Know Their Strenghths - Playing with Others Series

To quote Mark Hummel from his interview, "Work the strengths of the band. If they can't do a good shuffle, then don't call a shuffle." Simply stated and great advice. If the band you're playing with is not the highest skill level (tons of them out there), then be cautious to call grooves or openings/endings/breaks that are not super-common... you're just asking for grief. Work towards the strengths of the band and you'll both have a good time playing and you'll look and sound good.

Speaking about playing with great bands, I'm playing with Rusty Zinn, RW and Marty tonight... some of my favorite players... I'M going to have fun tonight ;-)