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  #16  
Old 09-07-2018, 07:27 AM
ManyMartinMan ManyMartinMan is offline
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I learned early in my career that I like solo performance but if I wanted to eat, sleep and travel well I had to sit in, collaborate, travel and perform with others. I also believe it improves your chops exponentially. It's no different in sports. You can't become a great athlete without playing with others. Nothing flourishes in a vacuum.
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  #17  
Old 09-07-2018, 09:27 AM
RustyAxe RustyAxe is offline
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A rehearsal is very different from a jam. One is a working session, the other just for fun. I (usually) enjoy them both. I don't like unstructured rehearsals, and every rehearsal should end with take-home work. I don't like jams where one player dominates the song choices, or participants call obscure songs that only they know, or people who can't "jam" insist on playing louder than anyone else.

Playing with others is a mixed bag. By far the best time playing with others (for me, of course) is on stage in performance. Well chosen set list, well rehearsed instrumentals and vocal harmony, good sound reinforcement, and an appreciative audience. Magic happens and sometimes lightening strikes!
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  #18  
Old 09-07-2018, 09:36 AM
rmp rmp is offline
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I also prefer a more focused "Reason for Being There" as well.
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  #19  
Old 09-07-2018, 02:52 PM
Gordon Currie Gordon Currie is offline
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I have a personal '1 blues jam per session' limit. Although I can certainly fake it on blues, it really isn't a core style, so I prefer to incorporate blues influences rather than playing the blues.

I used to play with a progressive jazz-rock group where we would spend as much as 20% of every rehearsal playing 'free' - not with the aim of noodling, but attempting to spontaneously compose and improvise simultaneously. We got quite good at this and the benefits spilled over into all of our arrangements. But we never let it interfere with other work we needed to do.

I think it is important to manage expectations. If you know that a jam session is song-focused, and that's what you are looking for, cool. If you know it is blues-focused and you don't want that, you can decline knowing you aren't missing anything. The problem comes when you don't know what anyone has planned. I think this is the time to pipe up and ask if possible.

I love playing with other people when they have a similar commitment, focus and ability - and I find it helps me to grow as a player more than any other activity. On the other hand, finding those people has proven to be a lifelong challenge.
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  #20  
Old 09-07-2018, 06:58 PM
Steel and wood Steel and wood is offline
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Yep, jamming but more importantly playing formally with others is way more enjoyable and fulfilling when playing with others who have the same/similar taste in music that I do. (Maybe when I was younger, but I won't ever in a covers band playing music I am not a fan of).
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  #21  
Old 09-08-2018, 06:15 AM
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I think one of the reasons allot of people don't like blues jams is because they don't know how to get it beyond novice level. They end up doing endless minor pentatonic shredding. And to be fair it takes the group to make it creative and musical.
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  #22  
Old 09-08-2018, 08:58 AM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordon Currie View Post
I used to play with a progressive jazz-rock group where we would spend as much as 20% of every rehearsal playing 'free' - not with the aim of noodling, but attempting to spontaneously compose and improvise simultaneously. We got quite good at this and the benefits spilled over into all of our arrangements. But we never let it interfere with other work we needed to do.
As the unquoted part of this quote (and others) mentions, some of this comes down to expectations and goals. But I quoted this part to reply to because it points out some of the value of "just jamming"--particularly when it's not based on tight structures or even well-known tunes. First it teaches you to listen and learn the particular combination "listen/react/fit." It's a good skill, it stretches you, and can result in better parts when you reign it in to "play for the song" in a structured context. And it teaches you compositional skills and opens vistas there, because "composition is just frozen improvisation."


Of course, it's not for everybody, but I note there's a thriving little economy of teaching improvisational comedy as a broadly useful experience with wide benefits. No one to my knowledge has ever monetized free musical improv the same way.
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  #23  
Old 09-11-2018, 12:28 AM
Davis Webb Davis Webb is offline
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I can play with very few others that I have met. Pros are good.At its worst, you get a violin or sax that just uses you as a looper. At its best, its amazing, when you find someone you really gel with.

Musicians can have big egos and it can affect the jam experience.
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  #24  
Old 09-11-2018, 07:02 AM
jdmulli jdmulli is offline
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"Blues Jam in E" is only as interesting as the people doing the jamming. 12 Bars is only an vague outline and the options are nearly limitless, but regretfully, mindlessly noodling in pentatonic scales is one of the options.

Paraphrasing a quote I heard/read one time: "Anybody can play the blues, but do you really want to listen to it?"
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  #25  
Old 09-12-2018, 05:57 AM
beatcomber beatcomber is offline
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Improvisation is not my strongest suit, so jamming is not my thing. I much prefer a more focused, song-based session, working out arrangements and such.

I do love listening to excellent improvisers though. Some players have extraordinary imagination.
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  #26  
Old 09-12-2018, 06:29 AM
redir redir is offline
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In my band probably 90% of the songs we have created have been created on the fly. Our singer even has an uncanny ability to come up with stories that works once he hears the rhythm. Of course we then 'work' on what we created. We record everything though just in case a gem appears. When we have gigs coming up we work. Otherwise we improvise. Improvisation is not for everyone though. But all work and no play makes this cat a dull boy.

As for blues, I love the blues. In fact Blind Blake and Robert Johnson are probably the reason why I picked up a guitar in the first place, them and Syd Barrett... I love Buddy Guy, Albert King, T-Bone, Albert Collins, Johnny Winters and so on but I never play it unless I'm by myself and mostly that is on an acoustic guitar. I never cared for the blues jam myself.
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  #27  
Old 09-12-2018, 02:54 PM
Steel and wood Steel and wood is offline
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I'm not big on blues but can play tasteful lead on the fly no matter what the genre. (Just give me the key).

Even playing lead formally in a band, my lead lines are never the same unless the song requires me to play a riff.
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  #28  
Old 09-12-2018, 03:08 PM
Nymuso Nymuso is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sombras View Post
I simply do NOT like to get together to jam. I like to WORK and come in knowing that we're going to workshop a certain number of songs and do it in a really focused manner.
I like both, but they are separate entities.

I like a focused practice when trying to work up material to be played in a professional setting; everything pre-planned or at least outlined. This is how our acoustic group works up new material.

I also like just winging it in a situation in which it is understood by all, including the audience, if any, that that is what this is. Having the benefit of being self taught and in so doing having developed an ear and anticipatory instincts, this is a lot of fun.

In reading your initial post, it occurred to me that this might have been a surreptitious audition with you being the guest of honor.
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  #29  
Old 09-12-2018, 03:16 PM
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When I work with people I like to give the lead break, whatever the instrument, the option to keep going if they chose. I can't stand playing a song exactly the same each time. It'd be like line dancing on the guitar
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  #30  
Old 09-16-2018, 06:07 PM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is online now
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Some of the most fun bands I have played in were cover bands where we did not try to copy the songs exactly. You knew we were playing Van Morrison’s “Moondance” when we started but you didn’t know if you were getting the 4 minute version or the 10 minute version. We wouldn’t know either. Everyone was good at what they did and if it got good to someone, we would let them run with it. One of wildest improves we ever did was Moondance into Whipping Post and back.
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