The death of jamming

[Paulabass]

I have another (humorous) thread going about jam bands. On a more serious note, I've been running jams for years, and probably always will. I'm saddened that so many people have lost the spirit of true jamming- Improvisation, and spontaneity.
Every week I end up with a bunch of GREAT players who just want to play songs. Maybe add a second (third...fourth) guitar solo, but the jamming aspect is all but gone.
I try to push my guests boundries, and a FEW of them get it. Go to double time feel, or a modulation, or switch up a groove- reggae Zeppelin, or metal Peaches and Herb.
I try to keep it interesting, and push peoples boundries.
I often just hit a brick wall. If it ain't on the record, they don't want to try it.
Too many automatons, not enough free spirits.
Another Pride and Joy.......in the same key as the record.....
Rant over.

 

[GBBSbassist]

Personally, I don't enjoy jamming at all. I noodle enough on my own. I don't need a group of other people doing it at the same time.

 

[Acoustic356]

It's the advent of YouTube musicians. A lot of people are learning note for note from there. I lose a lot of students because I teach practical theory. The ones who get it become monsters. They are learning Nashville Number System first lesson and are playing (without fills) the first lesson. They are trained to use their ear and apply the things that they learn in every lessons.

Their friends may learn songs, but within 3 months, my guys are playing circles around the other teachers students... and they actually tend to stick with the instrument.

 

[Paulabass]

^^ Acoustic356-hallelujah! (Not the overplayed song about bondage, and the old testament).

 

[jmattbassplaya]

IME, there are a few different kinds of musicians: the note for note guys, the guys who follow structure but will add their own flare, and the guys who feel comfortable going off the cuff and will improvise.

Improvising (well) isn't easy to do. It requires a level of technical proficiency, theoretical knowledge, hearing ability, and, honestly, maturity to be able to do at a level that's at least enjoyable for others to take part in and for audiences to want to listen to. Even players who have the ability to do it might have trouble meshing well with other musicians unless they have played together beforehand.

It's unsurprising that a lot of players don't enjoy it or simply can't do it. However, it has been my experiences that once you do have the ability to improv well in a group setting that doing anything else can be less fulfilling of an experience. There is something special about being able to play a technically challenging song note for note and with perfect inflection, but it's something else entirely to have enough command of music as a language that you can communicate with others through it in a way that is exciting not only for the musicians but for people listening and watching it happen live.

 

[Mushroo]

"Jamming" means different things to different people. In my social circle, "jamming" means "getting together and playing the songs we know in a casual/loose setting." Improvisation may, or may not, be an important ingredient of jamming, depending on the mix of musicians. Spontaneity is a little different concept than improvisation; in my opinion, it is possible to sound spontaneous and fresh even if you are playing a song in the original key and arrangement.

 

[sean_on_bass]

I have another (humorous) thread going about jam bands. On a more serious note, I've been running jams for years, and probably always will. I'm saddened that so many people have lost the spirit of true jamming- Improvisation, and spontaneity.
Every week I end up with a bunch of GREAT players who just want to play songs. Maybe add a second (third...fourth) guitar solo, but the jamming aspect is all but gone.
I try to push my guests boundries, and a FEW of them get it. Go to double time feel, or a modulation, or switch up a groove- reggae Zeppelin, or metal Peaches and Herb.
I try to keep it interesting, and push peoples boundries.
I often just hit a brick wall. If it ain't on the record, they don't want to try it.
Too many automatons, not enough free spirits.
Another Pride and Joy.......in the same key as the record.....
Rant over.

With you 100 goddamn percent. Your jam sounds like one i would have a great time at! Some folks have trouble getting off the rails, but i've been going off the rails since i picked up the instrument.

 

[Spidey2112]

When I did 'jam' with others, the get togethers still included well known songs we all agreed on... from my perspective, I'd learn them as close to n-t-n as I could, time permitting... when the songs got boring, bring on the improv...

... I used to ad-lib all the time, when I first started practicing/learning, and doing so actually made me a better player/musician...

... these days, with time constraints (life, in general) and working toward a gig-worthy set list, I wish I had more time to dedicate to these items...

... soon.

 

[sean_on_bass]

"Jamming" means different things to different people. In my social circle, "jamming" means "getting together and playing the songs we know in a casual/loose setting." Improvisation may, or may not, be an important ingredient of jamming, depending on the mix of musicians. Spontaneity is a little different concept than improvisation; in my opinion, it is possible to sound spontaneous and fresh even if you are playing a song in the original key and arrangement.

Not that it matters, but if the goal is to run through a setlist for fun, i call that a "session."

