#16
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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
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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! |
#18
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I also prefer a more focused "Reason for Being There" as well.
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#19
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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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-Gordon 1978 Larrivee L-26 cutaway 1988 Larrivee L-28 cutaway 2006 Larrivee L03-R 2009 Larrivee LV03-R 2016 Irvin SJ cutaway 2020 Irvin SJ cutaway (build thread) K+K, Dazzo, Schatten/ToneDexter Notable Journey website Facebook page Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. - Leonardo Da Vinci |
#20
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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
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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
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Quote:
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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----------------------------------- Creator of The Parlando Project Guitars: 20th Century Seagull S6-12, S6 Folk, Seagull M6; '00 Guild JF30-12, '01 Martin 00-15, '16 Martin 000-17, '07 Parkwood PW510, Epiphone Biscuit resonator, Merlin Dulcimer, and various electric guitars, basses.... Last edited by FrankHudson; 09-08-2018 at 09:00 AM. Reason: typos |
#23
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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. |
#24
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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?" |
#25
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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. |
#26
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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. |
#27
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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. |
#28
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Quote:
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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Some Acoustic Videos |
#29
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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
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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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