What is your personal way of improvising on bass during a jam?

[Whousedtoplay]

if I call out "Nobody's Sweetheart in F: I'll sing the verse and one chorus, then everyone take two choruses each, then we'll triple tag it and out."

Do you really use "Nobody's Sweetheart" for modern day jamming?

 

[mambo4]

what makes it hard is staying in that mindset of opening and devoting yourself to the moment and the music, and giving up your preconceived notions and ego, while staying focused and paying attention to the most delicate details, rather than a technical skill issue

All of that applies equally well to carefully planned and structured performances too. Once you play a tune as band so much that you don’t even have to consciously attend to the physical execution, that is when your attention is freed up to listen and focus on hearing and responding in the ways you mention.

In my experience a well dialed in performance can be just as artistically liberating as a free jam

 

[turf3]

Do you really use "Nobody's Sweetheart" for modern day jamming?

Well, it's on the list for tomorrow...if we play it, it certainly won't be as free form as if I were to call, say, "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" in Db, or Impressions, or "Spanish Key", to be sure.