anybody else find jam sessions boring?

[yorks5stringer]

I enjoy going to Jams, was at one in Glastonbury Sunday night (Yes, I've played Glasto!). Charlie Miller and the Soul Agents run it and I got the chance to play quite a few things that my Band cannot/will not do. .Equally often go to Open Mics where I'm the only Bassist and I get to play all night with different singer/songwriters. Luckily Eric Clapton has not attended any of the Jams I go to, but if he did I'd be happy to back him....

[thisnameistaken]

I'm in two bands at the moment and all our music comes initially from jam sessions.

One band is drums/bass/guitar/turntables and does hip-hop stuff. The guitarist is quite capable of shreddy rock solos but refrains 99% of the time.

The other band is drums/bass/guitar and we all sing, and does dub/electronic stuff. The guitarist is not capable of shreddy rock solos but is an amazing singer so nobody cares.

I imagine it's different if you have to spend hours on end walking turnarounds behind some blues-soloing twat.

Edited April 29, 2014 by thisnameistaken

[barneyg42]

When I was getting back into playing a few years ago I started to go to a local jam to get my eye back in. Although not advertised as a blues jam it tended to be Red House etc all night. One night a drummer came up to me and asked if I do any rock stuff, too right I said! So he got me up with his buddies and we bashed our way through Crossroads and Wishing Well! As we walked off stage to the applause of the adoring crowd and patting ourselves on the back for a job well done one of the organisers muttered under his breath "hmm, that was a bit loud" and got another group up to do a twenty minute slow blues jam, well maybe fifteen!! I didn't bother after that!

[xgsjx]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1398722946' post='2437057']
I'm not talking about playing new songs and refining them, I mean jam sessions that just meander aimlessly along just so that some guitarist can do a 20 minute solo
[/quote]
That sounds like it's only benefiting the guitarist & the rest of the band is making it that way (including you).
A jam session is what you make of it. Either stop listening to the guitarist & listen to the drummer & get a groove going, or listen to what the guitarist is playing & take the good bits & turn them into basslines.
Get off those root notes from time to time!

[leschirons]

I enjoy them, if there's a good keyboard player and drummer and it gets jazz-funky. Some of the most enjoyment I've had at gigs has been just after setting up and before the actual sound-check.

Jamming along with a wannabe Bonnamassa who thinks everyone wants to listen to a 20 minute solo is as appealing as someone elses bogies.

[ead]

Within our band we will often take an idea in rehersal - in the prescribed key(s) - and just see where it goes tempo-wise and style-wise. We've had a few songs develop out of this, hopefully in a good way.

Plucking up the courage to go to an open jam night so can't really comment on those yet.

Edited April 29, 2014 by ead

[Dad3353]

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1398755480' post='2437164']
I enjoy them, if there's a good keyboard player and drummer and it gets jazz-funky. Some of the most enjoyment I've had at gigs has been just after setting up and before the actual sound-check.

Jamming along with a wannabe Bonnamassa who thinks everyone wants to listen to a 20 minute solo is as appealing as someone elses bogies.
[/quote]

Mmm...! Bogies..!
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:139776]

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1398697931' post='2436675']
I just don't get jamming, doing some turnaround bass line over and over while some guitarist thinks he's Eric Clapton, it must be even worse for anybody that actually has to listen to it.
Mind you I come from the school of thought that says "if you can't say what you want to say in 3 minutes, you're saying too much"
[/quote]

Ive never played at one, but have been in a few pubs where there is a jam going on. Im sure its not the norm everywhere but it seems to me all you have to do is play blues all night long. At least, this is all ive witnessed so far.
Im sure they are fun if you like that sort of thing though.

[krysh]

I love open Jamsessions and I should since I host a weekly one on thursdays.
I explained my unterstanding of the term here already: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/235728-so-what-is-a-jam-session-really/page__view__findpost__p__2437213"]http://basschat.co.u...ost__p__2437213[/url]
of course jamsessions can be boring. and sometimes they can be really terrible.
BUT: if there is the right combination of musicians you can really create magic on the fly. The key to this is being able to listen and knowing what you better do not. And dare to fail. try, experiment, play from your heart and soul! If everybody plays to support the others and is trying to improve the team energy then musical miracles can happen. For me these are most adored moments as an artist.

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1398710054' post='2436854']
Don't see the point unless there is an end goal. I might consider it worthwhile/paramount to gauge whether
the unit has any chemistry and whether it will work, but there will be a plan and reason otherwise I wouldn't
be interested.
I don't do random jams.
[/quote]

This.

[discreet]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1398722946' post='2437057']
I'm not talking about playing new songs and refining them, I mean jam sessions that just meander aimlessly along just so that some guitarist can do a 20 minute solo...
[/quote]

Oh God, no. You mean a 'blues'-style jam? Haven't done that for years. Yes, that is boring in the extreme and I'll have no part of it!

[jazzyvee]

Yes when a rapper gets up to do their free-styling.

