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Post subject: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 6:09 am
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What are the jams/open mic nights like in your area?

I've seen quite a few where they're loosely run but even more that
are more organized with a "sign up sheet" and the jam host will give
you three or four songs and out. If the host band asks you if you'd
like to go back up, it's considered a compliment.

If you attend jams/open mic nights please describe.

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:27 am
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One near me lasted less than a year and wasn't very "open." You needed to be either a fairly good singer or near pro level on an instrument. The host band had a person you signed up with and he'd interview you briefly if he didn't already know you. The band would play most Jazz, American Songbook, etc. and some mild classic rock along with well-known pop standards. If the band didn't know the tunes you wanted to do but you brought charts, they'd consider it (so yes, you were playing with accomplished read-and-play level musicians).

But that 10 minute rock the house SRV guitar solo would not be welcome and neither would your simplified "advanced beginner" version of a standard like "Favorite Things." As an instrumentalist, they'd prefer that you just sit in and play something they were going to play anyway and then take your short solo on cue.

Needless to say, it was mostly a showcase for area singers with better than average voices. Few instrumentalists ever sat in. They dropped the open mic part after a few months and then the bar closed.

The only other venue I personally know of is mostly for singer/guitarists. This venue is open and you sign up at the bar. Open mic is three hours on a Sunday night and each person is limited to two songs of reasonable (whatever that is) length. However, if there happens to be a good crowd and someone goes over well, the bartender/stage manager might invite them to do one more song.

Get there an hour early to insure being close enough to the top of the list to insure getting on. Also, it's not a venue for bands. The house provides four mics, two on booms, no DI into the house system, no backline and no drums. Nor would they allow you time to set up your own backline/drums.

This is true open mic but the bartender/host does reserve the right to give you the hook if you're awful or your music is way out of line (lots of profanity, loud Metal, etc.) and the audience is complaining. It's mostly modern folk, modern country with some occasional "adult alt" tossed in.

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any all levels welcome jams at the moment. We have pay-to-play clubs (some famous) "over the hill" here in Los Angeles. In the Valley, where I live, a number of bars have unpaid slots for bands. It's not too difficult to get a gig at one if you can put together a CD of what your 45 minute set sounds like and convince the owner that your friends will show up.


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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:01 am
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philipk, interesting.. Open Mic... by definition, supposed to be an opened/friendly environment where players of all levels should feel welcomed to participate. but when you used the magic word "jazz" in your post, yea,, that explains it!

the way it's done in my parts, and I just go to the Acoustic based ones, but is like described, there's sign up sheet, you can expect to do 3 songs, or 4 if you have a few quick ones and I do agree that it is a compliment if you are asked to return when everyone who wants to try it, has had a chance.

I've played professionally for many years, and I like going to these, it's nice to be there with cats who are trying to get their stuff together, (most are very nervous) You can help them by just keeping things relaxed, do your thing, and encourage them to do theirs.. I think that this is NOT supposed to be a contest but I suppose in some places, maybe that's what it devolves to.


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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:03 am
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Of the ones here (Tucson) they are "open," you just have to get on the list. Most are acoustic only. The one I've done most seemed to prefer you to use an electric acoustic guitar, but I don't have one so they have to use both the mics. At least one local place only allows original music and is more singer-songwriter orientated. I played at a local coffee shop once and realized that the songs I chose were way too hardcore for the laid back iPad twiddling audience... I haven't gone back... a bar seems to be a better venue for my stuff (broken heart drinking struggles etc.). But saying to choose your songs for your venue. If you haven't played live yet, yes, you will be freaking nervous! I play way harder when in front of people... first couple times things went wrong. What I learned... no matter what goes wrong, just keep going! Think first time I played, I played so hard I shattered my classic Fender pick and it was, "what the hell??? why aren't I getting any sound from my guitar..." realized what was wrong and played as well as possible with my half broken pick. Breaking in the middle of a song would have been worse IMO. Another time, I realized my fingers were playing the wrong chords for one of my songs, but since I was already going, I just winged it. It came off alright. Anyway, I've found it to be a challenge and I've gotten really good response which feels good. As someone already said, if you get some music together, it's not that hard to get a real unpaid gig... but you really need to practice before you do this. Even for doing a 3 song set at an open mic, I have to spend at least a few nights practicing. I've been asked to play an extra song on occasion too, so have to practice an extra. Best!

