How to Jam

[TheArimathean]

A recent thread about playing in a jam session reminded me of the way a friend taught me how to jam a couple weeks ago.

The method is pretty simple:

1. Start out by playing something simple, a good chord progression or a song you both know.

2. Once you are both comfortable with that, one of you can keep up the background tune/chord progression/etc. while the other improvises: the jam.

3. Once that person is finished, he/she takes up the background and the next person takes up the jam, and it cycles around person to person until you decide to stop.

Hope this is useful! *stamps* [TESTED BY MUSICIANS]

[TheBlindBard]

That's pretty much what happened, it was almost call and responce, the music was just passed amongst us. I can't remember exactly what we did (was mostly just a mixture of drum beats, rain sticks and rattles then my mandolin) but I know it was beautiful. I wish I could have recorded it, truely.

[Jim]

I wish I could have recorded it, truely.
Wish you had too, also wish I had a nickel for every time I've said that. However, you were there , you know it happened and it will happen again. Several of the best moments of my life have been when those jams came together and created something of beauty.

[TheBlindBard]

That's the beauty of it, it doesn't matter so much that it was "good music," but the fact that it was played, we were all connected at that moment and it happened to each of us, a memory we all can hold.

I was actually surprised the mandolin somewhat fit in that kind of a setting. It was nice.
Really wish I could find some ways to do it again. Just, something about the tribal feel of it was really great. Was definitely something I could dance to :D

[lloving]

I agree with all comments so far, however I do have one warning about jams. Especially Old Time Music jams. They do at times have what is referred to a leader / facilitator. This person is often self-appointed. Most of these folks are gracious welcoming individuals that will help coordinate the jam and make it an enjoyable experience for all. A few on the other hand are what I call Jam Nazies. Sort of like the "Soup Nazi" of The Siendfeld Show fame. They tend to be very serious about their responsibility to the genre and the order of the jam. If you do find yourself in the presence of one of these "leaders" do not cross, I repeat do not cross them. Be ready to suggest a tune when your turn comes up in the rotation, and be sure you respect the banjo players current tunning when making your suggestion, and by all means don't suggest a tune that is not a bonafide Old Time tune. Don't play out of turn, be aware of the rotation direction, yada yada yada.........

Sorry I just had to vent.:crying:

[Mike Bunting]

I agree with all comments so far, however I do have one warning about jams. Especially Old Time Music jams. They do at times have what is referred to a leader / facilitator. This person is often self-appointed. Most of these folks are gracious welcoming individuals that will help coordinate the jam and make it an enjoyable experience for all. A few on the other hand are what I call Jam Nazies. Sort of like the "Soup Nazi" of The Siendfeld Show fame. They tend to be very serious about their responsibility to the genre and the order of the jam. If you do find yourself in the presence of one of these "leaders" do not cross, I repeat do not cross them. Be ready to suggest a tune when your turn comes up in the rotation, and be sure you respect the banjo players current tunning when making your suggestion, and by all means don't suggest a tune that is not a bonafide Old Time tune. Don't play out of turn, be aware of the rotation direction, yada yada yada.........

Sorry I just had to vent.:crying:

Sounds like you hang out with the wrong people.

[Jim]

At our weekly jam we don't much worry about genre of music and conversation usually involves solving the worlds problems, instruments and the people who aren't there that week.

[SincereCorgi]

A few on the other hand are what I call Jam Nazies. Sort of like the "Soup Nazi" of The Siendfeld Show fame. They tend to be very serious about their responsibility to the genre and the order of the jam.

There's definitely a place for these people though... it is a giant pain when you're sitting around in a little circle with the banjos and mandolins and fiddles and the new guy launches into a twelve-minute rendition of "Across the Universe".

[Markus]

Agree with Corgi.... when there is a jam buster person, an authority person saves the jam from being ruined for all.

If you find yourself on the wrong end of that person, then I would find another jam. Maybe they are a jerk, but any genre-defined jam often have limits on song and styles. If you are not a regular, then song and playing style limitations might not be apparent to you despite being agreed on by participants.

[Michael H Geimer]

A recent thread about playing in a jam session reminded me of the way a friend taught me how to jam a couple weeks ago.

