Miscellaneous

Keeping the Circle Musical

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My friend Mike Jackson, whom I first met when he attended jam camps in Boulder, is now hosting jams around our area. He, like me, is sometimes troubled by jams getting so popular to the point they’re too large for the sake of making good music. He came to me asking for advice about jam hosting, especially how to deal with jams that get so large as to be unwieldy and frustrating for some participants.

Check out Mike’s article, and consider sharing it with jam hosts you may know, or other jammers!

— Pete

Keeping the Circle Musical

Jam Etiquette, Leadership, and the Reality of Big Jams

If you’ve spent any time around bluegrass jams lately, you’ve probably noticed the circles are getting bigger. What used to be a handful of players gathered around a picnic table can now turn into twenty or more musicians packed into a corner of a brewery or festival campground.… More Info!

Learning to Learn: The “Adult Expectation” Roadblock to Learning

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I’ve been a private music instructor for 15 years, teaching adults and children. Phrases I hear all the time include “Kids are faster learners than adults,” “Kids brains are like sponges” and “I wish I would have started when I was their age!” while pointing at a small child. And “I’m too old to be any good.”

[Pictured left: young students (including Tray Wellington) at Pete’s MerleFest bluegrass jam camp, 2018] 

“I wish I had started playing as a kid since I really enjoy the banjo.”

“It was both inspiring and soul-crushing to see young folks with such high levels of skill and talent! They are SO good it makes you want to get better and just give up at the same time.”

… More Info!

It’s About Jamming

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This article originally appeared in the June 2012 issue of Banjo Newsletter, and is also available as an easy-to-print PDF. It’s all still true today in 2024!

I love to jam. Jamming is truly “bluegrass in its most natural habitat”… more than performing (in a circle you can really see and hear each other). Bluegrass Heaven-on-Earth is when you’re in a good bluegrass jam. The teamwork and spontaneity are fun — bluegrass at its essence.

Almost all fledgling bluegrass musicians have a dream: being able to pick with others. Many new players start down the path of learning to play their instrument, and often get frustrated and quit before they ever reach their goal of playing confidently with other people.

… More Info!

Bluegrass Jam Bingo

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Festival season is here! Acoustic instruments plus summer plus social gatherings mean people will be playing music together – not just on stage, but in campsites and parking lots. Wow, you might think. Those folks must really play together a lot.

But what if I told you that a lot of those jammers have never played with those other players before in their life? They might even be complete strangers!

Acoustic musicians who have learned to play informally with each other speak a musical-social language. Next time you’re on the outside of one of these jam circles, watch and play along with this Jam Bingo list!

How many can you find? What things did I miss? Let me know in the comments.

… More Info!

Pete & Joan Wernick’s Bluegrass Jamming Workshops

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BASIC Jamming
Saturday, March 20, Noon-1:45pm CDT

FINE POINTS of Jamming
Saturday, March 20, 3-4:45pm CDT

BASIC Jamming
Sunday, March 21, 1:15-3pm CDT

Walnut Valley Festival Spring Workshops

March 20-21, 2021

Join Pete and Joan Wernick for one or more of these online workshops to learn the skills you need to jam!

  • Follow guitar chords to play along with new songs
  • Basics of the number system and ways to use it
  • How to anticipate chord changes on new songs
  • Etiquette/protocols of bluegrass jams, with emphasis on slow jams
  • Playing in different keys, transposing from a songbook to best singing key
  • Simplest way to solo on your instrument
  • You’ll receive 18 pages of student materials in advance (by email) to help learn repertoire and jam skills
  • Learn standard repertoire with playlists of over 100 Jam FavoritesHow to find a melody on your instrument (needed for good soloing)
  • Pete will answer questions
… More Info!

Safe Jam Contest – Round #2 Winner

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Congratulations to our winner for Round #2! Our judges include Wernick Method teachers Kristin Scott Benson and Wayne Benson (Spartanburg, SC), Pierre Bastide (Paris, FR) Joan Wernick and Pete Wernick (Niwot, CO).

See all Safe Jam Contest video submissions on this YouTube Playlist. 

First Place

A Fifth of Fun
Waynesville, NC

“Crawdad Song”

Judges Comments:

  • Beautiful scenery 
  • Good safe spacing
  • Nice picking!
  • Love the dog
  • Nice camera work and editingDrone footage adds
… More Info!

Safe Jam Contest – Round #1 Winners

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Congratulations to our winners! We had 9 submissions, and we’ll be hosting Round #2 soon. Our judges include Wernick Method teachers Kristin Scott Benson and Wayne Benson (Spartanburg, SC), Pierre Bastide (Paris, FR) Joan Wernick and Pete Wernick (Niwot, CO).

See all Safe Jam Contest video submissions on this YouTube Playlist. 

First Place

Possum Track Pickers
Raleigh, NC

“Over in the Glory Land”

Judges Comments:

  • Really nice job and good editing.
  • Nice editing and overall presentation.
  • Good jam band! Good and simple! Isn’t that a definition of music? The sound and the video are really fine. And they smile.
  • Really good rhythm, harmony sounds good. Good going. Loved the opening cicadas.
… More Info!