[bertbass]

Slow blues in E chaps? No jamming for me thanks.

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1398764913' post='2437282']Oh God, no. You mean a 'blues'-style jam? Haven't done that for years. Yes, that is boring in the extreme and I'll have no part of it! [/quote]

Depends on whether you like Blues & how organised it is. The two I go to are managed quite strictly - 3 songs each line up, solos twice around the block, no funny tunings unless you play slide. If you take the p£ss you'll get chucked off after two numbers & not asked back.

Last Sunday I got lumbered with 'Key To The Highway' which is usually an exercise in staying awake over a I-V-IV played at a funereal pace, but the gob-iron merchant decided to make it a lot faster. That gave me room to stretch out a bit to the extent that I had Dennis Greaves (Nine Below Zero) jumping up & down shouting 'YEAH!' at me. Best 'jam' I've had in ages & it only goes to show.

Sometimes I've been lumbered with average players who think they're really special, & that's frustrating. Other times I've phoned it in as there was nowhere to go. Then there are those that understand that it's unrehearsed & that anyone can put their stuff on the table provided it fits. The latter is the reason I do them.

Pete.

[JapanAxe]

andyonbass and I both attend a monthly jam session, and I've really enjoyed them on the whole.

Best thing: You end up playing a song you vaguely know from the radio with a random group of people.

Worst thing: 'Let's do a 12-bar' - na-[u]na[/u]-na-na-NA

[paul_5]

'Blues in E' has limited mileage for me, so I'm out.

The vast majority of Jams that I've been to have revolved around this, but occasionally I've hooked up with some really great musicians who are willing to play anything.

[xgsjx]

Playing blues is one of those things where it's gonna be great fun or you're gonna want a noose.
Blues was where I started on bass & I can have great fun jamming to something like West Nashville Boogie & because it's in Em, you can solo over the root too!
However, I don't think there'll be much of that in the electronica band.

[Greggo]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1398697931' post='2436675']
I just don't get jamming, doing some turnaround bass line over and over while some guitarist thinks he's Eric Clapton, it must be even worse for anybody that actually has to listen to it.
Mind you I come from the school of thought that says "if you can't say what you want to say in 3 minutes, you're saying too much"
[/quote]

Yip you are right jamming is generally w**k. Playing along to a riffs that a guitarist is playing up and getting some kind of structure that resembles a song is much better.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Greggo

[paul_5]

I'm off to one tonight, purely because I want them to book my 'real' band. Wish me luck, blues in 'E' here we come...

[oggiesnr]

For a few years I went to a jam session in a local Kurdish cafe. There was a floating group of around a dozen of us from all over the place (Lebanese accordion player, Polish clarinettist etc) and the deal was we'd each play a tune that we knew from wherever and then the rest would gradually join in and we'd see where it went. Often into unpredictable places and keys and they often came out nothing like they went in but was some of the most fun times I've had playing music.

Steve

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1399617940' post='2445830']
For a few years I went to a jam session in a local Kurdish cafe. There was a floating group of around a dozen of us from all over the place (Lebanese accordion player, Polish clarinettist etc) and the deal was we'd each play a tune that we knew from wherever and then the rest would gradually join in and we'd see where it went. Often into unpredictable places and keys and they often came out nothing like they went in but was some of the most fun times I've had playing music.

Steve
[/quote]

Now that sounds like fun!

[paul_5]

what he said - sounds like a top night out.

[Jonnyboy Rotten]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1398698237' post='2436686']
Tony Levin said "I'm a bass player, I enjoy doing the same thing over and over again"

It's what we do, sometimes at least. Shrug. It makes people dance.

Look at it this way - it could be worse, you could be a guitard

I have small children (including one born yesterday); I would kill for regular jam sessions
[/quote]

+1 (Apart from the children bit)

I play at church but some of my mates are in/have been in bands and I keep asking them if they want to have a jam - one of them even has access to a local community centre that we could rent out for next to nothing but it never seems to happen.

Church music is great but I would like to play some different stuff from Portishead to 'tallica to Pink Floyd and whilst I could try playing along with youtube etc - I don't find that very motivational at all!

[Bilbo]

Jazz jams are generally horrible. The standards are pretty low and the biggest issue is the choice of material. It is always the same tunes played badly. Anything labelled 'funky' isn't and the number of delusional people who can barely string a phrase together is always disproportionately high. Unless the players are there, they can be soul destroying and the time is far better spent at home with your Aebersolds!!.

[krysh]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1399633648' post='2446066']
Jazz jams are generally horrible. The standards are pretty low and the biggest issue is the choice of material. It is always the same tunes played badly. Anything labelled 'funky' isn't and the number of delusional people who can barely string a phrase together is always disproportionately high. Unless [b]the players are there[/b], they can be soul destroying and the time is far better spent at home with your Aebersolds!!.
[/quote]
yes, but if...it can be great, as it was yesterday. not a jazz jam but spontaniously improvised pop songs with bridg and dynamics. it is a lot of fun when it works!