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 2:12 pm
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I don't know, I haven't gone to one of those in at least 20 years. I think the bar down the road might have that going on, I know they have live bands play there, at least. I haven't checked it out, though.

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 2:17 pm
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I attend (and sometime host or co-host) two of them.

The first is an open mic and has a sign in sheet and the host band tries very hard to match up the level of talent (or lack of) so everyone gets to sing and or play with
the best possible situation for them. After you've become known you can just call or text ahead and ask to be "penciled in" for a certain time slot.

The second one is strictly a blues jam. You sign the sheet and there is also a
column for what you want to do (guitar, vocs, bass, drums, sax, etc) and also
another column asking do you want the band to back you. Some bring their
friends and don't need the host band. This jam is usually 3 or 4 tunes and
out. If you're decent and the host band likes you, you get asked to sit in
with them later in the night.

It's interesting to hear the different scenarios that are out there and how
others are being run. I also know of one jam host that has an unwritten rule
that "if a guitarist doesn't sing too - he sits" which is hard for the people who
don't sing. He can be talked into letting people up but he feels that the players
that also sing get first shot at stage time.

Keep the stories coming in...and thanks for sharing so far!

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 6:26 pm
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There are several here in my area. The main one I go to is run by a couple that does two or three a week at different venues. The "house band" plays a 45 minute set, then the host starts rotating people in and out of the band. Depending on who signed up, he may change out the whole band at once or just a couple of people.
You have a few minutes to plug in and tune up, decide what song you're going to play that everyone knows, (heavy on blues). The vocalist usually has a big say in that, and what key to play it in. Then you're playing. The host will usually leave a group up for three songs, then change out two or three people and start again. He has a strong radar for the suck factor, so if you're sounding bad, he'll change you out after one song.
So you never know who you're going to play with, what song you're going to play or what key to play it in. It really keeps me on my toes.
Depending on how crowded it is, I'll usually get up on stage twice a night, sometimes a third time if I stay for the finale. It's a lot of fun, and we get a really good range of musicians, horns, sax, keyboards, lots of good vocalists and a few harp players that could be pros, along with the guitar and bass and drum players. It really turns into a big party.

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 6:06 am
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There's an all acoustic jam where the host invites people up to
jam with him. He just starts songs and leaves it up to you to figure
out what song he's playing and the key he's playing in. It gets very
interesting. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:20 am
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Miami Mike wrote:
There's an all acoustic jam where the host invites people up to
jam with him. He just starts songs and leaves it up to you to figure
out what song he's playing and the key he's playing in. It gets very
interesting. :wink:



interesting,,, that's a good word for what you describe..

I have another term for this,, it starts with the word "Cluster..." ends with another word I probably would get booted for using..

:lol:


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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:28 am
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KidBlast wrote:
philipk, interesting.. Open Mic... by definition, supposed to be an opened/friendly environment where players of all levels should feel welcomed to participate. but when you used the magic word "jazz" in your post, yea,, that explains it!
...

I wish we had that but it's Los Angeles so I suppose too many pros and wannabes here. The up-and-comings are all willing to do the pay-to-play scene and I suppose I can understand how if I'm a pro who's been on dozens of records, I might not want to sit in with the kid who just started learning. But ... playing with others is how you get better ... the beauty of a true Open as you mean it jam.

It would also be great to have venues (referring to another poster) where non-singer instrumentalists can sit in. I sometimes back up the bartender/stage manager at the venue I mentioned because I know him well. I can also have my amp and bass set up in under 5 minutes and I find that sitting behind a singer/songwriter on acoustic guitar is a terrific challenge and experience. The problem here must be that bar/club owners can't "sell" open mic nights (except comedy -- we have plenty of that here) to the public. Too bad.


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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:48 am
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philipk wrote:
KidBlast wrote:
philipk, interesting.. Open Mic... by definition, supposed to be an opened/friendly environment where players of all levels should feel welcomed to participate. but when you used the magic word "jazz" in your post, yea,, that explains it!
...

