So Cal (formerlly L.A.) steel jam dates set. Oct 5 and 6

[Mark Switzer]

Just a quick thanks to everyone who made this possible.Always great to hang and hear everybody.You guys need to slow down,though,I was barely able to steal anything.

[Ulrich Sinn]

Thank you Mike for putting this together.

I'm truly sorry that my time was so limited that last weekend!

[Peter Freiberger]

Ditto! Let's do this more often!

[John McClung]

I've always wanted to add what I think is an improvement: before each BIAB song, play a snippet of the song with a vocal so all players have some idea of how the melody goes. Anyone else onboard with trying that next time?

It probably means planning out a core group of songs and having the tracks ready to play on the laptop or an iPod. And to save time, the vocal track could be sped up, pitch kept the same, in Amazing Slow Downer.

[Ben Elder]

As intimidated as I am about playing publicly, I should probably also be as circumspect about following the pro photographers (John McC and Nathan) with the fast pro lenses, but for the fun of it here are a few shots. (I pretty well tailed off on Sunday, seeing that John and Nathan had things well in hand.)

[LJ Eiffert]

Them Steel making music note sure sounded great! Wish I could have been there. Uncle Leo J.Eiffert,Jr.

[Peter Freiberger]

Ben, the Steel Jam is all about getting out and playing, regardless of what one considers his own level. It's a great chance to hang and learn.

I think John's idea is a good one. I wouldn't mind a list of songs and keys (and maybe YouTube links?) beforehand so those unfamiliar with them could have a fighting chance. It's hard enough to go and expose yourself without also not knowing the tunes and not being able to follow the BIAB chart. This would also give the BIAB-meister an opportunity to be sure the chosen BIAB's were correct.

This would also save us from Johm McDuffie requesting "Giant Steps".

[Jim Eaton]

Before the 2011 Jam, which was my 1st time providing the BIAB tracks, I would guess that I spent between 1/2 to 1 hour each going over the BIAB files on a list of about 40 songs that I compiled based on past Perl-Jams that I played at and other jam's song lists that were here on the forum. I work for a computer software company and being well aware of the potential for "bad data" to cause train wrecks, I wanted to make sure all the settings were correct, that there would not be any bag pipe solo's popping up in the middle of a song, did I have the correct BIAB style for each file, etc.
Like alot of BIAB users here on the Forum, the majority of my library of songs came from Big Jim Baron via his 4100 BIAB song CD. Not all the songs on that disk have a "melody" part. So there would need to be some time spent tracking down mp3's or u-tube links to provide a melody sample either before the jam or to play before the track. So, it would really take alot of effort to pull it off. Then there is the issue of each player "calling" what song they want to play. In spite of my best efforts to pick and have ready those 40 songs, I had several requests for songs that were not on my list, but it all worked out in the end.

Great to see & hear all the players.
JE:-)>

[Jack Hanson]

Great photos of what must surely have been the social event of the season for the steelers of Los Angeles and Orange counties (and beyond). When looking at the pics of Mr. Maness on his new Infinity loafer, I can't help but wonder how many of the hit songs from the music books in the rack behind him he originally played on.

[ajm]

I was at the jam on Sunday. I did not play. I happen to “own” a pedal steel. That is not to be confused with my actually knowing how to play one, at least not as well as I'd like. There is a difference. ;>))

I actually have not played it in about 4 years or so due to life commitments and spending time with other musical pursuits. However, I must say that I have foolishly been thinking about taking it out of the case and practicing again, and all of the guys who were there Sunday are probably to some degree to blame for that. ;>))

All that said, I do have a few comments about the jam.

The Organizers and Participants: First, thanks to Mike and also all of the guys who have sponsored this and put it together in the past, as well as all of the players that have shown up. Also a shout out to Sam Ash Music for letting us use the place. It just baffles me that here in the “Entertainment Capital of the World”, we seem to have only a handful of players who know anything about this instrument.

The Structure of the Event: I thought this was supposed to be a “jam”. An event where you show up, get together with other musicians, pick tunes that everybody knows or that are easy enough to follow, and go. And that is what it was.

All of the songs that I heard were either standards from steel instruction books or old standards that any steel junkie should have heard a thousand times. With a rare chord here and there, they were all I IV V. I'm not sure how much preparation is needed for that. Also, JMO, but this format sort of simulates what you would encounter in a studio or if you get called to sit in for a gig. You show up and have never heard the stuff before, and you need to follow the chord chart and recorded music as well as use your musical wits to get through it. This is good real world practice.

However, judging from some of the posts, some of you want to make it more formal. You want song lists posted ahead of time, vocal tracks, etc etc. This all translates into time spent by the guy doing the prep work (gathering tracks/files, etc) for the jam. I'd imagine that it takes a lot of work to put the tracks for this together. My suggestion: Leave things the way they are. Or volunteer to help the organizer with things.

Song requests: My suggestion is if you have a song you want to do, then you can put it together and get it to the jam coordinator ahead of time. That way he (she) can put it into the computer, make sure it plays, etc. And by the way, if you're going to submit something, make sure it's something that everyone has a fighting chance to follow along with. Otherwise, if it is some obscure jazz or classical thing, and you are the only one that knows it, the “jam” will quickly turn into your own special solo concert.

Vocal intros, possible solution: If you want a vocal intro, that might be a lot of work for the organizer guy. My suggestion: Before starting the song the leader can ask who knows it. Assuming someone does, then they can play the vocal part on the steel for the intro or a verse. Or they can sing it themselves. JMO, but I think that having a “guest” vocalist to help out with this would complicate things.

BIAB problems: Yeah, the BIAB files may have some problems. You'd probably encounter those same problems if you had a real band with real musicians playing. However, I heard or noticed very few. In addition to human error when programming, keep in mind it is a machine. It does the same thing over and over.......perfectly. It is not open to “jamming” and changing the arrangement. You are playing with it; it is not playing with you.

And finally..........

Respect for others: With your amp behind you, and your maybe not knowing the song, and/or maybe not being the greatest player in the world, it can be tough playing, hearing your amp, hearing the BIAB tracks, and following the chord charts on the screen. It does not makes things any easier if someone is “noodling” while it is your turn, especially if there are mistakes in their noodling. Solution: If it is not your turn, then take a walk. This should be a matter of common respect, but on Sunday this was not the case. Kudos to one gentleman in particular who please asked that this be stopped, but unfortunately not all players there got the message.

That's all I got for now. Thanks to everyone for showing up. Hope to see you all again at the next one.

[Mike Perlowin]

Jim did a better job of programming the BIAB tracks than I did. (He also played better, but that’s another story.) But while he programmed 40 songs, I did over 250, which proved to be 240 more than was needed.

I made a mistake by not sending everybody the list of tunes prior to the jam. Consequently, when I asked everybody to pick a tune, they were somewhat taken by surprise. And so, the tunes that were requested were old standbys like “A Way To Survive” “On the Road Again,” "Together Again," and “Mama Tried.”

Every one of the 250 tunes I programmed is, for lack of a better term, “steel friendly.” Every one of them is appropriate for a steel jam. But because nobody had the list, nobody chose any of them. (When it was my turn to choose a tune, I chose Harry Bellefonte’s “Jamaica farewell,” and Rick Nelson’s “Hello Mary Lou.”)

Next time I will send out a list of all the tunes I have programmed to everybody who signs up to play, so everybody can pick out a couple in advance.