About
About Eleven Jams
Hi there! I'm Mark, the creator of of this website.
I play bass, love music, and want to connect with other musicians by hosting organized and purposeful jam sessions.
Actually, the term "jam session" is a bit of a misnomer because I plan sessions with specific themes and goals in mind. I schedule sessions that have a clear plan and a shared goal. All sessions are recorded and participants are able to download the recordings after the session. I want to create something that we can be proud of.
The purpose of the Eleven Jams website is to:
- Provide a way for musicians to learn about my jam sessions to decide if they want to participate.
- Allow me to efficiently schedule and manage sessions with minimal overhead.
- Allow musicians to sign up for and RSVP to sessions that interest them.
- Allow session participants to get resources for learning songs in one place.
- Provide a way for session participants to easily communicate with each other.
- Provide a way for session participants to download recordings of sessions.
Why the name Eleven Jams? Well, frankly I needed a domain that wasn't already taken. And if you are familiar with Spinal Tap, anything that goes to 11 is better. So I'm hoping to create jams that go to 11 (in terms of quality, not volume!). Cheesy, I know.
About Me
My main instrument is bass. I've also played rhythm guitar, keys, and drums through different phases of my musical journey.
By no means am I a professional musician (not even an advanced level player), but I do enjoy learning, practicing, and improving my skills, playing music with other people, and playing live shows.
I've played in a few different bands (original, cover, tribute) and have played many live shows.
I've always had a corporate tech job that often requires working nights and weekends so I've never had the opportunity to pursue music as much as I would like. Gotta pay them bills, ya know!
My Interests
I currently play bass in a Green Day tribute band named GREEN for a DAY.
Follow us on the socials! If you ever see us live, please come introduce yourself and say Hi! I would love to meet you!
I do live sound for bands and events.
I was trained by Sacramento Sound Solutions.
Their engineers run FOH at Goldfield Roseville,Powerhouse Pub,Old Ironsides and others.
Last year I worked FOH at Powerhouse Pub for a few months. I hope to be working there again in 2026!
I've been trained on Midas consoles and I have experience with Behringer XAir18, X32, and Wing Rack mixers. I mainly use Mixing Station on an iPad as my control surface.
I can record your live performances and give you the multitrack recordings for you to mix yourself or I can do the mixing for you.
If you need a sound engineer for a show or event, contact me!
I've been recording my band rehearsals for a couple of years now. It's nice to have a recording of a rehearsal to know where we need to focus our attention.
This has led to an interest in recording and mixing.
One of the reasons I want to have very organized jams is because I want to record them and practice mixing live performances.
My rehearsal space is set up to record at all times.
About "Jamming"
Traditional "Jams"
We've all probably experienced this before ...
You meet some musicians and decide to "jam". You pick a time and place and show up.
After the gear is set up someone asks "What do you want to play?"
In my experience, this is what usually happens next:
- No one knows the same songs.
- Everyone starts noodling as if they are the only person in the room.
- Someone plays the intro to "Back in Black" and people start playing it but then it falls apart in the middle because people don't know the full song.
- Endless repetition of a 12 bar blues progression while a guitar player solos non-stop.
- No singing. No harmonies.
- Ultimately, no real musical outcome.
- People don't want to do it again because it was not a good experience.
Better Than "Jamming"
I really enjoy watching:
These musicians come together to give songs the attention they deserve.
The sessions are well planned, the musicians show up prepared, and a great performance is recorded so that people can enjoy it.
This is what I want to do with local musicians in the Sacramento and surrounding areas.
Will I find musicians who are interested in this kind of thing? Who knows? 🤷🏼♂️