Re: [Harp-L] Jam session etiquette question

[Rick Davis <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx>]

At the Sunday blues jam my band hosts there are no specific rules about who
calls the tune.  Logically and logistically, the singer usually does it.
But other players who don't necessarily sing also want to show off their
licks so the song selection often becomes a group decision, or consensus.

I've not been aware of this problem at our jam, but this same thing happened
to me at a different jam across town a couple months ago.  I got up with a
guitar player I didn't know, who evidently saw his jam opportunity as a solo
performance; a chance for him to star.  In a blues groove he was playing
some loud wanking solo, and I was laying back riffing the
changes.  He screamed at me, "Lay Out! Lay Out!"  I ignored him and played
the song the way that sounded good to me.  I wasn't upstaging the guy, and
it wasn't his stage in the first place.

Jams are for everybody.  They are NOT showcases for pretentious twits.  If a
guys wants to control all the players around him and take the spotlight he
should form his own band and get gigs.  It is jerks like him who drive
players away.  That's bad for business, and I won't tolerate it at our jam.

-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
http://www.bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/