Jam Session Etiquette - Everything you need to know 

Thanks so much! I hope you and your band have a ton of fun at the sessions!

That's awesome... as I say, it's a rite of passage. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, learn from the experience, and give it another go!

As I say... there are many types of jam sessions. I've seen jam sessions for vocalists where the singer would be expected to provide charts in their key etc. but I would think if you turned up at Ronnie Scott's or 606 club it would be along the lines of what I describe. Thank you for watching and commenting!

That's not a terrible idea! I'm pretty new, too, so I've just been checking out the jams that are here... at least to figure out what tunes would be good to learn for sitting in. Thankfully, it seems like the jams are generally chill, here, so the harshest judge would be me, lol

I definitely do not want to discourage you from going to a session... these are just tips on things I've observed over the years to help you prepare and understand the dynamic. There are all kinds of sessions designed for all levels of players. I'm certain you will find a spot. You should absolutely try to get a group together of players at your level so that you can play regularly and work on specific material... you should also go out and jam because it's an equally important learning / playing situation! Thanks for your continued support!

I'm a very old man, bro. I started playing music a LONG time ago and I played music professionally for most of my adult life. There's a good chance you might have heard my playing on some albums. I HATE going to jam sessions because OF THE VIBE. The number one thing about the jam session is that the worst assholes who vibe people are typically some of the shittiest, most limited players who can only do ONE THING but have enough charisma (or if you prefer, bullying) to make everyone else there move his/her way in terms of how the shit sounds that night (groupthink). Fuck that. The best way to get better, really is to get friends together who you know well and LEARN tunes. Maybe one of them is a jam session participant and can properly, kindly introduce you to the other cats at a known, 'cool' place to hang out. That's the only way to do this without becoming cannon fodder or worse, end up being a worse dick than the folks at the jam session. Do yourself a favour and stay the fuck away from them with the exception of going with one of your good mates who will make it easier for you to play to a bunch of strangers. There's something about motherfuckers who smell blood in the water if a cat doesn't know some shitty standard... BTW...standards suck. Spend the majority of your time writing new stuff.

@@TheSaxophoneOracle The man can learn tunes on his/her own and hang out with good folks who are supportive. Going out to some stupid jam session with a bunch of strangers who will have a go at you because of some breach in protocol is rubbish. I avoided that whole scene when I was a kid but ended up touring the world and recording on great records with good cats despite this.

@@J3unG Normally I wouldn’t indulge, but I find this kind of thing so depressing, and after all it’s my channel. On my channel I teach saxophone and jazz improvisation for the sole purpose of helping people on their musical journey’s. I don’t make money from this and I have no agenda other than to share the knowledge I’ve picked up over the years. This is a video that explains the established etiquette of jazz jam sessions so that anyone interested in this sort of thing has an idea of how to attend one, have a good time and not come across as a jerk. You clearly need a lesson in the etiquette of civil discourse. Etiquette is a real thing - golf, dinner parties, classical music concerts, dating, job interviews etc. Unfortunately the internet is filled with bitter and unfulfilled people who feel the need to lash out at anything and everything to satisfy their insecurities. You clearly didn’t watch this video in its entirety because your comments are off point, unhelpful, and scream shame of your own musical shortcomings. I hate to be negative and call you out on this kind of thing, because it’s not in my character, but I’m so offended by the negativity of the comments you’ve left on my channel and by your offensive language. “I'm a very old man, bro. I started playing music a LONG time ago and I played music professionally for most of my adult life. There's a good chance you might have heard my playing on some albums.” Oooh… you must really be a somebody! Luckily all we have to do is click on your handle to see your amazing contributions to the pantheon of music! ru-vid.com/show-UCMJOTIk_mNowPs8lnMEyvkA Wow, what an illustrious career, what amazing musicianship, I’m in complete awe of your 2 gigs… congratulations! Now get off my channel please, because there is no room for people like you here El Mission.