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What happens at a Jam session?
A jam session can be any combination of instruments, but ideally would have drums and bass and guitar and maybe keyboard too.
Someone might lead the session and suggest songs to try and play, or it could just be a free jam, where musical ideas are explored.
What can I play at a jam session?
I’ve been to jams with only one guitarist and a drummer - in this case it's a good idea to take a loop station along so you can play over your own chord changes.
Let me give you an example of what might happen at a jam session, and what you might be able to do.
Let's say you're jamming with Drums, Bass and Guitar.
You have 2 options. Either you play something you know and hope the other guys are good enough to join in. Alternatively, you can wait for the drummer or bass player to start playing and try to fit in with them.
Since you can play chords, it will be easier for you to start by playing some chords and rhythm - and hopefully the bass player will be able to follow you.
It’s a good idea to start by playing a 12 bar blues chord progression because this is a one of the most universal and well recognised song structures. When you play 12 bar, it can in any style you like, metal rock, jazz, blues - you choose.
Easy right? No? Ok so now you have to learn some useful guitar skills.
How am i going to pick up these new skills?
You could start with picking up a guitar magazine - some of them are packed with things you can play and learn that will help you become good at jamming.
I think the best thing you can do is go find someone else who wants to jam and just have a go.
Jamming on Guitar
Jamming on Guitar
Bob Marley famously wrote a song about it and guitarists and musicians all over the world love to do it.
Wikipedia: A jam session is a musical event, process, or activity where musicians play (i.e. "jam") by improvising without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements.
One of the things I love about a jam is when music is created by accident - just from trying things out and reacting to what other musicians around you play.
You don’t need to be a genius or even study music theory to be able to take part in a jam session - all you need is a pentatonic scale, a couple of bar chords and - most importantly - a pair of ears in working order.
Jamming is an old-school improvising skill. For me and many guitarists who learned to play before the internet and digital home recording, jamming friends was the most accessible way to learn to play guitar and make music.
As a teenager I used to jam daily with Robert Cray, AC/DC, Deep Purple, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others on my vinyl record player. I didn't know many scales back then but that didn't matter, I just tried copying them and playing in the gaps they left in the music.
YouTube is a fun place for learning to play your favourite songs or guitar riffs. You can find backing tracks to jam along with and free lessons and advice on all aspects and styles of guitar playing.
But jamming with a computer is very different from jamming with other humans.
There is something very special happening when you play guitar in a group. It's more than music, it's the feeling that you are in a team of people and that your team is working together to make something organic.
YouTube is great for quick know-how answers to specific questions and the backing tracks are great fun to play over. But it isn't the most efficient way to learn to play guitar because it doesn't know you - If you want to Get Good Fast, then you'll have to analyse your own ability, and work out what you need to focus on to move forward from where you are right now. I hope that makes sense?
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