Jamming Tips????

Okay so I'm in a band and they like to jam and i dont know how to jam so i just kinda stand there aquardly when they do that. I've been trying to improve and learn how to do it and everything but its really not clicking.

Does anyone have any tips on how to do it?? I've googled it like 192029309283091 times and it said arpeggios are helpful. Learned some of those. It said i need the pentatonics scale. learned a minor and major pattern of those. but i still don't get how to do it

Originally Posted by: alissamariah11

Okay so I'm in a band and they like to jam and i dont know how to jam so i just kinda stand there aquardly when they do that. I've been trying to improve and learn how to do it and everything but its really not clicking.

Does anyone have any tips on how to do it?? I've googled it like 192029309283091 times and it said arpeggios are helpful. Learned some of those. It said i need the pentatonics scale. learned a minor and major pattern of those. but i still don't get how to do it

Hey Alissa, you're not alone in this.

To be able to "Jam" it's important to have parameters. For instance, you could all agree you're going to jam on E minor pentatonic (you said above you learned that shape). In that case the bassist and other guitarist (etc) would stay on E, keep it simple, and let each other take turns getting creative over it. No changing to other things and going all over the place on a whim.

If the rest of the band wants to change to something else, it needs to be agreed upon, or planned out.

Otherwise, the chances of it sounding good are very low! If there are no rules, it will be a typical trainwreck. :)

Blues is a form of music that is really good for this! I recommend learning the 12-bar blues, and making sure everyone else in the band knows it, too. You could jam forever on that.

Eventually, bands get good at this sort of thing and can give each other signals. At a very high level, trained jazz musicians can instantly improvise complex pieces of music by ear, and to outsiders it will seem like magic. But this takes years of work to get to.

Just start out very simple, agree on a tempo, rhythm, and key, and everyone has to support each other.

Another good thing to do is practice this on your own with some basic backing tracks.

-Carl.