Observations from my first festival parking lot jam

[jawchops79]

I went to the Watermelon Park Festival in Berryville, VA today, and took my The Loar LM-520 to see if a jam circle would welcome a newbie. Sure enough, a small group of guys welcomed me into their jam for a few tunes before I had to head back to kid duty at the fairgrounds. My observations:

-I had a blast
-It was a welcoming environment
-I need to practice - standard tunes, chords, breaks, all of it
-I could barely hear myself. To my ears, I sounded bright and tinny, no low end, and felt drowned out by the two guitars and banjo in the circle. My friend came to observe and recorded for a bit, and I could sort of hear myself on the recording when he got close, but barely.

Any other tips for planning ahead for the next jam? Any resources for jam circle etiquette?

[Denny Gies]

Learn some of the standard stuff and some fiddle tunes; red haired boy, old Joe Clark, Bill Cheatham, Rag Time Annie, Soldier's Joy. My experience is that most festivals have enough jamming going on that you can readily find a friendly group. My experience is that most jams are welcoming. Good luck and have fun.

[pheffernan]

Any other tips for planning ahead for the next jam?

Depending on your technique, a ToneGard might help get the back of the mandolin away from the front of your person, which prevents muffling and improves volume.

[Paul Busman]

Get a banjo mandolin. They can be obnoxiously loud. Or,for that matter, a tenor banjo which is a ton of fun,although I'm not sure how welcome it would be in a bluegrass jam.
The ToneGuard as mentioned would help.

[dhergert]

The best thing a new jammer can do is spend the first 10 or so jams listening carefully and primarily doing backup -- we're talking 98% of the time. Once you learn a variety of backup techniques and learn to pick up songs on the fly, you can much more easily enhance your playing to include doing lead breaks.

Volume is hard to manage in many jams. Banjos are often obnoxiously loud (and I'm a ~50 year banjo player) and unless a banjo player has specifically worked on controlling the volume, he or she will play over most everything else. In an intermediate+ to expert jam, everyone politely quiets down and concentrates on backup while the person taking the break plays (and also people split breaks), but sometimes it's hard to find that kind of jam at a festival.

Stick with it, jam as often as you can, play with your ears and brain more than your hands and fingers, and have a good time. You'll feel at home pretty quickly.

Some points to concentrate on:

Don't bring music, words or tabs to a jam, memorize and watch/listen to the other players instead.

Learn to play without watching your hands at all, instead watch and learn the body language of people you jam with.

Think of a jam as a band, play at the top of your skill level but don't insist on taking a break or even being heard all the time -- with everything you play, try to make the other people sound good.

[Timbofood]

The most important thing really is do it MORE!
It will get better every time!

[UsuallyPickin]

Glad it was a good experience ….. tone guards to help but in truth you don't have a particularly loud instrument. Insofar as tinny …. a mandolins tone will vary from instrument to instrument. Listen , learn and hang in there. The above advice is good. Learn the listed tunes and work on your backing skills. Don't neglect singing if you are a singer learning a few songs and harmonies are welcome as well ...… R/

[jawchops79]

Thanks all - super helpful, as always. Another takeaway I meant to add is that it seems like it's good to be open-minded and approach it with a diverse mix of tunes in one's bag. I showed up suggesting a few of the standards I've learned thus far on mandolessons.com and Peghead nation, but instead we ended up doing Highway 40 Blues and Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.

[Mando Mort]

Sounds like it was great experience for you. I have yet to do that, but may try it at the Chesterfield County Jumpin' Bluegrass Festival next month. It is just around the corner from where I live. This post and comments will help me prepare for that.

[Br1ck]

Obviously, you need a louder and much more expensive mandolin. That and another 10,000 hours of fretboard time will set you on a path to playing more parking lots.

I'm not too swift, so I have to double the 10,000 hour rule.

[farmerjones]

Like 'said, put yourself into more positions, to do it again.
I recall four and five hour trips home, grinning the whole way.

At one time I had two midweek jams, and always a festival each weekend.
Those were happy times.

