This day course is fundamentally about a group of players having fun in jamming together and producing the best sound possible – doing it properly armed with some useful knowledge! The mastery element involves looking under the hood to understand the whys, hows and whens so that you can start to putting preparing for jams yourself.
We’ll be guided by a pro tutor (guitar and vocals) who will co-ordinate all aspects of the session with advice on: leading songs, arranging/organising parts for the group, keeping things tight and sounding like a pro band, making it entartaining and with everyone involved at the level they can play.
Jam nights can be loud and chaotic but generally good fun. Let’s retain the fun element and make a glorious sound that both lifts the spirit and gives you a tool bag to apply to Jams, Open Mic Nights or general get-togethers.
Jamming with a group can be a wonderfully exhilarating and uplifting experience – if done properly !
Taking part in and surviving a Jam Day is one level but delivers random, instant success but understanding and putting things together properly is planning for success in the long-term – this is as much about mastery as playing!
We all know the downfalls to disorganised jams:
This Jamming Mastery day session takes our standard Jam Day to another level by going under the hood and exploring ins-and-outs of jamming and how to make it work for a disparate group of players.
Under the guidance of our pro tutor (guitar and vocals) we’ll go through a whole bunch of classic songs spanning many genres and styles with our usual run-through of the basics of songs (chords, rhythm and song form) before we crack on with each song. We’ll also look at prep before the course and PDFs, snippet videos during the session as materials to take away as reference. The key things are the explanations and discussion about how to organise things for success and making sure everyone is involved at their level.
The songs will span easy to challenging and, as with a normal jam, everyone will be expected to join in where they can, at they level they’re at. The tutor will be able to offer advice on guitar playing and singing techniques
Having a pro tutor is the difference by conducting/controlling activities i.e. counting in, assigning parts, bringing people in at the right time, managing the volume, concentrating on quality of the sound, making the overall thing ‘nice’.
Acoustic, electric and bass and other instruments are all welcome – we have had harmonica, trombone, ukelele, mandolin, baritone guitar, etc. Singers are especially welcome!
Songs covered in previous Jams have included: Pretty Woman, Lola, Black or White, Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, Help, Gravity, Moonlight Shadow,Moon River, Addicted to love, Beat it, Alright now, even Twinkle twinkle little star for an impromptu visit by a 3 year-old, and many more.
Arranging a jam tune on the spot (guitar and vocals)
This is brilliant for learning how to layer parts for the singers and players. We’ll start with a drone-type beginning and then slowly layer it up and even allow some soloing over it. This kind of brings all the true elements of jamming together in a single exercise.
Leading a song
We’ll also encourage players to have a go at leading a song. Singers and other instruments are very welcome. Our tutor will be able to offer advice on vocals and guitar (a bit on bass) but all other instruments will be expected to just fit as nomnated by the tutor.
In summary
This is a structured jam, controlled by a pro offering advice on guitar playing and singing, with the overall the aim of playing a bunch of songs to a much higher standard than usual; with everyone playing a part and having a cracking, fun time!
This course is aimed at the Late Beginner to Intermediate levels of acoustic, electric guitarists and bass players.
The tutor will also offer advice about singing as well and guide bass players. If we have trombones, horns, harmonicas, etc. then these guys will be left to their own devices and we’ll rely on them being able to keep up!
The course isn’t really for raw beginners; that said, most players will pick up some real nuggets from this day.
We’d like to get the group’s input on songs and lead sheets but we’ll have a bunch of classic song lead sheets to hand out or use via a projector. You’ll get these PDFs as we go through the day.
BTW, we recently ran a Jam Essential online course – it covered all the basics you should know or have been exposed to; email for detail if interested.
If anyone wants some video snippets taken during the day we’ll make these available to the group afterwards.
Unlike our online sessions these Day-Only courses can only accommodate limited group numbers – book early to avoid disappointment.
There’s fantastic B&B and dinners at the venue (other places are available in the area as well !). Get in touch directly with the venue once you’ve received the Joining Instructions.