We were a little light at the jam tonight. Just two banjo players—Susan and Ray—with Bob Van on bass and me on guitar. One audient, Susan’s husband Bill, who played so much last week his hands were hurting and he decided to sit this one out!
We started out with our regular warm-ups, Banjo in the Hollow and Cripple Creek, with Susan and Ray playing in unison. Then we moved on to trading breaks on Foggy Mountain Breakdown.
The rest of the list was:
I Saw the Light
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Circle
Fireball Mail (I sang a few verses)
Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms
Boil Them Cabbage (the finale)
Susan wanted to know what DVD “Roll” was on. I knew she was working on the Improv DVD so I told her “Roll” was on that DVD—only it’s disguised as “Mama Don’t Allow.” Bob, of course, didn’t believe those two songs were anything alike, so I had to sing a verse of “Mama” to show him. Then, for free, I threw in “Will You Be Loving Another Man” which also has the same chord progression, so you can use the “Roll” break for that song too. One break, three songs. Such a deal!
This is only Ray’s second jam and, bless his heart, he is still having trouble adjusting to playing with other people. OF COURSE he can play all these songs just fine at home. I know that’s true. But if you ever want to play with other people (which most of us do), then you have to go through the painful process of learning to jam, which entails learning how to HEAR in a group. Learning how to tune out other people’s playing so you can hear what’s going on in your own head. As I told Ray, you should always be playing to some sort of outline of the song rolling through your mind. With me it’s the words. It may seem odd, but you’re NOT actually playing along to what you are hearing in the jam. You’re playing along to the song as it’s running through your own little gray cells.
But we can talk about this and talk about it, but until you get in there and just DO IT, it’s not going to make a whole lot of sense. So, gather your courage and find a jam session. Beg your teacher to start one. Or start one of your own!
P.S. Thanks for all the birthday greetings!! “Tis sweet to be remembered…”
Tags: murphy's misfits