Steel Guitar Jams Vs. Steel Guitar Shows

[Mike Castleberry]

As the organizer of the New Mexico Show, sponsored by The Southwestern Steel Guitar Association, I’ve realized some interesting pros and cons about jams and shows relating to the steel guitar. I’ve found it hard to organize a steel guitar jam on a large scale basis. Trying to persuade steel guitarist from other states to drive hundreds of miles to perform in a jam is near impossible. Steel guitar jams seem to work better if they are conducted in a different atmosphere. This gives the freedom of the performance. Usually in a jam you have to play someone else’s material. When it’s your turn to play, you may not know the material of the other artist. In a show/stage performance setting this can be frustrating to a steel guitarist. I think steel jams work best in a local gathering, somewhat organized, and with the freedom that would attract steel guitarist from the your surrounding area, and held under a carport, a backyard, a senior RV park meeting room or a Sunday evening get-together at the house. Jams are a good choice for the armature steel guitarist, as it gives them exposure to the more advanced player as a learning experience.

Okay, here’s the real point of this article. If you’re to attract steel guitarist for an event, and it be successful, you should consider conducting a show, not a jam. I took the jam out of the New Mexico Show, and we’ve attracted more professional and amateur players from more states. Don’t get me wrong, jams are great, just be more selective as to what your purpose is with what you’re wanting to accomplish. You might have to fork out a little cash to provide a back-up band. Some of the best things in life are not free. A good back up band is essential for a good steel guitar show. Jams can be conducted with computer tracts. In general, the public won’t pay to hear steel guitarist play to tracks or bands that don’t know steel guitar material. I could go on and on. I hope this gives some understanding between steel guitar jams and shows, and I hope your future events are successful for many years to come.

Please give me your thoughts..............

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

the public won’t pay to hear steel guitarist play to tracks or bands that don’t know steel guitar material.

True. That's why the annual L.A. steel jam is a totally free event. No money changes hands at all. Nobody pays, nobody gets paid (except the restaurant, for the food). The restaurant even gives us the room for free (Cause they know they'll make money when we have lunch.)

The L.A. jam has grown over the last few years to become THE steel guitar event of the year in So Cal. I think one of the main reason is the fact that it's free and everybody who participates does so for the sheer love of playing and the chance to meet and schmooze with pother steel players, check out each other's gear etc.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's about having fun, not trying to make a buck.

[Jack Stoner]

Our Florida Steel Guitar Club monthly jams are totally free. We have had some shows and that is a different thing than a jam.

At our jams, we have a backup band and each steel player gets to play songs of their choosing as solos. We also have some "roundrobins" where someone picks a song and then everyone gets their turn at playing that song. We occasionally have a singer or two for a couple of songs - but it's 99% steel guitar.

Our format is much better than the jams that only have Band in a Box or some other backup tracks and you are limited to those tracks.

I've quit promoting shows; in Florida we can't charge over $6 or $7 or the retirees will not attend (and there aren't enough steel pickers to support a show), and that is not enough to be able to afford a name or several name pickers plus a couple of local pickers and a backup band. Other areas of the country may be different, but the realities in the central Florida area (Orlando/Tampa).

[Cal Sharp]

I don't know nuttin' about the financial and organizational aspects of jam sessions, but I can tell you that I've been to a bunch of them, and they were the most fun and instructive times in my igluminous steel guitar career, and somewhat essential to a musician's growth. A few years ago I even wrote a piece about them. http://tinyurl.com/mwmzl2

[Rick Campbell]

Cal,

"Igluminous" I think you've been sceretly attending the Bill Hankey vocabulary jams.

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

Here in L.A., we use Band in a box. Big Jim Baron comes down and runs the computer.

Jim has hundreds of songs programmed. Every once in a while, somebody asks for a song he doesn't have, but 99 times out of a hundred, he does.

One can see however, that if the BIAB operator doesn't have as many songs programmed, it might be a problem.

