How to be a good "Jam" Musician

Summer is the perfect time to hang out with your friends, start a garage (or park bench) band and jam. During recent jams it struck me how not all good musicians can jam well. If any of you have jammed before you have probably experienced someone who can pull out ripping licks, but they don't play WITH the band. They just kinda do their own thing, failing to see the big picture musically. It is the musical equivalent to trying to do a relay race with your eyes closed. You still run, but don't contribute to the team effort (plus your partner is like .............)

That being said, how does one become a good jammer? I will give my ideas and tips in this instructable, feel free to comment any additional ideas.

In my opinion, jamming is the art of faking, so it does not take a seasoned musician to jam (fake) well, a novice can do it.  Don't be afraid to jam because you have only been playing guitar for 2 months or because you dont play an instrument.  Anyone with any instrument can learn to jam, I will gear this instructable however to the guitarist.

Remember, everyone can play the washboard. ;)

Step 1 The truth about jamming

The truth about jamming is that it is REPETITIVE.  This is a good thing and a bad thing.

It is good because that means in most jam sessions you will only need 3 to 4 chords.  This appeals to both beginning musicians and more experienced musicians because the beginning musicians can comfortably rock out with the chords they know and the more advanced ones can focus on the fun stuff like chord transitions, solos, and making good sounds (i.e. feedback)

If you get bored with playing the same three chords over and over again, add something new, be creative.  DONT, however, forget that you are a team player and not a diva.  I will cover this more thoroughly later.

If you are an artsy musician who likes time signature changes, modulations, and funky rhythms every other measure, jamming is not for you. Get some sheet music and join an advanced jazz ensemble.

Comments

[seekir]

On keeping the tempo constant, I have one caveat that makes sense for me: Likewise, individuals probably shouldn't resist "accelerando" (gradual tempo increase) if everyone is feeling it as a jam gets exciting. A staunch metronome fan can cause jam breakdowns and conflicts by denying natural changes in tempo/feel that routinely occur during jams. I suppose the same applies to "Ritardando" (gradual tempo reduction) in dramatic moments, but probably occurs less frequently.

[brucedamoose16]

its fine if you accelerando or ritard as is natural to the piece but the key is to return to the original tempo. i have this performance in mind that i did of a piece that had lots of natural accelerandos, but we didnt ever relax back to tempo 1. That and lots of coffee made the piece gallop away, kind of a train wreck. But i agree that metronomes are no good. it too electronic and robotic, doesnt feel natural at all.

also for beginning guitarists, speeding up is a big problem. while more advanced musicians can use lifts in the tempo for expressiveness, for the beginner/intermediate musician trying to be expressive via tempo can be a wreck.

[seekir]

Hmmm. Not to be contentious, (as you suggest players have to collaborate and play in time as a combo) but I've heard some famous recordings that never return to the original slower tempo after an increase the studio musicians undertake naturally as a group. One can experience this by using modern digital players that allow an instant advance to the final portions of a song with the original slower tempo still ringing in your ears. Of course this works best with [usually pre-digital] recordings that were made without a click track. Skynrd's "Free Bird" maybe? Though I think it's clear in this case that the band planned the acceleration. Can't remember if it slows down again. But in the informal "jams" I've experienced accelerando has been mostly unconscious rather than a device deliberately used by "advanced musicians... for expressiveness" (though such experienced players routinely do so). Whether or not all unplanned accelerandos enhance or diminish particular tunes is open for debate.

Really my comment is related to an experience with a bassist jam-partner (a metronome devotee) who would actually stick with inflexible determination to the original tempo while the rest of the room was feeling the excitement and speeding up, apparently because he had gotten the impression somewhere that tempo should be set in stone. The result was a pretty rapid crash and ensuing dispute about music theory...