Yep.

Amen!

Best rule of thumb, (no pun intended), if you can't hear the other person, then you have to back off.
Secondly, don't ever grab another person's musical instrument. After one bad cussing and a threatened fist fight, I have seen, it ain't worth it.
A humorous side note, I was at a jam and a certain person complained that everyone was playing too loud, that he couldn't hear.
Next week he had a new hearing aid and he was happy!

I think it was Will Rogers who said, "Never miss a good chance to shut up."

Applies to a lot of things besides bluegrass.

There be a fella at our jam who plays the banjer loud and outta time and during singing and other people’s breaks. He's been advised to pipe down a few times by different members, quietly on the side, but the racket goes on. He drives me around the bend - I sent this video out to all our jam members including him, noting “to those that this applies!” .....I know, I know - Canadians are wwaayy too polite!

if you can't hear the other person, then you have to back off.

Well said. And I agree grabbing somebody's instrument is asking for a whuppin'.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was at my first Thomas Point all-night campfire jam.
The guy sitting beside me leaned over and quietly said to me "You don't have to play lead all the time."
He might have been Mike Lilly...not sure.
Anyway,I took it to heart and appreciated him keeping it just between him and me without making it a public announcement.

It was also a great lesson in subtlety.

Yes, a much nicer way to handle it.

quote:

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Originally posted by steve davis

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was at my first Thomas Point all-night campfire jam.
The guy sitting beside me leaned over and quietly said to me "You don't have to play lead all the time."
He might have been Mike Lilly...not sure.
Anyway,I took it to heart and appreciated him keeping it just between him and me without making it a public announcement.

It was also a great lesson in subtlety.

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I also would advise everyone to not reach over and grab someone else's instrument.

A group of us get together almost every Sunday afternoon, a sea of guitar players with a few other instruments scattered into the mix. Most of the time I'm the only banjo player. One of the guitar players/singers is always complaining about everyone playing too loud, he can't hear himself play, and occasionally he complains about the banjo specifically. One of the other guitar players/singers is always saying that he can't hear the banjo and asking me to put a little more into it so he can hear it. Sometimes you can't win I guess. We have sort of solved the problem, the one guy saves a place for me right next to him, and the other sits across the room from me. The rest don't seem to be particularly concerned about what anyone else is doing.

On another note, early on though, I noticed the mandolin player, who is very good and very experienced, would ramp up once in a while with me on my breaks, which didn't bother me. So I started returning the favor occasionally. It kind of got to be our thing, ganging up on some of the breaks together. We make eye contact going into the break, and that means to come on in..

So I think it really depends on the dynamics of the group. I know that I always try to read the room and fit in when I go somewhere new. At the same time, our core group, with the exception of the one guitar player, can get a little competitive at times. But also we've been playing together for a long time. I like to think that we try to accommodate new people who come in, but at the same time I think we attract aggressive players, which obviously works for me, or I wouldn't be there..

I like that each jam is whatever happens that day.