The method is pretty simple:

1. Start out by playing something simple, a good chord progression or a song you both know.

2. Once you are both comfortable with that, one of you can keep up the background tune/chord progression/etc. while the other improvises: the jam.

3. Once that person is finished, he/she takes up the background and the next person takes up the jam, and it cycles around person to person until you decide to stop.

Hope this is useful! *stamps* [TESTED BY MUSICIANS]

Bold Text was emphasized by me, to illustrate the the point that in a 2 person jam you have a 50/50 split carrying the lead vs playing backup.

In every other jam you will spend more and more time playing backup and less time playing lead. Embrace this outlook support your fellow musicians with attentive, yet unobtrusive accompaniment. :)

Also, I hope some one comes along with a good summary of the John Hartford "Windows" idea of changing your role in the jam every so-many measures, but always with a supportive role in mind.

I get great satisfaction playing rhythm behind a hot solo, one where I can hear the soloists intentions and help get the whole solo "there" and "on time". :cool:

[JeffD]

I think the expectation that any jam is going to match anyone's list of "rules of jam etiquette" is ill advised.

There are so many kinds of jams, OT, IT, BG, song-around, sing-around, and within them there is open, moderated, lead, with sheet music, without sheet music, orthodox to the genre, not so much orthodox... etc.

Here, for eternity, are the two rules, that cover every jam you will ever encounter.

Rule 1 - LISTEN very carefully to see how it is done at that jam.

Rule 2 - Do it that way.


:)

[Laird]

Also, I hope some one comes along with a good summary of the John Hartford "Windows" idea of changing your role in the jam every so-many measures, but always with a supportive role in mind.

I hope to see that. Sounds great!

Just tracked it down here (http://fiddlejammer.blogspot.com/2010/12/john-hartfords-recipe.html).

[mandolirius]

:whistling:
I think the expectation that any jam is going to match anyone's list of "rules of jam etiquette" is ill advised.

There are so many kinds of jams, OT, IT, BG, song-around, sing-around, and within them there is open, moderated, lead, with sheet music, without sheet music, orthodox to the genre, not so much orthodox... etc.

Here, for eternity, are the two rules, that cover every jam you will ever encounter.

Rule 1 - LISTEN very carefully to see how it is done at that jam.

Rule 2 - Do it that way.


:)

Seems sooooo simple, and yet......... :whistling:

[SincereCorgi]

Just tracked it down here (http://fiddlejammer.blogspot.com/2010/12/john-hartfords-recipe.html).

This is a pretty interesting and concrete approach- does anybody know if the liner notes have more about this, or does this blog entry have pretty much all of it?

[foldedpath]

Bold Text was emphasized by me, to illustrate the the point that in a 2 person jam you have a 50/50 split carrying the lead vs playing backup.

In every other jam you will spend more and more time playing backup and less time playing lead. Embrace this outlook support your fellow musicians with attentive, yet unobtrusive accompaniment. :)


Here's where we get into the clash of jam cultures. :)

What you're talking about here is Bluegrass, or maybe similar things like Jazz and Blues where lead players will take breaks and the rest of the group falls into a backing role. But not all acoustic jams follow that format.

In an OldTime jam or an Irish Traditional Music session, there is no dichotomy between playing lead and playing backup. Everyone plays unison melody, if you know the tune. Those who don't know the tune, fall into the backup role (although there is generally more tolerance for multiple backers in OldTime than Irish trad, depending on the local session scene, for reasons that are too complicated to get into here). No solos, no lead breaks, everyone plays the melodies together as a group.

It's a sort of Vulcan Mind Meld that happens in the unison melody genres. It's difficult to explain to those in other formats where you're either playing backup or lead. The Zen trance of playing the same tune over and over in OldTime jams tends to put me to sleep. But there is something I really enjoy about playing in Irish and Scottish sessions, where you never know what tune is coming up next in the set, and you have to keep on your toes. Just a different jam culture.



Here, for eternity, are the two rules, that cover every jam you will ever encounter.

Rule 1 - LISTEN very carefully to see how it is done at that jam.

