Played my 1st blues jam tonight.

[jdwilliams]

being a "rock" bass player its quite a bit of a trick to play..

No names given or chord progressions Just told key of C slow blues.. made it really hard to follow since the guitariest had there backs to me and..well I am not skilled enough to know by ear..

hard to tell when chord changes will come and everything.. I have a lot to learn!

[Stilettoprefer]

Blues and jazz is a lot of fun I like it a bit more than rock, because not everyone can do it well and it actually requires a fair amount of knowledge. Once you get the hang of the style and learn all of your scale patterns, you'll have a ton of fun

[Stick_Player]

Originally Posted by jdwilliams

being a "rock" bass player its quite a bit of a trick to play..

No names given or chord progressions Just told key of C slow blues.. made it really hard to follow since the guitariest had there backs to me and..well I am not skilled enough to know by ear..

hard to tell when chord changes will come and everything.. I have a lot to learn!

Weren't they 12-bar Blues forms?

You gotta learn that for sure... and in many keys.

[Billnc]

You mentioned multiple guitarists. If they are not all very good you may be screwed. The buggers have a tendency to move around their chords if there is more than one and it can be very hard to follow.
Learn the language, even in an established band The guitar player and I might forget a tunes changes, if it doesn't matter we'll talk quickly during the tune or hand signal to agree on the changes.
But in a blues setting you dove in, and that's what happens, know what slow blues on the one, or five means, Stormy Monday walk up, uptown down, quick IV etc means and you'll be fine.

[BassmanSBK]

Originally Posted by jdwilliams

being a "rock" bass player its quite a bit of a trick to play..

No names given or chord progressions Just told key of C slow blues.. made it really hard to follow since the guitariest had there backs to me and..well I am not skilled enough to know by ear..

hard to tell when chord changes will come and everything.. I have a lot to learn!

First of all, you should realize that being thrown into a slow blues in your first jam is a bit of a "baptism by fire." Slow blues is MUCH harder to pull off than up-tempo blues.

The conventions are not so hard. "C slow blues" means a straight 12-bar (I/I/I/I IV/IV/I/I V/IV/I/I) in C. Slow blues generally lends itself to a quarter-note pulse. You can't go wrong just outlining a Dominant 7th chord (R-3-5-b7 or, if minor, R-b3-5-b7) in each bar, and keep it in the pocket. Or, for a little variation (and a bit of boogie-woogie feel), walk up to the octave and back down using dominant chord tones (R-3-5-b7/8-b7-5-3).

If they call out "quick 4," you can assume the same 12-bar progression, except that you go to the IV chord in the second bar, then back to the I and the rest of the form is the same.

"From the five" means you play a four-bar intro that follow the same pattern as the final four bars in the standard form, and then go straight into the regular 12-bar form.

Once you are comfortable outlining the chord in each the proceeding forms, you can start on walking.

You also need to remember that time is usually different. In rock, time tends to be very "up-and-down" on the beat. A lot (and I mean a whole lot) of blues swings. You also need to learn how to shuffle, both uptempo and down. Here's a hint to learn to shuffle--start by playing quarter-note triplets. Then leave the middle note of each triplet out, but do not rush to the third note of triplet (i.e., do not begin playing a straight eighth-note pulse). You are left with a "(pause)-note-note-(pause)-note-note" feel. That's a shuffle. It is your bluestime friend.

And have fun. You are suppose to smile when you are playing the blues.

[Billnc]

Originally Posted by BassmanSBK

First of all, you should realize that being thrown into a slow blues in your first jam is a bit of a "baptism by fire." Slow blues is MUCH harder to pull off than up-tempo blues.

The conventions are not so hard. "C slow blues" means a straight 12-bar (I/I/I/I IV/IV/I/I V/IV/I/I) in C. Slow blues generally lends itself to a quarter-note pulse. You can't go wrong just outlining a Dominant 7th chord (R-3-5-b7 or, if minor, R-b3-5-b7) in each bar, and keep it in the pocket. Or, for a little variation (and a bit of boogie-woogie feel), walk up to the octave and back down using dominant chord tones (R-3-5-b7/8-b7-5-3).

If they call out "quick 4," you can assume the same 12-bar progression, except that you go to the IV chord in the second bar, then back to the I and the rest of the form is the same.

"From the five" means you play a four-bar intro that follow the same pattern as the final four bars in the standard form, and then go straight into the regular 12-bar form.

Once you are comfortable outlining the chord in each the proceeding forms, you can start on walking.

You also need to remember that time is usually different. In rock, time tends to be very "up-and-down" on the beat. A lot (and I mean a whole lot) of blues swings. You also need to learn how to shuffle, both uptempo and down. Here's a hint to learn to shuffle--start by playing quarter-note triplets. Then leave the middle note of each triplet out, but do not rush to the third note of triplet (i.e., do not begin playing a straight eighth-note pulse). You are left with a "(pause)-note-note-(pause)-note-note" feel. That's a shuffle. It is your bluestime friend.

And have fun. You are suppose to smile when you are playing the blues.

Thank you for elaborating, I didn't have the time.

[Already In Use]

This site has some good tracks to jam blues with....The bass is left out and up to you.

Red Oak Music

[JT_Copy9]

Originally Posted by Already In Use

This site has some good tracks to jam blues with....The bass is left out and up to you.

Red Oak Music

Where? Can you point me in thier direction?
Thanks in advance.

[jdwilliams]

A Shuffle . Full Band Jam Track

Good resource...

[jdwilliams]

Thanks for all the info.. I really should of look in to it more before I went in.. the I IV V thing is kinda of a Duh thing now after the fact