This site is about accordion music and accordion playing.

Bad Timing

Have you ever found yourself in a jam session where one of your fellow jammers struggles with his/her timing? I think we all have, and it can be a frustrating experience especially when it's that person's turn to play lead.

So what can we do?

Should we play backup louder in the hopes that he/she will hear the louder backup and be led to correct themselves?

Perhaps we should do nothing and let he/she continue to struggle ? (which is also very detrimental to the jam session)

I suppose we could refuse to play altogether while that person is playing.

I think if we are being responsible musicians and jammers we would endeavour to help that person, but that too might be a difficult thing to do diplomatically.

I happened to come across this video which addresses the issue in a rudimentary way.

Perhaps we could lead the person with the timing issue to have a look at it and hopefully be motivated to improve in this area.

In this as in all things I believe we need to be patient and respectful towards our fellow musicians. There is always someone ahead of us and there is always someone behind us. I hope this is of some use to you.

Keep Playin'
Anthony