When you are starting out learning to jam, there’s lots of scary things going on for sure. You can break a string moments into your first G chord, or maybe you ended up right next to a really grumpy banjo player, who keeps stabbing your eardrums with his twangs. Or the person who is supposed to pass the tune around to you is a fiddle player who seems to be engaged in a life or death struggle with their instrument, and you keep getting pulled out of time by the tortured noises emanating from his fiddle. Yes, it’s often a free-for-all, and the best you can do is just try to stay in time and keep a straight face.
But probably the scariest part is when you hear your name, preceded by the phrase “pick it!” Or in other words, it’s your turn to take the lead! Oh sh**. Yep, this is where everyone is suddenly playing chords and there is an expectant hush over the jam, and through your red mist of adrenaline you realize that this is supposed to be you playing. And if you haven’t been training properly, or learned the art of passing the lead on to the next picker, chances are you are caught off guard and find yourself spewing out a jumble of unrelated notes that have nothing to do with the song being played. And after what seems like an eternity the cruel experiment is over and you finish the rest of the song in a state of shock, while fantasizing about where to sell your instrument and what you’ll buy with the money.
If any of this sounds painfully familiar, don’t fret, you’re normal! Everybody has problems learning the Jam “game”, with all it’s funny rules and expectations. This is why we urge you to do your homework and read up on how jams are structured; read our blog posts: Anatomy Of A Jam and The Jammer’s Journey. Then book a Live Online Music Lesson with our JamAlong instructors so you can practice taking solos in a kind and safe environment!
After a couple of lie online jams with your instructor or real life coffee shop experiences, you’ll find out that it’s not so much taking the lead that’s the hard part, it’s getting in and out on time. They say the “Devil’s in the details”, well in jamming he’s in the transitions. That’s right, and so the more time you can get launching into your lead, over and over, or ending it and passing to the next picker, the better. And as you get better at this, you’ll discover that the intros and ending are often where the best licks are, so it’s all the more important to practice these section
s.
With this in mind, we’ve created a series of YouTube videos that re-create the experience of a real live jam, so you can work on launching your lead all darn day if you wish! With these Virtual Jam videos, our instructor will play the lead on guitar, mandolin and banjo, and then, pass it over to you! Yep, you’ll get a real chance to play the solo, while the other instruments all play backup for you. This is not only exhilarating, but super important to be able to have this kind of flight time on getting in and out of your lead part. And when you’ve gotten that down, then guess what: now you get to try different leads each time! First you can play a simple melody, then you can string some licks together, and finally, you can try to pull off that fancy arrangement you’ve been learning with all those hot licks in it. And all in the safety and comfort of your own living room!
You can also learn the leads that the other instrument are playing on the video, note for note, for example check out our mandolin lesson for our bluegrass Virtual Jam HERE (and it’s FREE if you get it quick!)
Or, you can always make it extra easy on yourself and just order a custom video lesson for whatever instrument you play, and we’ll arrange you a lead exactly how you want it. (click HERE to try a custom lesson made just for you).
So, what are you waiting for! Get tuned up, pour a cup of coffee, and try out some Virtual Jamming! It’s free, fun and available 24/7, so there’s no excuse not to start honing your jamming chops now. Click these links to get to the videos…
