Organizing a Jam, Suggestions?

[guit145]

I'm organizing a jam session scheduled for a late October (weather should be just right). It's at my house (out in the country). BYOB B-B-Q, will supply PA and backline.

Any suggestions?

[kludge]

Figure out whether you want everyone playing at once, or taking turns.

If taking turns, put a STRICT limit on time. Don't let players be stage hogs, no matter how great they are. When the promoter's buddies get to play ten songs and everyone else gets two, people get resentful.

[bluesfordan]

I've been thinking of trying to set up a jam locally, as we seem to have a dire deficit of electric jams in the area.

Do bar owners pay anything for a host band? Not that I'm looking to make any money, but if they do, it might help with hiring some people to be a house band. Me, I'd do it for free.

Are there any standard protocols to be observed? Are jam nights usually hand shake deals? How does one go about doing this?

[0le FUZZY]

BYOB ?

Thangs kin git outta hand real quick!

Be sure yew haff a person in control of the event.

I'd come down but its quite a drive from here.

Good luck and keep it invitation only elsewise the slugs will show up.

0le FUZZY

[TheGoodTexan]

guit145 - sounds like you're just having a party my friend. And a party that I would like to come to!

But there's a lot of work that goes into hosting a regular jam. I tried to start one a couple of years ago.

- Great venue (actually at the Gibson Showcase in Opry Mills Mall here in Nashville. It's a resturant and a bar.)

- Great house band (best musicians that I've ever worked with, including our very own Joel Terry)

- Great sound system (full-time paid sound man that was easy-going and 100% perfessional)

- I advertiszed it in both of the local entertainment guides (The Scene and The Rage)

- I posted flyers at the front of all the local music stores

- I sent out a blast email, including every musician that I knew

We tried it twice - one month apart from each other. Both times were very poor results. Had a total of about 30 people at each of them, over the course of about 4 hours. We made ZERO money. Not that that's why we were doing it....but I mean....$0. Not even $1.00.

At the second jam, we had an entire band that wanted to sit it together all at one time. I hesitated, but heck, no one else was there, so I allowed it. MISTAKE. They played an entire 45 minute set, and wouldn't get off the stage, morphing from one song to the other. I finally had to go up on the mic and "thank" them for coming out.....while they were in the middle of a song.

[kludge]

That makes me think, there are a few different formats for jamming. I play pretty regularly with a "hootenany" group in town, where everyone plays along with everything. It's a hippie/jam band thing. The main problems are too many musicians sometimes, and people can get lost trying to follow anything but simple blues, country, and rock tunes - no weird chords or timing, please! But I like hanging with them, and it gives me an opportunity to play drums and lap steel, which aren't so much fun to play at home.

Another social playing group is folksingers. That's acoustic-only, and goes in a circle. You're usually expected to listen politely rather than playing along unless you're a superb accompanyist or a bandmate. Different environment, but also good, and it makes me sing.

And then there's the blues jam sort of environment, where there's a house band and guitarists (and occasionally other musicians) cycle through for a few tunes each. I usually don't like these, mostly because I'm too far out in left field for your average highly conservative blues nerd. Sometimes it can be really fun if there's another sympatico soul onstage, though.

Finally, there's the open mic approach, which is sort of like folk circle meets blues jam. I do this sometimes, especially as a way of trying out new songs, but I'm less interested in it because I'm more into playing than performing, if that makes sense.

I've also been to house-party scenes for bands, mostly in punk circles. It's for full bands, but you play an abbreviated set, as there may be a LOT of bands that night. No one's set should run more than a half hour or so. Those can be REALLY fun parties.

Anyway, what this adds up to is that you need to figure out if you're having a small party or a big one, and whether it's a one-time thing or an ongoing thing.

[Califiddler]

I just checked Mapquest and it's only 2hrs 15minutes from here to you. So my suggestion is, invite all of us from the Bay Area, provide a place for us to roll out our sleeping bags and stay over, since we'll be BYOB-ing it, and if the schedule works I'll drive down there with as many people, guitars, amps and BYOB varieties as we can carry!

[Tedecaster]

I've been running a blues jam for 4 years now and have gotten most things worked out. Ours is held monthly (summers only now) in a small Grange hall and will have a some what different group of musicians show up each month. I manage the line-ups on the fly. Our basic guidelines that seem to work:

Musicians sign-in, so we know who we have and everybody gets to play

3-song rotation. This turned out to be one of the most important, yet easiest things to do. Everyone understands it and there are no issues. I rotate in a whole new line-up after 3 tunes (unless we are short of bass, drums, etc.) There are ALWAYS enough guitar players.

House amps only! This works for us in several ways. Our 3 guitar amps are all 15W or less which helps limit volume (a biggie), it puts a physical limit on the number of guitar players at once (I find three is pushing it), it keeps the stage area clear from piles of amps and it helps rotate the players quicker. We also provide the drums, a bass amp & small PA. Everyone uses the same stuff, only I run the mixer.

Try to avoid bands or ensembles that want to play together. You always want to be a good guy and accomodate everyone, but like GoodTexan found, it can really take a turn for the worse. I still do it occasionally, but try not to and the 3-song limit is there to clean house if it gets ugly.

We charge $5 at the door for audience, with participating musicians free. "Participating" is an operative word here. Konwing how to play cello, etc. doesn't count. It should be "If you're not playin', you're payin'" but we are actually pretty lax about kids, family, etc. Even out here in the sticks we can usually cover our costs with a few $$ left-over for equipment, etc.

Out particular jam is Blues format and I try to keep everyone track. Not that I am a blues-only guy but the format is straight forward & we have a good chance of getting something that sounds half decent. I have thought about trying some other styles but complicated chord changes can be a real train wreck if everyone doesn't know them. Can't help you much with that end of it, though I'm thinking of trying something different myself.

