Posted by loukiii on Friday, August 19, 2011
Welcome!
I just passed my 1 year anniversary of taking lessons. I have recently (in the past 2 months) expanded my banjo horizons by attending jams. All I can say is, Oh man jams are so much fun!!! I am not embarrassed to play in public though so maybe I am weird or something. A lot of the other students that my teacher teaches are too shy. (On fathers day someone on here wanted a banjo player to play a song for their father in law kind of as a joke because he was not too fond of banjos. I did it. Walked right up to a total strangers front door. Rang the doorbell and started playing. He ended up inviting me in, got out his guitar and we jammed for an hour or so. And I'm not even that good! lol)
I have found 2 local groups that have jams on a fairly regular basis. 1 group, He Central Florida Bluegrass Association, does a weekly jam at a restaurant in Plant City called The Corner Store, on Saturday evenings, as well as having regular events pretty much monthly. The second is called the Soggy Bottom Bluegrass Bunch and they have a monthly weekend long jam at the Sertoma Youth Ranch campground Dade City, FL the first full weekend of every month.
The CFBA group is the younger crowd with most of the members being in their 30's, 40's and 50's. They play a pretty diverse selection of music including an occasional country tune as well as some more eclectic stuff. They are all very talented and play pretty fast so It can be a challenge keeping up. They are very tolerant and I don't push my luck. If I cant keep up, then I stay out of their way and just watch, listen and learn and enjoy the music.
The Soggy Bottom group has some very accomplished musicians as well. They are a larger group as well, and in the winter months many of the members are 'snowbirds' (seasonal residents from up north who come down for the winter months). With over 600 members, sometimes there are a couple hundred members attending the during the winter months. There are musicians of all levels within this group so one can find a jam to suit their musical abilities. The best part is on Saturday evening they have a pot luck supper. Imagine going to Grandma's house and having an army of grandma's trying to feed you to death. There is sooo much good food. I ate so much I had to figure out another way to play my banjo with my belly pooched out from eating so much. And the music, it is wonderful. They know so many great songs.
I would jam every night if I could find people to play with. But I will settle for 1 night a week... unless I can squeeze in 2...
Thanks for reading.
1 comment on “The Thrill of Jamming and 1 Year Pickin Anniversary.”
crishergirl Says:
Monday, August 22, 2011 @5:45:00 PM
I love your stories! Thanks for sharing this!
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