d4dooley - Posted - 06/15/2009:  08:19:18

The Ten Commandments of Jamming .

I. Thou shalt not ever forsake the beat.

II. Thou shalt arrange thy selves in a small circle so that thou mayest hear and see the other musicians. Thou shalt listen with thine ears to the songs and attempt to play in accord with the group; also, open thine eyes at times to look about thee, lest there be some visual sign someone is endeavoring to send thee. Thou shalt play softly when someone lifteth his voice in song, when playing harmony, and when thou knowest not what thou is doing.

III. Thou shalt play in tune. Tune thine instrument well, and tune it often with thine electric tuner, lest the sounds emanating from thine instrument be unclean.

IV. Thou shalt commence and cease playing each tune together as one, so that the noise ye make be a joyful noise, and not a heinous tinkling that goeth in fits and starts, for that is unclean, and is an abomination. Whensoever a musician sticketh forth his foot as though he were afflicted with a cramp in the fatted calf, thou must complete the rest of that verse, and then cease.

V. Thou shalt stick out thine own foot or else lift up thy voice crying "This is it !", or "Last time !" if thou hast been the one to begin the song, and it has been played sufficient times over. If the one who began a tune endeth it not by one of these signs, then the tune will just go on and on, like the Old Testament, until the listeners say, "Hark ! It all soundeth the same."

VI. Thou shalt concentrate and thou shalt not confound the music by mixing up the A part and the B part. Most songs, but not all, proceedeth according to the ancient law "AABB". But if thou sinneth in this regard, or make any mistake that is unclean, thou may atone - not by ceasing to play - but by reentering the tune in the proper place and playing on.

VII. Thou shalt be ever mindful of the key the banjo is tuned in, and play many tunes in that key, for the banjo is but a lowly instrument, which must needs be returned each time there is a key change.

VIII. Thou shalt not speed up or slow down accidentally when playing a tune, for it is an abomination. (See commandment I)

IX. Thou shalt not, by thine own self, commence noodling off on a tune the other musicians know not, unless asked or unless thou art teaching that tune, for it is an abomination, and the other musicians will not hold thee guiltless, and shall take thee off their computer lists, yea, even unto the third and the fourth generation.

X. Thou shalt have fun and play well.

Dooley
Denver, CO

Kymba - Posted - 06/15/2009:  08:58:59

Fantastic. :)

rhopkins249 - Posted - 06/15/2009:  09:12:42

And T-shirts with the commandments will be available when?

airborne - Posted - 06/15/2009:  09:54:11

only 10

jamieholmes - Posted - 06/15/2009:  11:01:07

I love this!.hehe.

Working and thinking about what instruments to buy next..

manfrommars - Posted - 06/15/2009:  11:01:50

Well said Dooley.

d4dooley - Posted - 06/15/2009:  12:50:31

Additional note:

This version of the 10 Commandments of Jamming is from the "King Jams" version of the musical bible. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Dooley
Denver, CO

KI4PRK - Posted - 06/16/2009:  08:32:35

Great!

73, Brennen

minstrelmike - Posted - 06/16/2009:  10:46:57

You know, I've seen a lot of these rules posted different places and they're ok but mostly useless. If I go to a jam and see rules laying on chairs for people to read, I know we're probably going to have issues.

The problem is that just because you've written down that I must play in tune or in time and I have read the rules (and even signed them once), that doesn't mean I'm any better at tuning my instrument or playing in time than I was before. If all we had to do to make students better was have them sign a piece of paper, well we'd all do that.

The problem comes when I begin playing out of tune or out of beat. Now even though I cannot hear my errors at all, those who can hear them assume I'm doing them ON PURPOSE JUST TO IRRITATE and they get extremely agitated.

To me, the rules are good, but they need to be enforced by people talking to other people, not people throwing down a gauntlet of paperwork and then belittling or excluding those who cannot read.

Mike Moxcey Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
http://moxcey.net/mike/minstrel/index.html

Klondike Waldo - Posted - 06/16/2009:  13:34:42

Just how is this related to music theory rather to one of the playing style forums?



I''ll never play like Earl Scruggs or sing like Luciano Pavarotti, but I''ll pick better than Luciano and sing tenor better than Earl
deligo ergo renideo,
Bob Cameron

Rich Weill - Posted - 06/17/2009:  13:38:29

I'd add one more to address my personal favorite "jam peeve":

Thou shalt not select the next song by announcing, "How about this one?" and commence immediately to play in a mystery key.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 06/20/2009:  20:30:16

This sort of list is all over the place on the web, and shows up here with stultifying regularity. I can assure you however, that the people who really NEED to read it, never do.

BTW
All the "Thous", and "Thys" are really quite annoying. Putting lists like this in phony Biblical language might have been amusing when we were ten or twelve - but the humour has not aged well at all. Perhaps the reason people don't read these things is because they find them downright arrogant. I know I wouldn't want to jam any place that slapped this sort of "holier than thou" junk on the wall.

Looking for a tab? Ask The Woodchuck - If I''ve got it or will do it - you can get it for a buck.
If you are interested in what I say on the hangout you should download a free copy of Rocket Science Banjo - the Advanced Method For Beginning to Intermediate Clawhammer Players. Along with the full text in PDF you will also find the four current RSB videos and the "25 EZ Clawhammer tunes at:
http://www.rocketsciencebanjo.com

Banjo Brad is still hosting "How To Mold A Mighty Pinky" and some other material at:
http://www.pricklypearmusic.net
A site chock full of interesting banjo material

Mackay92 - Posted - 07/05/2009:  17:56:51

All over the internet or not, it is very true. Too many musicians I know and play with break multiple rules in one session. I would love to play in a group that has this on the wall, because it shows that they are serious musicians, but can still have fun. The language only adds to the humor! it makes me want to read on!

Very entertaining!

10gauge - Posted - 07/06/2009:  13:23:09

Thou shalt not immerse thine self in the center of the circle, for it is an abomination and shalt only encourage thine brethren to also immerse, and there will be much gnashing of strings.

Jonathan O''bug

Alpha Omicron - Posted - 07/12/2009:  23:17:41

Note that VII isn't really true: you can play in the key of C just fine out of open-G tuning, for instance. Capo the second fret and you have A and D. That's four major keys out of twelve in one tuning.

ddale79 - Posted - 08/02/2009:  12:39:44

Very interesting list.

I was nervous about attempting my first jam at some point (even if a beginner jam). After reading these unforgiving rules, not sure if the fear of breaking one of "thine commandments" takes the fun out of trying.

Joe Larson - Posted - 08/03/2009:  06:41:32

Hey Doug, even though these are all tongue-in-cheek, they're something to shoot for. But don't take them too seriously or let them take the fun out of it for you.

j

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user...&view=videos
There''s more to life than playing the banjo, but not a lot more.

minstrelmike - Posted - 08/03/2009:  11:43:38

That's what I was going to say Doug. It is the people who are forgiving or not. The rules are rather pointless. They are the same rules as about how to have a conversation, and the people who are rule-oriented about that tend to not have many productive conversations.

The basics of a jam are that a bunch of people get together to _play_ music. There are a bunch of rules about how to play poker, too, and poker games have winners and losers, but people still play it week after week with the same folks and have fun doing so.

Mike Moxcey Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
http://moxcey.net/mike/minstrel/index.html