Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Wernick Method: Intro to Bluegrass Jamming

#1

Well, another week gone by in Australia and I got to jam TWICE in that period! I’m lucky to get to 5 or 6 jams at home…but we’re working on that.

A friend of mine in Wisconsin teaches the Wernick Method class (Intro to Bluegrass Jamming) and I’ve helped her with it a few times. A fair amount of time is spent on the customs and courtesies (sorry, military background coming out!) of jamming…in other words jam etiquette. Things like “no noodling between songs”, “don’t be a jam buster”, “be kind”, etc. While the group I’m playing with down here is VERY kind it’s obvious they haven’t studied the etiquette! Unless the jam leader is actively keeping the group on task at the end of every song there will be (a couple guys in particular) playing something, noodling, working on their break, etc. This is a large jam group…so if too many minutes go by and the next person in the circle hasn’t started a song then two or three of the players will start their own mini jam going on. It’s kinda funny, actually. As the guy who introduced me to this group said, “Yeah, we have a few people that can be a bit annoying but they’re good folks so we just ignore their faux pas.” We have about another month here in Perth and that will end my jamming down here. We’ll spend a week in Sydney before we head back to the cold of North America.

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#2

I’d heard of the Wernick method intro to bluegrass jamming but didn’t seriously look into it until last year. I went to a introductory class at the Mohican Bluegrass festival. It was only 2 hours. The first hour was just listening to the do’s and don’ts. Then practiced the etiquette and played a few songs in a jam circle for the second hour. It was a great because I had taken my grandson with me. Through that experience I signed up for 2 day class. Unfortunately I missed the first day. But it was a good experience. I actually tried to lead a song, lol … Which in my opinion was a total failure, but they taught me to accept that it was a stepping stone towards building better ability and confidence and keep trying to improve. I don’t get many opportunities though, but when I do, I’ll keep trying.

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#3

Awesome! That’s one of the key objectives of the program…to get people playing, learning to lead songs and take breaks, not be afraid to make mistakes. Keep at it and keep on pickin’

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