A friend forwarded this to me today. Very sound advice!
John Pearse.
The Ten Commandments of Jamming
I
Thou shalt not come to the jam to impresseth others with thine own
talent for this is an abomination. The music shall be the star around
which all musicians rotateth and not viceth-verseth! Attempts to make
thine own star ****ne, shall surely lead thee into darkness!
II
Thou shalt not forsake the beat. Thou shalt not speed up nor slow down
accidentally when playing a tune for this shall be considered an
abomination.
III
Thou shalt arrange thyself in a small circle so that thou mayest see
and mayest hear all the other musicians. Thou shalt listen with thine
ears to the songs and shall attempt to play in one accord with the
group. Also, thou shalt lift up thine eyes to look about thee, lest
there be some visual sign that someone endeavoureth to render unto
thee.
IV
Thou shalt play softly when someone lifteth his voice in song, when
the guitar taketh a break, and when thou knowest not what thou art
doing.
V
Thou shalt play in tune! Tune thine instrument well and tune it often
with thine electric tuner lest the sound that emanateth from thine
instrument be unclean!
VI
Thou shalt commence and cease playing each tune as one, so that the
noise you make be a joyful noise and is not an abomination. Whensoever
a musician sticketh forth his foot, as though he were afflicted with a
cramp in the fatted calf, thou must complete the
rest of that verse and then cease. Thou shalt stick out thine own foot
or else lift up thy voice, crying, "This is it!" or "Last time!" if
thou hast been the one to begin the song and it hath been played
sufficient times over. If the one who beginneth a tune, endeth it not
by one of these signs, then the music goeth on in repetitious fa****on
until the listeners shall say, "Hark, it all soundeth the same!"
VII
Thou shalt concentrate and shalt not confound the music by mixing up
the "A" part with the "B" part. Most songs, but not all, proceedeth by
the ancient law: "AABB". But, if thou sinneth in this regard or make
any mistake that is unclean, thou mayest atone not by stopping, nay,
but by reentering the song at the proper place and playing on. Thy
fellow musicians will sup****t thee in this regard.
VIII
Thou shalt be ever mindful of the key that the banjo is tuned in, and
shall play many tunes in that key, for the banjo is but a lowly
instrument and must needfully be retuned every time there is a key
change.
IX
Thou shalt speak gentle words of encouragement to those nourished on
the milk of bluegrass music, but not the meat, lest a harsh word turn
one again to the darkness that is pop music.
X
Thou shalt not, by thyself, commence noodling off on a tune that the
other musicians knoweth not, unless asked or unless thou art teaching
that tune for this is an abomination, and the other musicians shall
not hold thee blameless, and shall strike thee from their computer
lists, yea, unto the third and fourth generation. -
Author Unknown
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