I wish we had that but it's Los Angeles so I suppose too many pros and wannabes here. The up-and-comings are all willing to do the pay-to-play scene and I suppose I can understand how if I'm a pro who's been on dozens of records, I might not want to sit in with the kid who just started learning. But ... playing with others is how you get better ... the beauty of a true Open as you mean it jam.

It would also be great to have venues (referring to another poster) where non-singer instrumentalists can sit in. I sometimes back up the bartender/stage manager at the venue I mentioned because I know him well. I can also have my amp and bass set up in under 5 minutes and I find that sitting behind a singer/songwriter on acoustic guitar is a terrific challenge and experience. The problem here must be that bar/club owners can't "sell" open mic nights (except comedy -- we have plenty of that here) to the public. Too bad.


Philip, I'm in L.A. and I can probably direct you to a good jam night, if you want to PM me.

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 12:46 pm
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I live in a little town of less than 10K people. There is an open mic night here on Saturday evenings but I don't go. I've gone to watch a small number of times but I lost interest in it years ago. There are way too many people and it's not really what you normally think of as an open mic night. Sometimes a person will get up and read poetry or do "TED Talk" sort of presentation. Sometimes someone will get up and play their oboe with no other accompaniment or an accordion duo with a mandolin. Stuff like that. All over the map and rather amateur. On rare occasions, a group of like minded musicians will pre-arrange to converge on the gathering and get up for a short set but that's the exception and not the rule. The rule is retired people attending so they can watch the grandchild blow on their whistle (recorder) or scratch the chalkboard with a bagpipe.

About 40 miles away is a city of almost 1M people. There are surprisingly few open mic nights in a city of that size. The most attended one is not open at all in the normal sense. You have to schedule an audition to see if you're up to snuff weeks in advance and the proprietors usually refuse to schedule the audition because they have plenty of already approved outfits backlogged and wanting to play. It's a really shrewd scheme for the proprietors. They've been getting away with it for a couple of decades now. They do bring in paid acts in the evenings but on Saturday afternoons they get a pretty decent live band to play for free for a few hours and the house usually fills up with beer drinkers from all walks of life to watch the so-called jam. The jam is really nothing more than an unpaid gig. I know some guys who've played that place and they all say it was a real gauntlet getting in there. It's quite popular with the patrons though and if you say the words 'jam' or 'open mic' that's the first thing that comes to their minds. Other places in the city do have open mic nights but I haven't found one yet that is a regular weekly occurrence. Since I don't live in the city it's not uncommon for me to hear of a new jam night that just started only to discover that by the time I've heard about it and found the time to go it's already failed to benefit the proprietor and it's been cancelled indefinitely.

I think the last time I regularly played open mics was about 10 years ago when I was working up north. A blue collar worker watering hole would have an open mic on Wednesday nights. I went a number of times. It was pretty much a free-for-all. There was no organization. Frequently nothing happened if there weren't at least a couple of people who knew each other and had something in mind as to what to play and in which key.

I guess what I'm saying is ... open mic nights have not played a very important role in my life since moving to this area.

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:05 pm
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If any of you attend or host blues jams, do you find many "blues nazis?"

I found this interesting on the topic:
http://nashvillemusicianssurvivalmanual.com/Blog/?p=209

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:23 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
If any of you attend or host blues jams, do you find many "blues nazis?"

I found this interesting on the topic:
http://nashvillemusicianssurvivalmanual.com/Blog/?p=209


I'd hate to attend that jam. Ours is very friendly, blues oriented, but we play everything, Motown, Hendrix, Stones. Anything that's good and you can teach the other players quick enough. I've played multiple songs for the first time while standing onstage at the jam. That's when it gets fun.

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Post subject: Re: Jam/Open Mic Protocol
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:55 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
If any of you attend or host blues jams, do you find many "blues nazis?"


I've drop-kicked a few of those "blues nazis" off the stage a few times when they got in my face, touched my gear, or otherwise pissed me off. Of course I was never invited back but I don't giveashit. Most of those "purists" don't know jack and should concentrate on their day jobs of bagging groceries at the Piggly Wiggly, disinfecting the receivers of public pay phones, or manning the drive-thru at the local burger palace.

:lol:

Arjay

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