The Gypsy Jazz Jam Guide

Gojdan · May 21

I'm trying to get a beginner jam going. Any tips on how to make sure everybody follows the ideas outlined in the article ?

Looking at the comments seems like jams just turn out into a bunch of people doing their own thing and not listening to each other.

JasonS · May 21

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/117582#Comment_117582

Start small and, if possible, share some tunes ahead of time to help people prepare. It really helps if you have at least one guitarist and bassist who either know lots of tunes or can read charts very well to keep things on track and keep tempos/volume from slipping. You can also lean on those people to start/end tunes which can be difficult for beginners. If you end up with a situation where a lot of beginners show up at the same time consider rotating people in and out instead of having one large group trying to stay together.

Rip · May 21

My rule is that I will jam with anyone who is willing to jam with me.

Buco · May 22

Last year at DiJ I've heard several jams and been in several where the tempo tanks. It's really a morale killer. This year Andrew is going to let me put on a workshop called "Rhythm guitar playing in a jam" or something similar. The bigger point is not me trying to teach anyone anything, but rather bringing up the issue, raising awareness and getting people to talk and think about it.