passing the lead at jams

shawn's picture
shawn
Shawnee Mission ,KS
United States

Member since
March 23, 2006

Hi all,

So here's an etiquette question that I grapple with from time to time...

When you are in a big circle jam, say more than 8 people, should
you still make it a point to offer the lead to each one in the group,
or should you spread it around between breaks or songs? This mainly
concerns 'bluegrass' format jams where you have pretty simple songs
and people taking turns on the lead. I know people who are adamant
that each person in the circle be offered a break during each
instrumental segment, no matter what and I've played with those
who break the circle up during instrumentals. Of course, I also see
a number of people who pick and choose the instrumentalists to fit
their song, unsurprisingly selecting the strongest players for each break
and sometimes bypassing people all together by the time it's all
said and done.

I guess my preference is for the middle option of giving everyone a
shot over the course of a song, but only doing part of the circle
during any given break. I'm actually less of a fan of the completely
egalitarian route of giving everyone a shot during every break
because it can really make a number long winded and no one likes
that.

I'm certainly not a huge fan of skipping people entirely, but
I have to admit that there are some numbers which are just running
red hot and to have the whole thing slow down so that more
intermediate players can jump in can really reduce the feel of the
thing. I consider myself a low-tier intermediate player and when a
circle is really cranking one off, I'll usually pass the break because
I don't want to slow it down. I suppose that the overall good of
including everyone who wants it every time outweighs the coolness
of any one tune, but I'm probably occasionally guilty of leaving people
out (and self-segregating) when the feel of the tune would be
significantly altered by hitting everyone in a big circle.

I guess what it comes down to is that I personally find it hard to
stick to the ideal of giving a break to every person in every song
when the circle gets too big. I do, however, think it's important to
hold on to the essence of that ideal because it ultimately makes
for more inclusion, participation and growth of newer players
(like me).

What do you guys think?

-Shawn

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shawn's picture
shawn
Shawnee Mission ,KS
United States

Member since
March 23, 2006
Turning down the lead

I can certainly identify with passing on the lead when it would really hamper the vibe of the song, but I find that if I pass too many times in a row then I don't get the nod for the rest of the night. I typically accept any break that I won't completely botch both in order to get better at such impromptu soloing and to "save my place" for future breaks in the circle. :)

-Shawn

Submitted by shawn on Tue, 2007/05/08 - 10:47pm.
James Rathbun's picture
James Rathbun
Rockford ,MI
United States

Member since
September 20, 2006
Passing the lead

One suggestion I got from a Rick Thum workshop was the leader making eye contact with the next person. A simple nod when the tune is coming around would let him know if the person was comfortable with taking the lead. Most people I know would shake their head no if they didn't feel up to keeping up with the level or speed. I guess if your running a jam with more than 20 people you might shout "Fiddles!" Once I bit off more than I could chew and hacked it up. I wasn't called on again. I found out they wanted to spare me the embarrasment. Later on when I took my time opting in they'd go around and keep asking with a questioning nod. I made damn sure I knew what I was doing.

Submitted by James Rathbun on Sat, 2007/05/05 - 8:00am.
banjoscotty's picture
banjoscotty

Member since
April 19, 2007
Passing Lead at Jams

When passing lead,I believe it should be to someone who will complement song.Some times we have had acoustic and elec.in same jam.That is fun.Ther is no set rules for passind lead,, just have fun...
Why is everybody always pickin on me?
banjoscotty
Morgan Monroe Cascade MFB 5-DX

Submitted by banjoscotty on Thu, 2007/04/19 - 1:09pm.

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