musical soulmates?

mellowgerman · #1 04-12-2008, 03:24 PM

Any stories about surreal musician-compatibility?

here's mine:
I grew up in a small town no more than 500 kids in my high school. Early on I played in a few punkbands and all was okay. Then I discovered Jefferson Airplane and Country Joe and The Fish. My mind was blown and I had officially found my direction. For junior and senior year though I never found anyone with a similar interest. No jam buddies really, besides one of my dad's friends(an old hippie type) with whom i jammed occasionally but he had more serious things to worry about so it was only about a twice a month thing.
Then, this past August I got to college. About halfway through September I noticed my dorm neighbor played guitar. I showed him some Airplane and he was instantly hooked. Ever since, we have the most amazing jams. We go for hours

Now it seems to me that something like this is a one in a million chance and I'm sooo happy all went down like it did. Has anything similar happened to you? How long did it last? Still jammin with that person?

CHILDISHGAMBINO · #2 04-12-2008, 03:53 PM

I used to jam with a drummer and it was like we were telepathic. Probably helped that we basically learned to play together (he started a year or so before me). We played in three bands together and jammed with different people whenever we had a chance. The last time we played together was probably 10 years ago but I guess that'll happen when you live on opposite sides of the country.

Lucas G · #3 04-12-2008, 04:12 PM

oh, heck yes. i went to high school with my guitar player, we were cool with each other but didn't really hang out. about four years after we graduated, i ran in to him at a local bar, he was looking for a bass player, i was looking for a band. we played in a band for about three years, it kind of died out. i moved to columbus ohio for a few years, took a job in my home town and moved back. a few months before i moved back, i ran in to him at a local bar once again after not seeing him for five or so years. we talked about the old times, mentioned getting together to jam again sometime.

so, i moved back, got in touch with him again as well as a drummer i played with briefly years ago... a sort of impromptu jam session at another buddies' house turned into a new band, we've been playing together for a couple of years now.

he and i know exactly where the other one is headed at any time, writing new material or just jamming for jamming's sake is a breeze. same with the drummer. i know what he's thinking and vice versa. it's really an ideal situation.

must be something in the water here or something.

mellowgerman · #4 04-12-2008, 04:16 PM

I know exactly what you mean. It's really an amazing thing. Makes me kinda feel sorry for those people who never got into playing music and will never experience it. There really is nothing like it in my opinion.

LumpyGravy · #5 04-12-2008, 05:50 PM

I had an ex girlfriend that we had an acoustic thing called Joint Custody. Then, I just couldn't stand her anymore. We long since parted ways, the better!

the_fonz · #6 04-12-2008, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LumpyGravy

I had an ex girlfriend that we had an acoustic thing called Joint Custody. Then, I just couldn't stand her anymore. We long since parted ways, the better!

who got the kids?
haha, pun.

LumpyGravy · #7 04-12-2008, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_fonz

who got the kids?
haha, pun.

Never kids! We were joint Custody in reference to marijuana. I had custody of the joint, usually on ounce in the freezer!

capnsandwich · #8 04-12-2008, 06:46 PM

There's a guy I played with about 10 years ago in my church. He's a guitarist and singer and he does pretty well, although I think he's a much better singer than guitarist. We were in a band together and did some gigging, some pretty big ones, but then when he got married he quit and the rest of the band just went their own way.

Since then he's become a pastor of his own church and also leads worship there. I rarely get to play with him but when I do I lock in pretty well with his drummer, also an old jam buddy, and can almost hear exactly what he's going to do next and know where's he going. It's almost as if there's a connection between our minds when we're up there. I'd play with him more but he's already got a steady bass player.

MysticMichael · #9 04-12-2008, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mellowgerman

Ever since, we have the most amazing jams. We go for hours

Now it seems to me that something like this is a one in a million chance and I'm sooo happy all went down like it did. Has anything similar happened to you? How long did it last? Still jammin with that person?

I've had some pretty intuitive, synced-up jams, but not for a long time now. And probably never like you've described. Alas. Connections like that are so hard to find. What I do find is scads of mediocre players, and lots and lots of posers...

Realize the value of what you have with this guitarist. Don't let it slip through your fingers. Develop it. Do something with it...

MM

kesslari · #10 04-12-2008, 08:03 PM

It is a great feeling when it happens.
I played with a drummer for a while and we just felt the groove the same way. You know what I mean if you encountered it. We played in all kinds of bands together, funk, R&B, African, hard rock, jazz - whatever. It was always locked and loaded.
It was a great experience.

Quote:

Realize the value of what you have with this guitarist. Don't let it slip through your fingers. Develop it. Do something with it...

Major +1 to that...

mellowgerman · #11 04-12-2008, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticMichael

Realize the value of what you have with this guitarist. Don't let it slip through your fingers. Develop it. Do something with it...

MM

Definitely! we're actually both working on transferring to the same college right now. A big part of it is the music school which is jazz based(rather than a lot of the classical based schools, like the one we're at right now) we figure there it might be easier to find a dedicated drummer and maybe a rhythm guitarist. hopefully over the summer we'll be able to get some more stuff written and recorded. i'm sooo grateful for this

BryanM · #12 04-12-2008, 09:01 PM

One of my best friends is a drummer, and we've been in a few bands here and there since we met in high school, back when I played rhythm guitar. I switched over to bass and he joined a band with some people at work, but every time we get together we'll just knock out jam after jam for hours on end. Another of our good friends plays world percussion and he'll often get in on it when he can get away from the wife and kid, but all three of us sync up amazingly: wordless changes, backing off and coming in just right and being able to rotate from following to leading seamlessly almost nonstop. I play in a different band though, with whom I think I sync pretty well, and he's got two bands, plus our hand drummer friend's got his hands full with a year old daughter, so we rarely get together these days.