Some good points Jon...and everyone else for that matter. My MAIN point is that at a session should not be in a POSITION to be hijacked in the first place. If it is, then I don't think it's parameters have been made known to everyone participating.

At a weekly gathering in Toronto, I attempted to get folks to at least BE IN TUNE WITH EACH OTHER. Within a couple of days I heard through the grapevine that "Fielding's tryin' to get us to be Professionals"(!!) Ughhh! There is simply no defence against that kind of idiocy. The fact that I was incredibly subtle about it, and have just as much fun picking with beginners as experienced folk, never even got mentioned.....the only thing that some of them heard was that "they were being asked to do something by someone else". Naturally, jerks resent anything that they find threatening. It's no big deal, I just moved on.....but shortly thereafter so did the OTHER players who thought "tuning" was a part of good music.

My skills are best suited for North American style folk music, and were I at a British Isles session, I would simply sit back and enjoy, and leave the playing to those who knew what they were doing. If asked, I'd join in, and try to blend. The one thing I wouldn't do, is yack loudly near the musicians. In that area I'm a certifiable tight ass. If I wanna talk...I'll go somewhere else. I read where someone threw something at someone else who was making a lot of noise while another was singing. I wouldn't do that, 'cause "A", I don't throw things, and "B", 'cause I don't want MY head beaten in, but my sympathies go out to the thrower. Heck, maybe I'd have shot them!

Rick