Comments on: Misfit Jam http://blog.murphymethod.com/2009/04/23/misfit-jam/ Where the Murphy Method community keeps in touch. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:31:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: MarkZ http://blog.murphymethod.com/2009/04/23/misfit-jam/comment-page-1/#comment-163 MarkZ Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:32:01 +0000 http://blog.murphymethod.com/?p=456#comment-163 I apologize to my fellow "jam-ees" for my atrocious playing last night, and to Murphy, our Esteemed Leader. Don't know where my fingers and head were -- when I can't even make the right hand pick Cripple Creek, I'm up the Creek so to speak........and since that was our first song AND I was kicking it off, it was definitely down hill from there for me. Specific sorry's to Bob Mc for messing him up as well on Cripple Creek. And I even managed to loose our Anchor Bass Bob Van on one of the songs, so sorry to BV also (although Murphy assured us that if things go awry in a jam, it's almost ALWAYS the bass player's fault ;>) It was a lot of fun playing for the first time with a fiddle -- thanks for hanging in there with us, Sandy. At the end of the session, while I was moaning and groaning about how badly I played (after sounding much better in my last practice session with Ellen), Murphy suggested that maybe next time we should start with a warm up song that everyone plays together. I think that's a great idea, and it will definitely lower my anxiety level compared to playing a cold solo break. Can't guarantee that it will result in playing better on my end, but one thing I've definitely learned so far is that when I get nervous (translate that to "sitting in front of Murphy trying to play"), I'm useless as a banjo picker. All that said, jamming is (overall) a blast, and exactly why I wanted to learn the banjo. As always, many, many thanks, Murphy, for being a great instructor. Mark I apologize to my fellow “jam-ees” for my atrocious playing last night, and to Murphy, our Esteemed Leader. Don’t know where my fingers and head were — when I can’t even make the right hand pick Cripple Creek, I’m up the Creek so to speak……..and since that was our first song AND I was kicking it off, it was definitely down hill from there for me. Specific sorry’s to Bob Mc for messing him up as well on Cripple Creek. And I even managed to loose our Anchor Bass Bob Van on one of the songs, so sorry to BV also (although Murphy assured us that if things go awry in a jam, it’s almost ALWAYS the bass player’s fault ;>)

It was a lot of fun playing for the first time with a fiddle — thanks for hanging in there with us, Sandy.

At the end of the session, while I was moaning and groaning about how badly I played (after sounding much better in my last practice session with Ellen), Murphy suggested that maybe next time we should start with a warm up song that everyone plays together. I think that’s a great idea, and it will definitely lower my anxiety level compared to playing a cold solo break. Can’t guarantee that it will result in playing better on my end, but one thing I’ve definitely learned so far is that when I get nervous (translate that to “sitting in front of Murphy trying to play”), I’m useless as a banjo picker.

All that said, jamming is (overall) a blast, and exactly why I wanted to learn the banjo. As always, many, many thanks, Murphy, for being a great instructor.

Mark

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