The death of jamming

[Benko]

...you may regret your request

This is cool! Thanks for posting!

 

[Bob Throb]

Yes as a Grateful Dead I pretty much love jamming . I Find it allows me to stretch out and grow on my bass and or guitar. And especially if you are in a trio band that play really well together you get to the point where you can play of each with ease and it's magical . When you think about it it's how most of the great bands play live from Zep to the Who, Chilli Peppers , Gov't Mule ...

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I have had the same experience. The music scenes I come from are pretty much all originals. Maybe 5% covers, done on a lark.
Most of the songwriting that I’ve done in bands owes a debt to jams and just riffing for hours.
Then I get older. Start hanging out with guys at work that are also musicians. “hey you should come by for a jam sometime!”
Which usually means dad rock served with a beer chaser.
The funny thing is, all these Springsteen and Rush wannabes always have envious gear. Flamed maple everything. Hot rod tube combo amps and drum sets with “recording” in the model name. I wince now when I see a very good drum set and a custom Boogie combo. They are gonna want to play YYZ and Fortunate Son. And I, sadly, know how.

 

[JIO]

Just got back from a rehearsal with my trio. (bass/guitar-horn-melodica/drums) We play structured songs. As an example of the many faces of improvisation music, without a word we started the night 'jamming'. Not terribly long, just sort of a 'warm up'. (it was a funk jam) Like stretching before exercise/a work out. It was natural and instinctual and reinforced playing together as a unit. In essence - that's the best-case-scenario of any successful 'jam'. All players involved create a unit and contribute to the whole - on the fly.

 

[JIO]

This is cool! Thanks for posting!

Thank you! I know and had played with the keyboardist prior to that evening but that was the first time I played with the horn player and the drummer. That was our 1st set in it's entirety.

 

[brainiac]

I have another (humorous) thread going about jam bands. On a more serious note, I've been running jams for years, and probably always will. I'm saddened that so many people have lost the spirit of true jamming- Improvisation, and spontaneity.
Every week I end up with a bunch of GREAT players who just want to play songs. Maybe add a second (third...fourth) guitar solo, but the jamming aspect is all but gone.
I try to push my guests boundries, and a FEW of them get it. Go to double time feel, or a modulation, or switch up a groove- reggae Zeppelin, or metal Peaches and Herb.
I try to keep it interesting, and push peoples boundries.
I often just hit a brick wall. If it ain't on the record, they don't want to try it.
Too many automatons, not enough free spirits.
Another Pride and Joy.......in the same key as the record.....
Rant over.

It sounds hard if you point out that so many people you run into at open jams aren't very good. If you've put in the work over the years, the last thing you want to be involved with are beginners and guys who were never full-time/experienced players in the first place. Also, playing yet another three-chord blues progression just doesn't appeal to a certain level player. There's a lot of creativity to be found in a song structure with a strong rhythm section; then, let the soloists begin!

 

[AlexBassMP]

I have another (humorous) thread going about jam bands. On a more serious note, I've been running jams for years, and probably always will. I'm saddened that so many people have lost the spirit of true jamming- Improvisation, and spontaneity.
Every week I end up with a bunch of GREAT players who just want to play songs. Maybe add a second (third...fourth) guitar solo, but the jamming aspect is all but gone.
I try to push my guests boundries, and a FEW of them get it. Go to double time feel, or a modulation, or switch up a groove- reggae Zeppelin, or metal Peaches and Herb.
I try to keep it interesting, and push peoples boundries.
I often just hit a brick wall. If it ain't on the record, they don't want to try it.
Too many automatons, not enough free spirits.
Another Pride and Joy.......in the same key as the record.....
Rant over.

I stopped jamming simply because playing always the same songs in the jams become so boring for me...

 

[JIO]

It sounds hard if you point out that so many people you run into at open jams aren't very good. If you've put in the work over the years, the last thing you want to be involved with are beginners and guys who were never full-time/experienced players in the first place. Also, playing yet another three-chord blues progression just doesn't appeal to a certain level player. There's a lot of creativity to be found in a song structure with a strong rhythm section; then, let the soloists begin!

