“Brilliant day! Relaxed, informative, play in a live band both lead and rhythm, mix of skills from beginner to good and everyone made to feel very welcome and part of the day. Worth investing time to learn the riffs before the day, to get most out of it. Thanks Dan!”
“I recently attended a YGA Jam Day in Brighton in March and the whole day was fantastic! Having never played with other musicians before I was a little nervous but it was so friendly and Dan made everyone welcome. With everyone being a slightly different levels in their playing, Dan was able to taylor the songs to our own levels, pushing us to learn something new, in my case using the caged chord shapes to play the rhythm progression.
During the songs we all took turns to improvise while the others played rhythm. This was a lot of fun and everyone received a lot of encouragement with this as well as tips on their playing. I could hear my playing improve through the day the more we did this.
Overall, I took a lot away from my first Jam Day and am looking forward to the next one already.”
“Absolutely fantastic day. I'm relatively new to guitar, and certainly not a fluent player... so I was a bit nervous... but I shouldn't have been. The atmosphere was relaxed, friendly and super supportive. I had a great day, and came away from it feeling great after having a blast and learning loads! If you are in two minds about doing one of these jam days... just do it! Highly recommended :-)”
“This is such an amazing experience!
I'd class myself as an early-intermediate guitarist and got a lot out of this day. We jammed over three tracks (one of which was a surprise), each taking it in turns to solo over them and keeping the rhythm and groove when not soloing.
Throughout the day, Dan was able to challenge each of us at our respective levels. For example, one person who was a beginner was challenged by using barre chords and pentatonic box one for the first time. Another was given more advanced techniques (definitely beyond me) to practice and play with. I was taken out of pentatonic boxes one & two, and encouraged to switch between major and minor scales when going between different chord changes. This has helped level up my playing skills for sure.
It was all put together in a 'gig' at the end of the day, where we did all three tracks together. It felt amazing!
Everybody there was supportive and friendly, especially the tutors. If you are on the fence about this, I would definitely sign up!”
“I attended the Manchester jam day and had an amazing fun time! As a bedroom only player I was super nervous to play in front of other people, but it was great meeting the other students and everyone was so encouraging, so I needn’t have worried.
Dan was an amazing host and I gained some great tips, the whole process has given me a lot more confidence in my guitar playing and motivation to improve. But most of I can’t emphasise enough how much fun the day was! I’ve already signed for the next jam day, can’t wait! I highly recommend attending a YGA jam day if there’s one local to you.”
“I am a fairly new guitarist so it felt rather daunting to join Dan and 4 others guys for a full day of jamming. Dan is obviously a pro and the four other guys were all highly proficient players. However, I must say it was probably one of the best days I had of picking up the guitar. I learned a lot. Dan was very accommodating to my limited level of playing skills (in fact, the whole group was). I certainly felt included. And for me it was a treat to hear other (proper) guitarist play live.
An absolute brilliant day. Can only highly recommend it to anyone. Doesn't matter what your level is (beginner to advanced). You will definitely learn something new. It was an amazing day and I thoroughly enjoyed spending it with like-minded people who share their love for the guitar and music in general.
And to all the female guitarist out there: don't be shy. It does seem like the vast majority of guitarists are male, but the YGA jamming days are inclusive and Dan makes everyone welcome. So definitely join one of the days. You are not going to regret it.”
“My last Blues Jam day with Dan in Horam was a delight. I met and enjoyed good company with the very companionable Dan who led us through a day's Blues playing that was very responsive to each of our individual playing confidence and competence. Highly recommend involvement in these days. Good value for money and very helpful.....I'm already down for a second day with YGA”
