Welcome to the JamWithLauren Blog
Many of these articles are inspired by questions from our JWL students. If you can’t find a post that digs into the issues that are plaguing you, consider signing up for lessons with Lauren. When you sign up you will gain access to her amazing curriculum and she’ll be able to answer your questions during our bi-weekly LIVE Lessons. Who knows, maybe your question will inspire the next post!
How Fiddlers and Guitarists Find the Sweet Spot: Where Creative Backing and Expressive Melody Meet.
Since fiddle and guitar are my primary instruments and I enjoy playing both in a variety of contexts, I thought I’d focus this piece on a tendency I’ve encountered for that instrumentation to lock one musician into the role of the backing player (guitar) and one into the role of the melody player (fiddle) in a way that can ultimately stifle the creative output of both players to the detriment of the overall musical experience.
How and Why to Join the Rhythm Section as a Fiddler
Today, I want to talk about rhythm. I am primarily a fiddler, and the fiddle is often considered a “melody” instrument. However, this is a misnomer because many instruments including the fiddle can play melody, chords, and rhythm simultaneously and separately. There is no good melody without good rhythm!
How To Improve Your Groove
Groove is such a difficult concept to pin down in words. And I already knew this because I try to talk about it on a regular basis! I talk about it with my bandmates, with my students, and with my musician friends, and we often find ourselves struggling to articulate what exactly we want to say. Groove is mysterious. Groove is what makes music and people dance.
How To Play Music At A Faster Tempo
When you are ready to move up a level and begin to increase your tempos, it’s an exciting time. Whether you’re going from slow to mid, or mid to performance and jam speeds, this post should have some helpful suggestions for your time in the woodshed.
5 Ways to Jam Without a Partner
We might have just experienced a move, a change in employment and schedules, you can’t make the weekly jam at a local dive bar, or you live in a place where you don’t know anyone to jam with. In the meantime, I’ve put together some ideas on how you can simulate a jam all by your lonesome.
Let’s be honest, we’re never alone if we have our instruments.