so sheet music is used. In person we would always go around the circle and everyone was expected to call a tune, even if they couldn't actually play it. That gets them used to it and they get to play a tune they want to work on. Onscreen is more difficult to keep this practice going--who is really on your right side? That said, as a leader, have a short list of tunes, by key, that you can warm the group up with till people feel comfortable and start calling tunes. Dredge up the old warhorses, the ones the more advanced folks tend to avoid. Heck, they learned on them, and for good reason, they're good tunes folks should know, "Whiskey before Breakfast", "Flop Eared Mule", "Old Joe Clark", and always, "Soldiers Joy", if for nothing else that one great jam I went to in Sacramento where I was definitely dragging the average down, called "Soldiers Joy", and they said, "We don't know that, how does it go?"
To me, the biggest thing as a leader is ensuring you keep the tempo 1) constant, and 2) appropriate for the group. It's a slow jam after all; play slow. Learners play the part they know fast and the iffy parts slow. Grab your guitar or bass player, make sure they know to drive the beat at a steady pace. Heck, a loud mandolin chopping steadily will do the trick. I can't do this by myself online, so I really, really strive to stomp my foot hard to to remind MYSELF to keep from playing things too fast or speeding up for the folks playing along. We'll play through a piece several times at a sedate pace for the learners, but the last time or two we'll pick up the tempo for the folks who can and also for letting the folks who can't play fast get to practice a tune at a faster pace.
When playing slower bluegrass jams, it's good to go through the group before each tune to identify who is taking a break, so there are no surprises and the beat goes on but the notes don't. I also like to have the last time through a piece after all the breaks be an "everyone together" break. Chopping chords for 80% of a jam wears thin, and after hearing all the breaks, folks get a chance to put fingers down and try out new things before the evening wears on and they forget all those neat things they heard.
Good luck, I think you'll have a blast once you've done it. Also, where in Florida? My folks in Daytona have passed away, and I'll no longer be traveling that way on business anymore, but even when I was there regularly, Florida was pretty barren when looking for jams to drop in on. I'll get there every now and then, and the mando goes along often. I will play at any jam I can get to.
Rob Ross
Apple Valley, Minne-SOH-tah
1996 Flatiron A5-Performer, 1915 Gibson F-2 (loaned to me by a friend), 2008 Kentucky Master KM-505 A-Model
1925 Bacon Peerless tenor banjo (Irish tuning), 1985 Lloyd Laplant F-5, 2021 Ibanez PFT2 Tenor Guitar (GDAE)
and of course, the 1970 Suzuki-Violin-Sha Bowl Back Taterbug
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