Rule 2 - Do it that way.

:)

Yep, that's as close as we can get. Although if it's a regularly scheduled jam or session, I think it's good to attend a few times without an instrument to get the general feel of things.

[TheArimathean]

Seems like a little confusion between jam-genres. The jam situation this methods works best with is a casual jam where maybe you meet some people and you say "Hey, we should play some music together!" and they say "Yeah, we should!" and then you start up on a familiar tune or chord progression and cycle through the solos.

By the way, that Hartford 'Windows' idea sounds neat too, although it seems like each member would be portraying a different 'mood' at the same time and it might result in some dis-union unless there was some sort of jam 'leader'... (or am I just misunderstanding the method?)

[Laird]

This is a pretty interesting and concrete approach- does anybody know if the liner notes have more about this, or does this blog entry have pretty much all of it?

The blog entry is all I found. That said, this sounds like it may work better for a regular line-up seeking to stumble across some interesting variations than a general open jam.

[Timmando]

I found myself in a different kind of jam session about a month ago at the Florida folk festival. Little did I know initially, that it was a "songwriters" jam session. Each person in the circle did a little mini one man performance of one of his original songs, regardless of the difficulty. I guess everyone was supposed to sit and listen, and not participate, unless you knew the song very well, so as not to distract from the performance going on. When it got to my turn, I chose a tune that I thought everyone would know and could participate, Roll in my sweet babys arms, who doesn't know that tune in circle of acoustic musicians? Well the songwriters are above doing that kind of a lowly public domain song so there was little participation. Those songwriters are an uppity group.

[foldedpath]

Seems like a little confusion between jam-genres. The jam situation this methods works best with is a casual jam where maybe you meet some people and you say "Hey, we should play some music together!" and they say "Yeah, we should!" and then you start up on a familiar tune or chord progression and cycle through the solos.

Yes, but this also describes a casual Irish trad or OldTime jam, as in... "Come over to the house on Sunday, or let's meet down at the park if the weather is nice, and we'll have a few tunes!"

But it won't be chords and solos, it will be people seeing what tunes they have in common, and playing those tunes together. It may seem like nitpicking, but it's an important distinction if people aren't sure what a "jam" is. It covers a lot of different situations.

[mandolirius]

I found myself in a different kind of jam session about a month ago at the Florida folk festival. Little did I know initially, that it was a "songwriters" jam session. Each person in the circle did a little mini one man performance of one of his original songs, regardless of the difficulty. I guess everyone was supposed to sit and listen, and not participate, unless you knew the song very well, so as not to distract from the performance going on. When it got to my turn, I chose a tune that I thought everyone would know and could participate, Roll in my sweet babys arms, who doesn't know that tune in circle of acoustic musicians? Well the songwriters are above doing that kind of a lowly public domain song so there was little participation. Those songwriters are an uppity group.

See post #11

[JeffD]

The Zen trance of playing the same tune over and over in OldTime jams tends to put me to sleep.
.

:))

This is true for many folks. For me, well, the trance induced by playing the same tune over and over is what I live for. If its a boring tune I try to decorate it (not improve) and manipulate the dynamics to make it interesting, to ferret out the inherent drama in the tune. If its an interesting tune I just crawl inside it and see where it takes me.

[JeffD]

There are probably as many kinds of jams as there are conversations - lead, unlead, lecture, Q & A, moderated, friendly, informative, learning, learned, showing off, etc.

Getting together casually and maybe spontaneously, with one or two musician friends from other genres is often the most difficult of situations. Each of us has our universe of experience and expectations, and each of us harbors the prejudice that our understanding of playing together is "the way" you play together. If you can make it work it is one of life's great joys. But it is as dicey as striking up a good conversation with a total stranger.

Listening is everything. Treating people as if they really are what they want you to think they are is another part of it.

[Iron]

When it is your turn to call a tune, make sure it has jamability there is nothing worse than sitting in a open BG jam and have someone trying to do a tune that don't fit and no one knows and he becomes a one man band playing a bunch of weird chords up the neck.
And remember when it your tune it is the jammers that help you sound good, when it is someone else's tune it is your job to make them sound good