How not to Jam.

LOL.
I ran into that all the time. still do.
years ago I met up with a bunch of players and a guy that had a rehearsal studio. on friday evenings he opened it up for jams.
one rule: no sheet music. we rarely jammed on a song. we made stuff up and would play for hours.
a typical jam would begin by someone strumming a chord; maybe throwing in a change, let's say from Em to D.
the drummer would come in, then more players. we all honed our chops.
after a long loud crazy jam we'd have comments like' brutiful' , ' that was guitarded', ( in a good way). sometimes we'd stumble onto a melody; like Peter Gun and we would take that melody and fly with it.

I find it uncommon that a group of players could do this. so many times I meet players that can only play songs they know.
too bad.
I have recorded some of our friday night jams. if anyone is interested I could post one or two.

Would be fun to hear some dogbite, I used goto a jam on Sundays where we would do the same thing when I got up at least. Some people liked to play as a band, some would try to do "songs" but it varied a lot. One guy I knew who went down HATED it when people didn't do "songs" though I think the jam night should be about spontaneity. The jam I currently attend is all about choosing a song and the "jam" part is all about the solos. I enjoy it, they're great people too at that night but I miss the free style too.

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=5271181&q=hi&newref=1

Fleaaa..here is a jam . it is kind of a rare jam because there are vocals. two guys showed up one night and had this jam style vocal thing together. they make up stuff on the fly.
the jam began with a lick and everyone chimed in. we all listen to one another. there were moments it sounded rehearsed.
let's see... the line up: three vocalists, two electric guitars..my strat and an Andrean Belew influenced guitar player using a Steinberger and a Roland amp sim, a violin, drum, bass, and some joker on a flute.

I just listened to the click. it stops at seven minutes. unfortunately the jam went on for another 18 minutes. because I let my soundclick advanced membership lapse, I can only have songs of a shorter length. too bad.

I'm lucky in that every time I've found someone to jam with, we've always had a few songs in common we know. If all else fails, suggest a 12-bar blues - a SLOW 12-bar blues - in A, swap around with leads and rhythms.

Either that or G Em C and D for rhythm, lead guitar to inprovise - again, swap rhythms and leads. You'll be surprised how creative you can get with those hoary old chords!

Failing all else, record your own backing track and improvise over it - the big advantage is, no one's going to tell you your lead lines suck!

:D :D :D

Vic

I'm lucky in that every time I've found someone to jam with, we've always had a few songs in common we know. If all else fails, suggest a 12-bar blues - a SLOW 12-bar blues - in A, swap around with leads and rhythms.

Either that or G Em C and D for rhythm, lead guitar to inprovise - again, swap rhythms and leads. You'll be surprised how creative you can get with those hoary old chords!

Failing all else, record your own backing track and improvise over it - the big advantage is, no one's going to tell you your lead lines suck!

:D :D :D

Vic

I agree. swapping lead and rhythm is perfect. the best thing about jamming is being able to explore the ideas you are hearing and stretching what you think you know. listening and knowing when not to play is important. everybody jamming will benefit.

I didn't listen to the whole thing dogbite, I admit it!

However the drummer is so solid, he's not too flashy (though maybe he could be if it suited him?) but he holds it together strong and at the Sunday jam night a lot of the drummers were young and not as solid.

9 out of 10 times when I've jammed with other people and it's bit a lot lately it always revolves around songs and I'll admit I prefer that over musical meandering although we have done that and it can be fun but more times than not it ends as a train wreck and it kind of loses the mojo.

Now as Vic said 12 bar blues are always a staple when the mutual songs run out although I hate the blues it does give me a chance to improvise which I don't do much of and sometimes I come up with something pretty cool and other times it's just a big turd.

I do find that I actually play better solos' in terms of actually playing them when I improvise then when I try and play the memorized ones. I'm still at the point where remembering the notes is still an issue.