Last week I was invited to join an impromptu jam session. So I packed up my Gibson Les Paul and amp and went to a garage in Belleville. I joined two guys playing a Fender Squier Stratocaster Bullet and a Charvel both of whom were much better than me.

As cigarette smoke circled around me it reaffirmed my career decision as a software engineer where I work in a smoke-free cube. Also mastering musical instruments takes time and practice and does not pay very well.

Many of today’s aspiring artists create music in isolation in their basements. But music used to be a community activity. People used to gather on porches and in parlors to sing and play music together. For all of the collaborative power of the Internet nobody has mastered a system that allows people to easily make good music together.

At times we got to be quite loud. We got attention from folks walking and driving by. At one point a neighbor walked in. I thought for sure he was going to tell us to keep it down. “I have a drum set,” he said. “Next time you get together let me know. I’ll bring it by if you’d like me to join you.” The spirit of social music lives indeed.

I spent some time today watching Rev Glen Kaiser’s School of Blues Instructional DVDs. In the first volume he covered acoustic blues, showed some of his gear and discussed techniques for slide guitars and the dobro. In volume two he talked about electric guitars, what kind of amps to use and even how to mike a harmonica.

At one point he discusses why he chooses to play the blues. He rightly points out that the Psalms is the largest book in the Bible and that a full 57 of the 150 psalms are laments. Christians, like all people of faith, are subjected to indignities, temptations and sufferings. He asks, “Why aren’t there more people of integrity writing, singing and playing real music that deals with real life as we all know it?” Amen, brother, amen.