Why We Jam

Words: Tomas Texino

It is festival time again and thousands are hitting the bluegrass trail, with no small amount of them hauling their instruments along. Why? Do they expect a frantic plea from the stage for a fill in?  Do they feel that by toting a fiddle case around the grounds they will be suspected of stardom?

Hell no! They are just doing that thing unique to acoustic music festivals worldwide: they are going to jam.

Now jamming is as old as American music itself. It was used in the early days to pass the free form jazz music from New Orleans to Chicago, and mountain music from the coves and hollows to the factory towns of the rust belt.  Jamming allowed skilled, but untrained, musicians to develop their own code to pass a new tune along without having to write charts.   Jamming moved into the hipster clubs of New York, where after-hours exchanges between various players from the different bands in the city, players like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, Cozy Cole and John Coltrane, broke away from traditional jazz, giving us bebop.

Yes, jamming is important, and though the type we will discuss here will probably not lead us into new musical horizons, it can improve your playing in a myriad of ways.  All you have to do is know the rules. Yes, there are rules, and I’m sure everyone knows they exist. But it is a good thing to go over them from time to time, and this is as good a time as any.

Let’s start with the basics, okay? Fine.  Now, before you leave your campsite in search of the perfect jam for you, it is wise to have new strings on your instrument and make sure it is in tune and will remain so.  With the advent of cheap electric tuners and knowledge of how to secure the string to the tuning post, you should be able to be in tune and ready to play.

Now go find a jam.  Maybe, if the festival is large, you might take a stroll around and check out what’s what.  If you are a practicing multi-instrumentalist, it might be a good idea to see how many of what is being plucked.  When you decide what instrument you will drive, find a jam where you will fit the best.  This is accomplished by noticing how many of your type of instrument is at work.

Now, a word about guitars.  If that is the instrument of your choice, you should probably be able to vocalize as well. Jams are lousy with guitars and, unless you find one where guitar music is the focus, it is unlikely that the other players will back down so your solos will be heard.

Sometimes jams are just too big. In this case, you may want to lurk on the edge until someone leaves and a spot opens. When that opening happens, it’s best to just add some rhythm or fills until someone offers you a break.  When that break happens, do your best to make a good impression, and then back out and see if you get another shot. If the song goes around a couple of times without you being given a spot, just back out and move on.

You should become adept at finding jams where your level of playing will fit nicely.  However, that which you might take for a small jam could be a band practicing and they may not welcome your efforts.  I’m just tossing out some negatives here because you don’t want to be known as a pushy player. You will find out that if you play with reserve and taste you will be welcome in many circles.  It also helps if you know a fair amount of instrumentals, as well as the vocal standards.

Here are some fiddle tunes which have remained popular over time, and still endure. The keys commonly used are included.

1. “Soldier’s Joy” – D

2. “Billy in the Low Ground” – C

3. “Red-Haired Boy”-A

4.”Blackberry Blossom” – G

5. “Fisher’s Hornpipe” – D

6. “Cherokee Shuffle” – D

7. “St. Ann’s Reel” – D

8. “Crazy Creek” – A

9. “Jerusalem Ridge” – Am

10. “Black Mountain Rag” – G

If you are playing guitar, you may find a capo useful when playing long instrumentals in A or D.  Learn by watching other guitarists and be aware that if the jam has a lot of harmony singing, it is not unusual to have someone call a tune in F or Bb.

I hope that you will follow some of these pointers to a rewarding string of festival jams.  Remember, being polite and playing within your limits will go a long way towards making friends along the festival trail, and you will be surprised by how many faces you will start to recognize.  In my opinion nothing beats walking around the camp area empty-handed and having someone say to you, “Here’s a ‘X’ player; go get your instrument and we’ll pick some.”

There are a few other things you might want to remember. For example, keep a pocket full of picks and a few packs of strings so you can help a player out.

Don’t forget to be in tune. If you don’t have a tuner, grab a note from the jam, then go down wind to get it right.  It’s rude to walk up to a jam and start tuning while a song’s playing.

You are in someone else’s space, so don’t mess up the balance by being the third or fourth mandolin.  A good jam can absorb quite a few guitars and several fiddles, but a bag of banjos or a murder of mandolins can shut things down.

Finally, if you don’t like the way things are going, you can just leave. If you are a musician, you should be sensitive enough to pick up on the vibe.

Now, think about what I said up top: jamming is a way of moving music around.  If you remember that, you will try to leave an idea and take one as well.  You’ll be helping the music stay alive.

Tomas Texino is a musician, humorist and friend to all animals.  He is a blogger and regular contributor to BGRASS-L, though his exact whereabouts are sketchy.  Stalkers and other interested parties may contact him through his MySpace page at www.MySpace.com/texino.