 

[sean_on_bass]

Personally, I don't enjoy jamming at all. I noodle enough on my own. I don't need a group of other people doing it at the same time.

If jamming for you is five dudes noodling in a room, you are just playing with jabronis. A good group of jammers will establish structure and play effectively in their role as part of the ensemble.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I have another (humorous) thread going about jam bands. On a more serious note, I've been running jams for years, and probably always will. I'm saddened that so many people have lost the spirit of true jamming- Improvisation, and spontaneity.
Every week I end up with a bunch of GREAT players who just want to play songs. Maybe add a second (third...fourth) guitar solo, but the jamming aspect is all but gone.
I try to push my guests boundries, and a FEW of them get it. Go to double time feel, or a modulation, or switch up a groove- reggae Zeppelin, or metal Peaches and Herb.
I try to keep it interesting, and push peoples boundries.
I often just hit a brick wall. If it ain't on the record, they don't want to try it.
Too many automatons, not enough free spirits.
Another Pride and Joy.......in the same key as the record.....
Rant over.

I feel your pain. My BL runs a Tuesday night jam. It's very popular. It's common for a few members of a band to get up together, and they usually play material from their book, except the solos go on for two or three times as long. You don't know true despair until you've been subjected to a guitarist going off on a Spin Doctors tune for 15 minutes. Every once in a while I get up there and lay down an altered blues or a line from Miles. If the drummer is simpatico, it works for a little while, until the guitarists start honking off, and then dynamics and swing disappear, and I find myself trying to figure out how to close it out without anybody feeling like they've been cut off (even thought that is exactly what I'm doing).

Other nights I just show up with an acoustic guitar and make a fool of myself. Less stressful.

 

[Spidey2112]

A good group of jammers will establish structure and play effectively in their role as part of the ensemble.

Agreed... all depends on who's coming to dinner...

 

[petrus61]

I kind of cut my teeth on improv while playing in an original jam band and later jazz/funk, so it’s in my dna. I’ll always be happy to jam out with musicians that can actually do it. There’s nothing better than exploring a song and pushing the boundaries with great musicians. I gig in cover bands these days where things are a bit more streamlined and homogenized, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. It’s great when the opportunity arises to add some tasteful free form to a song. Some musicians are really at their best when not confined by those rules, some players just fall apart and get lost. The most important element to me is the audience, as some are more receptive than others to extended explorations.

 

[pacojas]

spike the punch?

 

[Spidey2112]

The most important element to me is the audience...

Spot on, @petrus61...

 

[Kmonk]

Personally, I don't enjoy jamming at all. I noodle enough on my own. I don't need a group of other people doing it at the same time.

I agree. I have never and will never go to an open jam. I guess it's because I've gone to friend's houses and jammed with people I don't know and never enjoyed it. Everybody standing around trying to figure out what to play, loud drawn out guitar solos, etc. No thanks.

 

[Matthew_84]

I used to go to a weekly jam session where everyone would just read chord/lyric sheets and jam off that. Sometimes we’d make a song sound very different from the original in a good way, and then sometimes in a horrendous way, but it was always fun (unless someone was really butchering a song).

I’m just getting back into bass playing (took a year hiatus) but am purposely learning just the chords to some songs so I can jam along to them.

There are definitely some specific basslines and songs I want to learn note for note, but at the end of the day, I’d have more fun playing improvised, melodic lines off the cuff.

 

[GBBSbassist]

If jamming for you is five dudes noodling in a room, you are just playing with jabronis. A good group of jammers will establish structure and play effectively in their role as part of the ensemble.

Structure sounds like a song being written, not a jam.

 

[buldog5151bass]

One reason I enjoy playing playing jazz. I don't know it as I should, but the drummer and I play off each other, and the keyboardist will follow. Once through the song structure, then solos. The drummer and I can go anywhere - stop-time, change swing to bossa, whatever. They're at our mercy I tell you!

The spirit of jamming came from jazz. Many of the great improv blues and rock bassists came from there (Jack Bruce, Jamerson). There is a club near me that has monthly trios up from NYC - you never know what they are going to play - Real Book tunes, originals, Beatles, Broadway, Johnny Cash, whatever. Beyond my pay grade understanding it all, but amazing. Perhaps you need to find a jazz combo.

 

[lz4005]

The issue where I live is that people who are skilled enough to really improvise and do what OP is talking about are already in bands. They don't go to open jams on their night off. The people who go to those, 90% of the time, are inexperienced or underambitious players who want to stay in the safe zone of blues changes.