Playing with Six Guitarists

[JessRobinson]

Hey All,

Last night I attended a jam in my friend Jon's basement. He had a couple guitar-playing friends in town, from Atlanta and Denver, and wanted to make some noise.

He locked me down as his bassist about a month ago. Last week I saw the email invite and it was 16 names long.

Last night I show up and its me and the drummer Rob, with a horde of guitarists. Throughout the evening about ten of 'em showed up.

For the first two hours of the jam, there were six guitarists going at a time. The drummer Rob and I worked together in the corner of the room, and the guitarists formed a semi-circle around us, each with his amp pointing towards himself. Solos went left to right, or vice versa, often called, some taken by storm.

The players switched in and out throughout the evening. When it calmed down in the later evening, we were down to a mere four guitarists - order almost prevailed.

Halfway through the night the drummer Rob looked at me, exasperated. He had been pounding the s*** out of the skins to keep the beat. He shook his head and laughed and said, "I've never done anything like this before...."

Has anyone else jammed with an overwhelming mass of axe players? How did you keep order? How did it sound? Last night was a real mixed bag in terms of results.

Jess

 

[evan_phi]

when i went to guitar club in high school there were always more guitarists than bassists.

they would be in one room and sometimes for fun we would solo over their solos.

 

[MikeBass]

The title gives me nightmares alone!!

 

[Rattman]

"..For the first two hours of the jam, there were six guitarists going at a time. The drummer Rob and I worked together in the corner of the room, and the guitarists formed a semi-circle around us, each with his amp pointing towards himself. Solos went left to right, or vice versa, often called, some taken by storm..."

I would call that a "swarm" and defend myself with two big cans of extra-strength
Raid

 

[west*coast*bass]

The last time I got together with the "jam" group, which is different than the "regular" group, there were 3 guitarists and 2 drummers, keys and sax...what a pain in the a$$.

One drummer, who is my regular drummer was locked in but the other guy was all over the place. When my bass gets swallowed up in the room, there is something wrong!! One of the guitarists was dreadfully out of tune no matter how many times she stopped to tune up and the other 2 guitarists were always in competition with each other. It was a miserable musical experience. My regular drummer and I both decided that the "jam" experience was better left to others and I have not been back since.

I feel your pain...

 

[syciprider]

First you need an SVT, then an 810.

 

[fretless Bob]

man why the hell would any one wanna play with 6 guitarists?


Dave

 

[bevel19]

you've done your time in hell now! Heaven is all that awaits!

 

[FriscoBassAce]

I've never played with a group of guys like that, but this past spring, I bore witness to an All-Star jam at the Dallas Guitar Show. At the height of the jam, there were 12 guitarists up on stage at one time, with one vocalist, one bassist, two drummers, and a guy playing a Hammond B3. They would take turns doing solos, each trying to continue the phrase that the person before had just played. After that had gone back and forth for what seemed like an hour, they all soloed at the same time. I have never heard such an unusual sound in my life! It was insane!

There were some "sort-of" big names there on stage-Andy Timmons, Paul Reed Smith, several guys from The Stratoblasters and The Hellcasters, and some other guys I wasn't familiar with. I had enough 12 bar blues that night to last for a year!

 

[P. Aaron]

Has anyone else jammed with an overwhelming mass of axe players? How did you keep order? How did it sound? Last night was a real mixed bag in terms of results.

Jess

Did you have to talk to them as well?

 

[D.A.R.K.]

this is close...
local band from dc....
two drummers, 5-6 guitarist and bass.
they're actually awesome
check it out:
http://www.tone-dc.com/index.html?shows/index.php~contentFrame

 

[vene-nemesis]

Without prozack????

 

[JessRobinson]

First you need an SVT, then an 810.

Actually I thought I was holding my own pretty well with my EMBB Bongo, SWR Bass 750 head, and SWR Goliath Jr III cab.

I've learned from experience to crank the two mid bands on the Bongo and it will cut through just about anything. I love my rig!

 

[Pennydreadful]

The most I've played with was, I think, three guitarists. Two electric and one acoustic. It wasn't that bad.

 

[patonbass]

i dont have that problem with my band, 3 piece composed of bass, drums and a rhodes piano... a bassists dream really.

Link Removed

but i have done the jam basement sessions before, they can be fun, they can be exhausting at the same time.

 

[seanm]

Most I have ever jammed with is four guitars + keyboard + drums + moi on bass. Weird thing was three guitars where playing rhythm and one lead.

 

[Stubb]

If they were all good, restrained musicians, I think it'd be cool.

But why is this in the basses forum?

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

The title gives me nightmares alone!!

+1.

Way back when, I sat in with a Southern rock band. They had three guitarists. It helped me to realize that less is more. -Especially in regards to my playing.

 

[Valerus]

how!? that sounds so muddy

 

[bigcatJC]

It's my experience (for whatever THAT's worth) that if there's more than two g****r players at a "jam" session, the bass player and the drummer are just background noise for the g****r players to wank over. The times I've done something like that, the g****r losers wouldn't have noticed if I started playing Mingus' "Hatian Fight Song" in the middle of "Sunshine of Your Love". And let me say for the record I would NEVER play with six g****r players at a time (unless they were famous and I was being well paid). My solution? Kill five of 'em! Serves as a good warning for that last one, you know.