https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Fri, 05 Jun 2026 02:04:58 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313402 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:06:37 +0000 we jam. we make noise.
one night to shake things up we shut off the big lights and played by the light of three lava lamps.
things get interesting when you can't see your fretboard.



so sorry. I am being redundant.]]> Opinions and Polls dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313402 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313400 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:49:48 +0000 Opinions and Polls Dan Lasley https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313400 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313398 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:50:56 +0000 all levels of player also shows up. I used to be the amateur newbie. I cut my chops down there, leaning so much.
we have players that win music awards and players that have tin ears. all are welcome.
and it is true, we start by following someone. it is extremely rare when we go 12 bar blues. if that happens at some point we all hang on the tonic and jam in one key (those guys jamming in G had it right). it is amazing how much can be explored this way. sometimes we are very melodic and sometimes the jam goes all a tonal. sometimes the jams sound like twisted circus music and siometimes it sounds down right Irish reel.
it would be boring to jam on cover songs down there..... but that siad, my best friend and I jam and play extended solos using cover songs. he and I switch back and forth between rhythym and lead palying along with a Cassio drum machine.

at jam night interesting things begin to happen after severteen minutes. sometimes the weakest player starts things off. sometimes the pro does. it does not matter because we all join in and things change, morph, grow. to end things someone jumps in the middle and does the classic song ending jump. it is a riot to see.
if anyone is in Minneapolis on a friday night give me a call.]]> Opinions and Polls dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313398 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313394 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:48:24 +0000 thought they knew. Then it would go anywhere and everywhere. Then we would come back to the song. I like jamming like this... Last time I jammed with friends we had several moments like that. At one point my friend, John, showed us the chord progression to an old Humble Pie song. I wasn't familiar with it but the really fun part came in when John began a solo. We morphed the song a few times and it was awesome.

On the flip side...during a break, John's son got behind the drumkit and started to play. I asked him to play something a little bit funkier and made up a little riff to go along with it. John joined in with the bass player and next thing you know, we were off and running. I like the spontaneous stuff. The fun part is when you walk over to the drummer, give him the high sign and the on the next measure...both of you go in different directions! :lol:]]> Opinions and Polls Blueline https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313394 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313389 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:16:43 +0000 mea culpa! I knew where that started, but not exactly who started it. Still it was a lot of fun to play, it's been added to our playlist. Now to find a chart for "Lookin' Out for #1", which leads me to "Murder by Numbers" by the Police.]]> Opinions and Polls Dan Lasley https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313389 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313352 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:43:52 +0000 and other times for pure creativity (Taking Care of Business played jazzy, with the break played in 5/4).
mea culpa!]]> Opinions and Polls gnease https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313352 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313347 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:51:55 +0000 thought they knew. Then it would go anywhere and everywhere. Then we would come back to the song. I like jamming like this.

And I think the real secret to jamming and improvising is confidence. Most folks are just afraid to take a chance, go out on a limb and create something on the spot. It is safe and comfortable to just play a song the way it goes. I think most people don't believe they are even capable of playing their own music. But we simply didn't care, our whole idea was to have fun and play whatever we wanted to play. :D Since my comment was referenced earlier, I'll concur that jamming this way is great fun. I've participated in jams where a classic song is played in a totally different genre, sometimes for fun (Somebody to Love as reggae-ish sung with a Longue Island accent), and other times for pure creativity (Taking Care of Business played jazzy, with the break played in 5/4). A variation on this is to create medlies as one song morphs into the next.

The song structure gives you a starting place, your own abilities and whimsy take you from there.]]> Opinions and Polls Dan Lasley https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313347 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313334 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:22:16 +0000
About 10 years ago I was in a band called the Dogs, it was the most dedicated band I've ever been in. We practiced at my house in the basement and would play at least 5 nights a week, the average practice was at least 6 hours! :D

But we were total improvisation. Now, we would play covers like Sunshine of Your Love and we would play the verses and chorus the way it goes. But when it came to solos we would just go anywhere. Many times the solo would go 30 minutes or more. And it is hard to explain, but we would take turns changing the song. Our bass player James might change the riff he was playing, then the drummer and I would change. Then Mark our drummer would change to some really wierd beat. He was exceptionally creative, he would bring in objects like pipes or a hub-cap and play on those. We even set up an old beater guitar tuned to an open tuning on a stand, he would beat on that or saw on the strings like a violin with his drumsticks.

I cannot tell you how fun these jams were, we just explored every kind of sound and style we could think of. The funny part was we did this so much that it almost seemed we could read each other's mind. Without saying a word to each other we would come back to the original song at the same moment. We would laugh because this would happen over and over again.

We played a couple of gigs and they were bizarre. The first couple of songs people would just stare at us with open mouths. We didn't play like any band you've ever heard. But then something would take over, it was almost like we had hypnotic powers over the crowd. They would come right up to us and start jumping up and down shouting, trying to touch us too. I really don't understand why we had this effect on crowds, but we did, they would go nuts. I wish I knew what it was, because I've never been in any other band that could do this. When we would finish at the end of the night the crowd would still be going, shouting out choruses to our songs as the owner showed them the door.

Ended up James our bass player went in the Army and that was the end of the band. But we were just kind of a special jam band that had chemistry. I still have dozens of tapes of us playing, I go back and listen and it still makes me laugh. :lol:

Anway, our style was to start with a song people thought they knew. Then it would go anywhere and everywhere. Then we would come back to the song. I like jamming like this.

And I think the real secret to jamming and improvising is confidence. Most folks are just afraid to take a chance, go out on a limb and create something on the spot. It is safe and comfortable to just play a song the way it goes. I think most people don't believe they are even capable of playing their own music. But we simply didn't care, our whole idea was to have fun and play whatever we wanted to play. :D]]> Opinions and Polls Wes Inman https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313334 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313272 Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:52:33 +0000
About a month ago my kids had some friends over and they were jamming in the studio house. I peeked in on them (they are mid-teens so I gotta be "dad"). They were just "discovering" boogie. So they were jammin' away in G. I was out in the yard with a Cuban and a brandy with the wife. On and on an ON they went...maybe twenty minutes...still in G. Finally...I stood up, scratching at my skull. Something seemed rather odd and at first I had a hard time figuring it out: They changed key!!!!! :lol:

Cat]]> Opinions and Polls Cat https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313272 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313153 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:58:50 +0000
That's why we've kind of started a band and changed the jams to practice. Now at least we have a set list that we know what we are going to play but it's now more of a practice than just a jam.

Otherwise they just turn into a 12 bar blues jam which is OK for awhile, but it gets old real quick for me, I can only take so much blues.]]> Opinions and Polls cnev https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/the-science-of-jamming/#post-313153