What should I know before I'm ready to jam?

[wisconsindead]

Learn scales. Major, minor and mixolydian are the three I primarily encounter and use. Then if your jam isn't merely just over a single chord, know the chord progression. Many times a chord progression will fall into a certain key and allow you to use one scale.

 

[Noose]

Start telling everyone you know you play bass. Everyone. Do Facebook posts about your progress, post pics, etc. Go to places where they have live music. Chat with the musicians, compliment the bassist on his playing and on his gear. Meet the folks and instructors at your locally owned music store. Pretty soon, you will start hearing things like "so and so pays drums", "so and so plays guitar". Don't force it, this is the time where you have to be yourself. Your circle of friends will begin to expand where all of a sudden, one of these new friends calls up and tells you to show up with your bass.

I came late to bass. Been wanting to learn since I was 14, but wasn't able to embark on this journey until I was 50. After about 6 mos of lessons from a neighborhood high school guy, I was invited to do some jamming with his parents who did bluegrass GTGs in their living room every month. They had an upright for me to use. Everyone brought a dessert, a snack or beverages. Bluegrass and upright not really my cup of tea, but it helped me meet people and get used to improvising. It took me a long time to find people I really like to jam with, people I really connect with, but every step along the way, no matter how insignificant, played a part.

This is some solid advice right here! I've been playing in bands for years and in all honesty, I sometimes lose perspective on what all this is supposed to be about. Making music, friends, and having fun. This post sorta reminded me to quit putting so much pressure on myself and just enjoy playing! Thanks for sharing sir.

 

[Noose]

I'm of the opinion that you should play with other musicians as soon as possible. Be honest, let em know you are a beginner, and go have fun. BUT DONT FALL INTO THE TRAP I FELL INTO!!!!
When I first started playing it was because I wanted to be in a band. So I hot a bass, learned a few basics (like "what note is this?" "Where do I plug it in" etc.) Me and my buddies formed the world's worst band. It was a great time and I haven't quit playing since, but during those first few years, I only focused on learning songs. I didn't focus on learning music. Fast forward 20 years, I've got some major holes in my playing that have limited my progression. Why? Because I didn't really learn music. So now I'm having to go back and learn stuff I should have been learning and mastering over the last 20 years. Not to mention breaking bad habits.

The point is, by all means, play with other musicians. Learn songs, jam out, have fun. But don't forget to study music. It's important.

 

[Kustom250]

Good advice so far.

You should know what kind of music you want to pay also. If you want to play punk or old school country going to a blues jam isn't gonna be much fun. Not everyone likes playing blues, but you'll find a lot of it if you do.

 

[scm_Bass]

I've just started to play/jam with some other musicians. We hire out a rehersal studio nearby (it's dirt cheap to get one of the small rooms for 3 hours) and i have to say it is immense fun.

I've come to the bass quite late in life (mid 30's) and the guys I play with have all been playing for a long time and have jammed together on numerous occasions. I found it's a very different experience playing as part of a full band to playing on your own. Some advice from my recent experiences:

1) Find people you can connect with musically! I was given this advice by a work colleague of mine whos been jamming for years and it really is true. Within the group of musicians I've been playing with there is 1 guy and we just don't seem to connect well. So when we play together it feels false and we can't get in sync. It's not enjoyable whereas with the others we share musical taste, enjoy talking crap about gear, pedal boards and string gauges and that seems to come through when we play together.

2) Get solid on timing!! I didn't do enough playing along to metronome's, backing tracks and drum machines before getting together with others and very quickly realised how sloppy my timing was. I've had to go back and invest loads of time into playing along at specific tempo's to build my skills there and how to lock in to what the drums are doing.

3) Get familar with key musical concepts of the different styles, Funk, Rock, Blues, Metal, Reggae etc. At one point in our Jam the guys switched from a funk-rock feel to reggae.. and that threw me completely and i had to stop playing until they got back to something I was comfortable with. If I had better understood the basic structures and principles of Reggae I could have improvised my way through but, I've never taken that time.

 

[radioface]

Know how to start and end a tune, and where the one (not Nemo) is, and play in time with the drummer.

 

[Growlmonkee]

Once you get a feel for the bass, and learn where the notes are, and how to tune up, one of the best things you can do to progress is to play with others whenever you get a chance, your biggest single job at first is .. timing, move whatever body part works to keep a really steady beat, if there is a drummer, try to lock in timing with him. Learn and practice scales, when your alone, learn every song you are able to, when alone. Playing with others normally gets better fairly quickly. When you make a mistake jamming, play right through it, like it never happened. Be the "pulse" of the group, it's better to have great timing than to have great riffs.