On the other hand, a live band can add excitement to the festivities, but they might have a limited repertoire. I was at a jam with a live band, and requested that we play Georgia On My Mind, and the guitar player did not know the song, and actually got angry at me for suggesting it, saying it was a ridiculous request.

It would be nice of the band knew as many tunes as Jim's computer. The reality is, most don't.

I suggest that everybody who plans to attend a jam with a live band should prepare chord charts of the tunes they want to play, and everybody who uses BIAB to run the jams should buy all of Jim's tracks.

[Donny Hinson]

I prefer small "jams" to big shows.

I suggest that everybody who plans to attend a jam with a live band should prepare chord charts of the tunes they want to play...

Even better is to play songs people are already familiar with.

[Gary Lee Gimble]

Jams are a good place for ear training and if ya bake some claims that generate looks, look back

[John De Maille]

Jams can be a lot of fun, for everybody. There's no pressure to perform perfectly, you're not on the spot for 30 to 60 minutes and you can learn from listening to other steel players of various calibers. You don't have to be an expert. The novice and mid level steel players can trade licks or just play what they know or don't.
On the other hand.... a steel show should have quality players, who, can perform their practised repertoire with expertise. Most steel "shows" charge an admission price and the listeners are there to be entertained and maybe learn a thing or two from their hero's or local semi pro's.
Putting on a "steel show" can have astronomical problems, which, require massive efforts for the promotors. Monetary problems can be a nightmare and you don't always break even in the end.
But, both venues are fun and informative and need to be continued for the benefit of steel guitar playing.

[Tony Dingus]

We've had 3 small jams this year with 5 or 6 players so far. It's open to anyone but we only used tracks. We do it just to get together and enjoy each other's playing, picking eack other's brain and to just visit.

Tony

[Scott Shewbridge]

I've been thinking about putting together some sort of regular jam in the Bay Area. This thread hits on one of the challenges - the set list.

Blues jammers have no big problems, with most songs being minor variations of three or four chord change patterns. Drop in any session and you know at least one of them.

Jazzers here on the west coast almost all have and seem to know or can sight read almost all 500+ songs in the Pacific Edition "Real" Book (illegal for years, but legitimized in recent times).

I'm not sure what steel jammers do. The repertoire is pretty broad (swing, western, country or rock) and in a random jam, can you really hope the others will know the same songs? I would love to have a short list of songs that I could have in my back pocket and be able to hook up with folks on at least a couple of them at every session.

Maybe a way to make the jams more productive would be to develop a shorter version of the "Real" Book for steel jams. You know, maybe a list of a couple of dozen songs that could become sort of the jam standard (50? 100? I don't know.) Simple head charts with chords and melody lines. A bit heavier on the easier stuff, so that newbies can have half a chance when coming in, but with a couple of chestnuts for the heavy hitters?

I realize this is somewhat limiting, but because they accept the limitations, the fake book does make it easier for jazzers to just get together and jam.

Does anybody know if such a thing already exists for steel?

[Mickey Adams]

For me...Makes no difference at all. If the atmosphere is right, and it usually is, Its all about meeting, talking, sharing ideas, and playing with friends. Every event I attend changes my perspective..I want Jim Losbergs Tone, I want Bobbes knowledge and finess, Mike McGees flair...I wanna LEARN as much as I possibly can. Its guys like Mike Castleberry that make an event come together, and work. BIB is way cool...Dang the drummer doesnt drag...The band never misses a beat..So, Ill take one of each!..Im in Mike!..

[Jody Sanders]

We have a JAM at each of our steel club meetings involving as many as 10 players. As Cal said, it is a great learning experience. When I first felt like I was good enough to get in a band, the steel guitar Jams I got in really helped me. Jody.

[b0b]

Jazzers here on the west coast almost all have and seem to know or can sight read almost all 500+ songs in the Pacific Edition "Real" Book (illegal for years, but legitimized in recent times).

I'm not sure what steel jammers do. ...

In California? Buck and Merle, mostly.

