LOL. I added a 12" and 14" and go five-wide across my rack with roto's now....... DOHDOHDOH

GnR & Bulletboys baby!! :D

Great advice from the other dudes here. I would also add NOT to bring preconceived ideas and licks that you've been practicing in the shed to the jam session. Keep it simple, Phil Rudd-style like you said, and watch the faces of the bassist and guitarist break out in big ol' sh!t-eatin' grins.

Serve it up nice and fat, drumhack!

Jam etiquette...I have often wondered myself. Good to read some responses here.

I regularly go to local open mic nights to hang or jam. Most of em have a decent kit so I can do my thing. It works out well. 90% of the time I will just look for a simple groove and work the hell out of it. Realistically speaking it takes time, talent, and a hell of a band to work intracate drumming properly into a song...let alone off the cuff. In a jam...I feel as a drummer it is my "job" to keep a solid groove and let the other instruments riff off of one another. Every so often I will throw in a little fill or something, but for the most part I stick to the basics. A few weeks ago durring a jam the bass and guitar stepped back to give me some room. Even then I kept it simple...just working the snot outta the snare and high hat then pop back into my groove.

The fun is in the fact that the music being made is flowing, 100% unscripted, and can really come together for something amazing. My biggest piece of advice would be to keep things well within your wheel house and have fun with it. No point in trying to show off. Also, there is nothing wrong with pushing the song somewhere else. Give it a shot, if nobody follows...it's not going there! Most of all, have fun.

Fordman and Purdie said most of what I came here to say.

The biggest thing to focus on while jamming with people is to listen and have fun.

Listen and watch them and you'll lock that groove in.

That's not to say once in a great while I break the etiquette myself.

Last week's jam was more like the guitar and bass laid down the groove while I had my way with the kit. The owner of the gear I was using had recently added a cow bell, and though I too own one...it seldom gets used. We started off on a quiet, but funky little thing that I quickly made obvious I wanted to use 90% of the kit on. It was a short lived piece, but I let the cheap seats know what was shakin on the drums!

The important thing is to keep it light and fun. After a few riffs, a few beers, you will learn a lot about the people you jam with and what their strengths are. One guitarist I regularly jam with is a certified badass, but he is shy. Some nights he flat out throws down some jaw dropping licks, others he barely breaks out of the mix. I have noticed that the more I push it, the less shy he is about things. I wish I had a way to record some of our stuff cause he really can make a guitar sing.

That's enough outta me!!

I think most of the guys on here covered most everything. If you are using your kit, then you dont have to worry about this, but if you are somewhere using another's kit for the jam, make sure and ask if it is ok to re-position drums, cymbals and stands to where you like them. And, always take a mental note of where they were, so that you can make a good attempt to put things back the way you found them when you sat down!

I regularly play down at a little blues bar close to the house on Sundays sometimes. They host an open mic jam in the evenings and we have a blast!! I've met lots of really good musicians and really great people down there.

Most of all, just relax and have fun!

The Band

There is one bit of etiquette that would be important to observe. I have found that, if you sit a drummer behind a set of drums and put sticks in his or her hands, they find it very difficult to not play. My quick rule of thumb would be to play when it is time to play or sound check, don't play when it is not appropriate. People generally do not care to listen to "my favorite licks #1 - 27", "excuse me while I dig myself and the great way my drums sound in this room", "Wipe-Out" (for the 60's folks), "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (for the 70's folks), or the "Rosanna" groove (for the 80's folks).

Now I shall hop off my soapbox.

That's a good piece of advice.

My rules of thumb when attending jams:

1) When drums are supplied, try to find the supplier beforehand to gauge his/her level of comfort with making adjustments. I can usually get by with how things are set up, but I'd rather make sure it's kosher to move something or to disengage the snares. And no matter how bad you think the drums sound, never tune them. If something is so loose that it's unplayable, I bring it to the owner's attention.

2) Keep your ears open and play simply. Other players won't mind a chops fest later IF you've first shown them you can be solid.

3) Modulate your volume. A guitarist doesn't need much of an excuse to move his knob, and once that starts, it's monkee see, monkee do. It's better to be told to turn up than to turn down.

Rule #1. The House always gets a cut. Yes Sir I dunno I always heard that??

Rule #2 have fun and enjoy yourself. I've had some great jams and some really bad ones. The great ones were just fun blues jams, cool grooves and some songs we all knew and liked. Everybody got a solo. The bad ones were when someone guitar2 tried half the night to teach us a song we really didn't want to learn and play. And became overly complicated and anal in the process. Total buzzzzzkill. LoLoLoLo

That is just about the best advice for any drummer, whether it's a jam session, bar gig, or a symphonic/orchestral concert. Instant sign of an amateur drummer is playing as if the drums are the lead instrument rather than accompaniment. I've made it a habit to always play a full dynamic level lower than what is notated in the music, choosing to wait for the conductor or band leader to ask me to play louder if desired; guess what... they rarely ask for more percussion volume reinforcing that we are intended to be background instrumentation.

Just my :2Cents: