There is one thing about Jam night that annoys me. We have a local jam where the regulars all know each other, and get along great. The guy who runs it, tho...he's a good friend, and does a lot of great things for musicians in our area. However, he has a tendency to assume that folks can and will be able to play anything, or fake it. "Hey, it's a Jam!" Then someone will call out a song I've never heard of, from a whole other genre (usually classic country.) I hate showing my a$$ by being stuck there, and whoever is singing calls out something that I have no idea how to play. Its a helpless feeling. Dragging the whole thing down, and making a trainwreck out of things, in front of other people, many of them friends. The one that put me over the edge was, surprisingly enough, Unchained Melody. Not particularly difficult, but I was put on the spot, away we went. Its not standard rock (or even country) stuff that you can play along and be close enough. I walked off stage, saying never again.
We have these Jams semi-regularly, over the course of the summer. It's gotten to the point that I won't go up unless I know what I'm doing first, unless its only going to be with people I know and have played with before.. I hate to be that guy, but I also hate looking the fool.