Good luck with it!

[Joe-Bob]

I've done several "forum" jams over the years, and it can be alot of fun. It also turns out to be alot of work, and it can also be expensive. Lots of times they end up as blues jams, because you get people from all different playing abilities and skill levels...who've never played together before, and blues turns out to be the lowest common denominator. There's really not anything wrong with that.

The volume tends to creep up during the event.

Arrange to have at least two drummers who promise they will be there, and you should end up with someone who actually shows up...with their equipment.

[kludge]

Oh, house amps! I'd almost forgotten about that. Keeps people from being fiddly and setup/teardown times. And good amps make people sound good! Make sure all the amps compete decently, though... the curse of one blues jam I know of is the host usually played a hollowbody Gibson through a 2x12 Bassman, and took up enormous amounts of harmonic space. Guests played through a 15w 1x12 amp, and combined with a Tele or stock Strat, usually sounded like a jaws-harp compared to that big Gibson/Bassman setup!

Oh, and house drums? Kick, snare, two toms, hats, ride, and crash-ride. Make sure they're well-tuned.

[Tedecaster]

A couple of other random things I thought of:

I usually have a starting line-up to get things going and also play more rotations if we are short on any one position. Also, since we charge at the door, we have to provide music, so there is always a band in case we have thin attendance.

Front-men are the hardest players to come by (Singer, singer/guitarist, harp, whatever). They are (obviously) the focal point and keep things moving. I NOW have a book of lyrics on hand of songs I could do if I have to. I was the only "singer" at one date and was at a loss for songs. Yikes!

I send out an email to players that have signed-in in the past (we ask for email addresses at sign-up) that has been a great way to contact everybody who may be interested. We also do small flyers, community calendar listings, web page and a sandwich board in front of the venue for the week before a date. We have been lazy this past year about advertising and our attendance has reflected that. We have typically done 130+ in our busy months (July & August) and were down around 80 this year.

We have on occasion done food (BBQ) which drew more people but was ALOT of work and we might have broken even, if we were lucky. Drinks for $1 (no change) are not too much work and are a nice addition. Our jam is BYOB though we don't advertise that fact and people have always behaved themselves. Teenagers can become an issue though (if you're all-ages)

[Telenator]

I have hosted 14 music forum jams here in Connecticut and would offer the following tips:

1) Be very aware that many people on music firums have only played in the privacy of their own home. A live jam situation can be very intimidating for a first time jammer and they will need some reassurance if they're going to play. Make sure to identify all of these people in advance and set aside a time slot for "Newbie Hour" or something like that. Get a rock solid rythm section together and announce your intentions. The announcement takes the pressure off the new players because everyone now knows it's Newbie Hour. Then let them play one or two at a time. They will flourish and feel like stars as they plug along with a tight rythm section that makes them sound better than they ever thought possible. You'll be a hero! LOL!

2) I have found that in spite of everyone's groaning, setting a limit of two guitar players on stage a any given time helps to keep things orderly. Especially if all they're doing is passing around solos over an endless 1,4,5 progression. In the long run, the music sounds better, the players enjoy it more and so does the audience.

3) Set up a black board or erasable white board so you can write out the changes to a song real big where all the players can see it. This is enormously helpful when someone is learning a song or just a little shakey on the chord changes.

4) Pay a good drummer and bass player to show up and be the rythm section all day long. It makes a BIG difference. The good players can ntest their own limits, and the newbies get to play with groovey cats who will not crash and burn. This alone elevates the quality of the music immensely.

5) Provide a space that is away from the sound blast of the jam where people can socialize without having to shout at eachother. I always enjoyed meeting people at music forum jams and appreciated being able to talk with them out of the line of fire.

6) Police the volume. Don't let it get carried away, especially when the alcohol starts to take effect. Excessive volume intimidates newbies and simply makes it painful to listen to the music. The only people who dig excessive volume are the people who are playing at the time. The first one who says "Too loud? Too old." gets shown the door immediately as they obviously have not matured as a player.

7) Make sure to have singers there! And song chord sheets for some popular songs. Failure to do so will result in an endless 1, 4 ,5 drone where the drummer and bass player go out of their minds with boredom while the guitar players pass around solos and the harp players step all over them. It can get pretty ugly! LOL!

8) Call the cops. Tell them you're going to have a little music affair at your house and that they should expect a little noise. Doing so will allow them to quickly dispense with phone calls coming in to the station house instead of having to send a squad car out.

These are just suggestions and have served me well at my jams. Have a great time and get yer groove on!

[guit145]

Thanks guys, good suggestions. I like the dry erase board idea. I was thinking about having a couple fake books around, maybe even my laptop so we can grab lyrics/chords off the net (still may do that).

I will control the PA, and I will provide backline. As of now, it's only open to people I know personally (and have played with), and I have purposly omitted a few I'd rather not have around. Since it's at my house, I'll keep it that way. It will be a family event, even got a bounce house for the kids.

The genre will lean pretty heavily country (just because of the folks I know), should have a couple steelers (plus me), at least one fiddle, and maybe keys. Have several drummers, at least 1 solid bass man (plus me), and 4-5 folks who can sing. But, believe it or not, I'm short on guitar players (including me).

At this point, my biggest concern is getting all the cars parked out in the orchard.

If anyone is serious about coming, send me a PM, and we can talk. October 28 is the date, starting late afternoon. I do have a place to roll out sleeping bags (you can even pitch a tent on the lawn if you like, it's plenty big). I'm about 2 hrs north of Bakersfield, and 3 hrs from downtown SF or Sacto.