Offering insights to others is the role of any teacher and always a noble cause. I've taught first year graduate art (teens right from high school) and there are a lot of crossovers when it comes to the how's and why's of making art and making music. At the end of the day some (a smaller percent) will get it and regardless of their skill or talent, most won't. The bottom line, either getting it or not, is that hopefully something will be learned about oneself in the process. Not everyone is an artist or a musician, not every musician can improvise - and that's ok. ("Jim, Jim - I'm a bass-player not a doctor!")

 

[Rich Fiscus]

Many musicians feel like they're not good enough to improvise. That's partly because improvisation is automatically equated with so many of the all time greats, but also partly because it's true. Not true in the sense that they're incapable of improvisation, but rather in the same sense that you aren't good enough to play with others or perform on stage until you start doing it.

Most of my improvisation, in a blues jam setting anyway, is geared purely toward making sure the song has the right feel and dynamics. During lead breaks, where there are typically 2-3 soloists, and sometimes as many as 5 or 6, a song needs dynamic/harmonic/rhythmic changes, as well as reinforcement of the actual song, rather than just the chord changes.

For example, on Tuesday night I was at a very good blues jam with Kristoffer, a guitarist from my band. We got up with a drummer and keyboard player I've played with before, but only once or twice each. On the way up, I spotted the only harmonica player in town who's welcome on stage with me any time, and dragged him along.

After the first song, the keyboard player requested "something in F#." Kristoffer pulled out an Otis Rush tune nobody else knew. It was basic I-IV-V slow blues. I started out with a pretty generic descending walk. After going once around for the intro, Kristoffer brought it down more than the rest of us were expecting. We were too loud and too intense.

On the quick change, I switched it up and played a quick staccato note on the 1, followed by a long rest on the 2. Everybody else followed me, and we all came back in together at the appropriate level and intensity on the 3. That small break, repeated on each change to the IV during the verse, provided natural dynamic changes we could work out as a group each time through.

That's all it takes to jam together. Sure, you can take it a lot further than that, and several other people who got up after us certainly did, but it's not a requirement. I've done an original blues number with a singer, 2 guitars, keyboards, harmonica, tenor and baritone sax, plus a drummer and percussionist, and only the singer and 1 guitarist knew the song. I laid down a simple groove with the second guitarist, and everybody else found their parts around us.

I will take an occasional solo, but for the most part, I'm all about forging that group dynamic, and facilitating great group interaction. More often than not, everyone who doesn't know the song, or each other as musicians, are just following me anyway.

When the harmonica player with the monotone voice calls his third shuffle in a row, and the second in A, I need to change things up harmonically and rhythmically, but I'm happy to bang out root notes when it serves the song and the group dynamic.

 

[JIO]

Many musicians feel like they're not good enough to improvise. That's partly because improvisation is automatically equated with so many of the all time greats, but also partly because it's true. Not true in the sense that they're incapable of improvisation, but rather in the same sense that you aren't good enough to play with others or perform on stage until you start doing it.

true enough

 

[thawkeyes]

Pick your set of musicians better. Jamming has a much better chance of working when the people in it consider themselves members of something rather than a place to show off.

All the good musicians that I have access to would rather write songs, not jam... It's just a thing now. I'm O.K. with it.

