Re: Learning to Jam – A Primer?
For beginners, keeping the beat is a great starting place, then getting the right chords (three chords will get you through many tunes without annoying others -- and I'd include double stops with the chording, even if they're not literally chords). In a jam, when they offer you a solo (usually by giving you a nod of the head or saying "Mandolin!"), if you're not ready, just shake your head, "No." When you've jammed enough that you're comfortable with the basics, then start concentrating on other issues. Listen to the folks around you. When you've got the beat, ask what's the rhythm? It's acceptable, even appreciated, to drop out of the playing and listen, when you're not getting it, even to join back in again as you catch on. The order of the rest of your list depends greatly on what you know already. You'll learn as you jam. You'll get used to how others solo or use tremolo, and then you'll be able to experiment. If you're in with a good crowd, they won't mind a train wreck now and then. You can even jam with videos on YouTube and imitate the solos to get a sense of how they work. I told a woman who was very shy about singing at a Traditional Songs gathering to watch what happened when others made mistakes. Usually people sat quietly and respectfully, waiting for the singer to recover. When we did tease people, it was a compliment, showing that we'd often heard the particular singer do much better, and we accepted that they make mistakes. This helped her relax. You're going to the jam to have fun. Don't be overly ambitious at the beginning. Experience will enhance your skills. (I'm taking here about a friendly jam with players of varying abilities, not pulling up a chair and joining a group of elite musicians.) By the way, I'm close enough to being a beginning jammer to remember the process.
And a tip I learned from the Forum: if you don't get the key, ask the guitar player. If he or she widens her lips and seems to grin, the key is either B,C,D, E, or G.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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