[JeffD]

Like 'said, put yourself into more positions, to do it again.
I recall four and five hour trips home, grinning the whole way.

At one time I had two midweek jams, and always a festival each weekend.
Those were happy times.

That is the real thing. Just throw yourself out there again and again. As you experienced, you will know what needs to be done.

I have found that the twinges of anxiety about joining a jam have never left me. I just have become more graceful in hiding them.

[Fleetwood]

The best thing a new jammer can do is spend the first 10 or so jams listening carefully and primarily doing backup -- we're talking 98% of the time. Once you learn a variety of backup techniques and learn to pick up songs on the fly, you can much more easily enhance your playing to include doing lead breaks.

Volume is hard to manage in many jams. Banjos are often obnoxiously loud (and I'm a ~50 year banjo player) and unless a banjo player has specifically worked on controlling the volume, he or she will play over most everything else. In an intermediate+ to expert jam, everyone politely quiets down and concentrates on backup while the person taking the break plays (and also people split breaks), but sometimes it's hard to find that kind of jam at a festival.

Stick with it, jam as often as you can, play with your ears and brain more than your hands and fingers, and have a good time. You'll feel at home pretty quickly.

Some points to concentrate on:

Don't bring music, words or tabs to a jam, memorize and watch/listen to the other players instead.

Learn to play without watching your hands at all, instead watch and learn the body language of people you jam with.

Think of a jam as a band, play at the top of your skill level but don't insist on taking a break or even being heard all the time -- with everything you play, try to make the other people sound good.

EXCELLENT advice. I wish all who jam would follow this. Sadly, many times the louder instruments drown out us mandolin pickers. Using proper dynamics is so important. Good for you and keep at it!

[JonZ]

If the person playing lead cannot be heard, the people playing backup should play softer.

People ruin everything.

[Bill Cameron]

As your confidence builds, so does your volume. Might not be your forever instrument (or it might be) but there is -Definitely- enough potential volume on your The Loar.

Work that right hand. Chop chop chop! Pick pick pick!

Song selection tip: find something the guitar player knows. It’d be nice if all players could follow mandolin chords, but that just isn’t the crowd most of us run with.

[Jeff Mando]

Depending on your technique, a ToneGard might help get the back of the mandolin away from the front of your person, which prevents muffling and improves volume.

Or, you could politely ask your person to not stand between you and your mandolin, at least while jamming!

[Tonear]

“The bluegrass jam...where technique goes to die..”

If you are free to move around, find a spot and direction where you can hear yourself better.

The loudest mandolin or guitar will be the one with the highest action, verses the most expensive. I say that as someone who likes low action and has spent time in search of louder instruments. The least expensive instrument can dominate if your have the desire and hand strength to play higher action.

A good exercise at jams, is to listen to the vocal melody as your are playing rhythm. Try to imagine the melody on your instrument, as you will likely be playing songs that are new to you. When your break comes, try to play the melody. This will train your ear, stretch you away from your memorized solos, and bring a smile to your jam partners. You can play your stock breaks the second time around, and really impress people.

Tempos that are above your speed, learn to shuffle through the chord progression using a minimum of notes, being conscious of groove and time.
Time trumps tone and technique.

Have fun, and don’t be afraid to sit out a song to rest your hands and brain, to come back fresh for the next song.

Seek out players and jams in your area where people listen well and play lightly behind the soloist! If you can, have them over to your house to play.

Tonear

[Pittsburgh Bill]

Learn some of the standard stuff and some fiddle tunes; red haired boy, old Joe Clark, Bill Cheatham, Rag Time Annie, Soldier's Joy. My experience is that most festivals have enough jamming going on that you can readily find a friendly group. My experience is that most jams are welcoming. Good luck and have fun.

I find that the bluegrassers and the old timers are the kings and queens of parking lot jams at almost any kind of music festival regardless of the venue. Many really good players playing their hearts out.
I find jammers of other types of music to be in scarce supply when it comes to parking lot jams.