 

[kicklock]

First, I love jamming/improvisation in which someone starts a groove, and the others join in, and it winds on as different people take the forefront and control the jams for a time, and then hand it back to the others, and someone else takes it up, and so on. A bassplayer can do so many powerful things in a jam, such as playing the groove legato style, and then doing a more staccato interpretation. Also, filling the groove with more notes, and then taking some notes out. IMHO these are just a couple ways that show the power a bassplayer has in a song, or jam.
A jam really cooks when all the players are around the same proficiency level, and each player can feel a nudge, or a tug in the groove, and respond to it. In other words, a guitar is soloing for a minute, or so, with the bass & drums backing up, and then the bass starts to add some notes, and slides, indicating he/she wants to solo a bit, and so on. IMHO that would be a great jam, and it's been YEARS since I have been able to do that. I MISS IT .
As a sidenote, it seems as though the guitar solo, which usually occurred after the second chorus, has been replaced by the rap solo in top 10 chart music. But they say everything is cyclic, and so that may change in the future. At least I hope so.
Jamming & improvisation are two aspects of popular music in many genres that will stay alive for as long as musicians get together, and do them. I respect the guys who only want to play songs as exactly as they can, but I think I have MORE respect for the guys who have the inclination, and ability to take a worthy song, find its soul, and give it a different spin, while keeping its basic essence. Of course, there are examples of artistes who have taken songs, and spun them so far away from their initial essence, that they seem to take on a complete new life, and new meaning with the new treatment. I say the above with utmost respect to those who love to jam, and those who do not.

 

[prooftheory]

So do you people who are completely against jamming know how to walk? I'm not asking to be demeaning, its just that I sort of expect that people with an anti-jamming attitude would also be in favor of mostly following the line of the original. Many genres don't require walking, and I'm also curious if there is some alignment there. Are the people who are against jamming in djent bands with very through-composed lines for example?

 

[JIO]

So do you people who are completely against jamming know how to walk? I'm not asking to be demeaning, its just that I sort of expect that people with an anti-jamming attitude would also be in favor of mostly following the line of the original. Many genres don't require walking, and I'm also curious if there is some alignment there. Are the people who are against jamming in djent bands with very through-composed lines for example?

Good point - walking implies a certain grasp of knowledge/structure of the fretboard as well as an understanding of theory. The better the understanding, the more you can bring to walking a bass-line. It's used mostly in trad jazz/blues but it's what it implies that I think you are referring to related to improvising. Improvising doesn't mean one is making up something from whole cloth, it refers to ones creative use of their knowledge/skills as a bass player (in our case) to create music with others on the fly. Please correct me if I mis-interpreted your comment.

 

[Kmonk]

If the Jam is run on a sensible basis, such as three numbers per 'act' before someone else comes on and does their spot. If anyone gets stupid doing their own little ego trips, a close amiable audience will give them the signs and reign them in...

Nice thought but it rarely if ever happens. Remember, you are dealing with guitarists.

 

[JIO]

This is exactly what I think. I know some songs, but what I love the most is when playing with a good group, they start off with: Key A and follow the beat. Someone starts playing and then someone else and pretty soon everyone is playing to music being created. The key I found to doing this is listening to what is being played. As the music progresses, it tends to change and playing to changes can make some great tunes spontaneously happen. That act of creation is so rewarding.
I have a CD of Blind Faith that is incredible to listen too. The first CD is Jamming and you hear "can't find my way home" develop. By end of the Jam (20 min or so) the song is completely developed. The jam starts with a guitar, then drums and then the bass comes in. It's really good to hear.

The jams I attend are kick-started by the rhythm section (drums/bass) and everyone launches from that.

 

[JIO]

Nice thought but it rarely if ever happens. Remember, you are dealing with guitarists.

Lead guitarists, or guitarists aspiring to be lead guitarists. I know and have played with guitarists who like me play to service the joint effort.

 

[Paulabass]

Lead guitarists, or guitarists aspiring to be laid guitarists. I know and have played with guitarists who like me play to service the joint effort.

Please tell me 'laid guitarists' was a typo.

 

[Rich Fiscus]

When I'm at a jam, and end up playing with someone who has a tendency to wank on and on, I always have a talk with the drummer before we start. I point out that the guitarist may decide when the song starts, but we can decide when it ends.

If the song has clearly run it's course, I have no qualms about stepping in to put it out of its misery.

 

[JIO]

Please tell me 'laid guitarists' was a typo.

doh! yes, a typo - where is spellcheck when you need it! (corrected)