Young Jammers – Wide and Deep

By Lloyd Holdeman

Once you get your instrument, you begin the process of trying to figure out how to play it a little better. After you have been playing for 20 or 30 years you will still be doing that. There is a lot of help along the way. There are a lot of different ways to learn. And you live for the times – when you just run free and play.

Wide and Deep

So Alice gets 3 chords and a strum on her guitar and goes out and learns 50 songs with those three chords and the strum. When she’s sitting in the jam circle she always has a new song to play and folks appreciate that. As long as she doesn’t play too many in a row, it will be long time before people notice that all of her songs tend to sound alike. Alice went wide.

Brady gets a fiddle book and learns the G major scale – two octaves. For six months he plays nothing but the G major scale – up and down, separated and slurred, slow and fast. Brady’s tone begins to improve. His ear begins to hear whether he is playing sharp or flat or on pitch. His fingers become more dexterous, and he has much better control of his right hand. But when someone says “Hey Brady – how about a tune?” he’s a little embarrassed, because all he can do is run up and down the G major scale. Brady went deep.

Music should not be black or white, one way or the other. Alice would get bored with the same strum and chords and learn some new rhythms and chords. She would be going deeper – figuring out what else she can do with her instrument. Brady would want to apply his developing skills and bring some tunes to the jam sessions. He would be going wide – using what he has learned.

Instructional materials are used to go deep. You go wide on your own. Books, videos, and lessons are some of the ways to go deep. Each has their advantages and each has limitation or obstacles. We will talk more about all these things as the Young Jammers Program progresses

Lessons are the top-of-the-line way to go deep. It is guided instruction. They are not to be taken lightly. If someone is going to pay money (and lesson teachers deserve to be paid), handle scheduling, and arrange for transportation, the person taking the lessons needs to be serious about advancing on their instrument, or they are wasting everyone’s time. Usually folks take lessons when they have already achieved some skills, and need help getting to the next level. Even Doc Watson couldn’t do much for Alice until she can make more chord changes. The Young Jammers Program does not offer individual lessons, but we will compile a referral list. Take lessons when you can get them, and make the most of them, always.

So there’s a Jammer riding on a bus and she tells a person across the aisle that she’s learning to play the mandolin. “That’s cool” says the man, “Who do you like to listen to?” “Sam Bush” the Jammer replies. The fellow says – wouldn’t it be great if you could get Sam Bush to sit down in front of a video camera for an hour and tell you everything he can think of, in a very precise way, and even demonstrate, how he learned to play the mandolin? “Yes, that would be very good” she said.

Sam Bush has done that. Many of the top players on all of the stringed instruments have made videos. They are very useful because you can go over the materials again and again throughout your playing days. They cost about $30.00.

Instructional books cover a wide range of topics. They can show you how to make chords, number your fingers and give you finger-picking patterns, give you the words and music to any song you’d care to learn, and even give note by note transcriptions of famous instrumental solos. There is no end to it.

Like browsing in the reference section of the library, it is easy to get lost in instructional materials. Our brains can only absorb and put to use a little bit at a time. You don’t want to get in so deep that you forget to go wide. That’s where the Young Jammers Workshops will come in handy. We’ll pass out some written materials, lend some videos and tapes when we have them, and give a little guidance on a monthly basis. We want you to learn – and we want you to play. Join us!