I went to The Dallas Jam Camp in April. Where do I start..... The instruction was even better than I expected, great information for all levels of experience. Lots of jamming with bands, not only during the sessions, but also three of the four nights at local venues. On Friday night, the coaches performed a great "unplugged session", a really nice, relaxed, setting featuring fantastic harp and guitar music.
The sessions were hands-on, harp-in-mouth, get after it. I'm sort of in between a beginner and an intermediate player, and I was comfortable in all levels of the sessions. Plenty of individual attention as well as group learning. There were so many quality jam campers there that knowledge was being shared at all times, but most importantly to me, it was fun. It is such a relaxed enviornment that it breaks down a lot of nerveousness and inhibitions, the folks there all really want you to succeed.
Jon Gindick, Jimi Lee, Cheryl Arena, Brian Purdy, and Hash Brown were incredible as coaches! Each one is an expert, but still able to break down teaching at all levels. (Cheryl Arena played a gig at "The Pearl" in downtown Dallas on Saturday night, she is amazing, singing and playing the harp. All of the campers got to improvise with the band during her show, what a rush!)
Many great friendships were formed during those four days, I'll go to as many Jam Camps as I can.
Some of the best players and instructors alive today, teach at Jam Camp! I think I would have to get pictures and autographs before I could learn anything.
It would be great to hear from some of you jam campers! What was it Like to play and work with the big boys and girls? What are you working on now? What did you learn? What's it like to play in local clubs? Are the instructers human or are they androids that never miss a note?