[Dustin Rigsby]

At the O.S.G.A. jams here in Columbus, they charge a nominal fee due to the fact that they have to rent the room.It's like five bucks or something like that. The band is mostly volunteer. I haven't went since they changed the day from Sunday to Saturday (noon),as I work third shift on Friday night. By the time I get out of bed,they are just finishing up.I understand why they did this,as there are quite a few that play in church services on Sunday. I wish them the best of luck though,a real pool of talented and soulful steel players in the Buckeye State !

[Mike Archer]

as Tony Dingus said above
we have had 3 jams so far this year
and about due a 4 th anytime
we feel that keeping the jams small works best for us..... we all get to play many tunes and its good for us
we all like steel shows and we do atend some
we are all close friends and that means a lot to us
as for a show we may do one in the future
but as for now we wil be doing the jams I think
Mike

[richard burton]

The problem with jams is that it only takes one guy who won't stop playing to ruin the event.

Even worse, on the rare occasions when really proficient players attend a jam (when it would be to the benefit of the other attendees to shut up and listen), there's always one who overpowers everyone with a too-loud amp, iffy tuning/intonation, and WON'T STOP PLAYING

[Larry Bressington]

The jam is fun, but i agree, unless everybody is on the same page, as 'reputoire' it can be a bit hazy, not everybody including the band has the same idea's and knowelegde for songs, and it can be a bit rough.

A 'show' is rehersed act.
A 'jam' is a 'free for all'

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

Here in L.A. we get between 15 and 20 jammers. The computer screen is hooked up to a projector and a big screen TV, (Courtesy of John Hensch) so the BIAB tracks are projected on the walls and everybody can see them.

This is a local event, but we get the top pros, not just from around here, but from all over the state, as well as an occasional ("Zonie?" "Zoner?") from our neighbor to the east.

Everybody gets a turn or 2 to choose a song for us to jam on. Big Jim has so many in his computer it's pretty much impossible to find one he doesn't have. (Although it has happened once or twice.)

With that many players, sticking to songs everybody knew would have severely limited the possibilities, but because the BIAB screen is projected on the walls, everybody is able to easily see and follow the changes.

This year I picked "I Can See Clearly Now." Most of the players had never played the tune before, but everybody took a turn and just about everybody did a great job on the tune, despite it's unfamiliarity.

I was later told be one of our fellow forumites who had heard the tune before but never played it, that he really enjoyed playing the song, and thought it was the highlight of the jam.

[ed packard]

Get a headset so you can play for yourself only as much as you like without messing up someone else...listen when you want & play when you want for yourself before "your turn".

Cut CD's of some common tunes to hand out ahead of time for practice. Include the melody at a low level.

Try trading 4s around the circle to eliminate boredom.

[Mike Archer]

well thats one thing I can state here

at our jams whoever is playing gets the full
attention of ALL the other players
then and only then when that player is done
questions are answered and licks are shown
we will will not play over each other
again we are a small group so its easy to
keep order and have fun!
Mike

[Stu Schulman]

I got nothin!

[Craig A Davidson]

We started out using the word jam and we had non-steelers just show up and sit in with whoever. That is why we changed ours. It is hard to explain to a harp player or really bad fiddle player why he just can't get up and play with the featured steeler. The other case is the steeler that really can't play and wants to try to get thru a set with a band. That is why we changed our name to Show from Jam. On the Friday night of our show we hold a jam and anybody that wants to get up gets up then whether they sing.or play. We even had a accordion player one year. I guess she just liked to live dangerously.

[Joe Naylor]

Stu we are having one in Mesa in November and you are invited.

The Southwest Steel Guitar Association trys to have 2 or 3 per year besides the Big Show in January - Mike has been the single driving force behind the NM Show - People in that area really do not know what they are missing. This past year it was in a great place with a good stage and theater type seating.

I have found that most all of them are just plain fun and lots of visiting to boot.

The Board of Directors of the SWSGA just met yesterday and hope to have a lot of people out to the November jam - we are having a fund raiser also with some of ours.

[Mike Ester]

There is no such animal in my neck of the woods.

Either you play live gigs, or you stay home.