Guitar Jamming

[The deuce]

I have in the past read several posts concerning Guitar Jamming. This I'm told is a great way to speed up and improve your guitar playing. I've never been able to find others to play with so I put an add in our "Next Door Neighbor ". My post stated I was a beginner to intermediate player looking for players in that range. Well there have been four replies from guitar players who have interest in getting together. Now I suddenly realized I don't know beans about Guitar Jamming and not a clue where to start. Because I placed the add people will be looking to me for some type of leadership. Any ideas or help in this area will be much appreciated.

[Oldjock]

Deuce, the group that I jam with evolved from players on a ball team which I play on. Luckily for us one guy was an experienced player (bass, acoustic and mandola) who took on the leadership role. My suggestion would be to find some common ground with the songs the group would like to play. Setup a dropbox site to post songs and mp3 files for each individual to practice. We also rotate the monthly practice sessions, which have also become known as craft beer tasting sessions, among the group. As you progress as a group consider a gig, as it provides a goal for the group to improve. Our group has played at our ball team BBQ for the past four years. Even though you will be playing in front of friends, the fear of making mistakes, will really increase the concentration levels to help you and the group improve. Best of all keep it light and fun.

Henk

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Henk is right, ,you need to find out how much they can play. you'll find out there is always a better player in the group.

Steve's LMG course uses public domain songs, maybe you can drop a few of those songs in a drop box, get suggestions of what level of playing everyone can do.

otherwise you'll need to collect some songs of various playing levels, make 5 copies for you all of different levels of play. and the first time you meet will be a 'feel out' meet up. 

[matonanjin]

First off, @The deuce, if your experience is anything like mine has been, and like reports I have heard from many others, this is going to be one of the most fun experiences of your guitar learning journey.  And probably it will be one of the most educational.  It will force you to do certain things (chord changes, strumming patterns, etc) but in a fun environment.  I jam with two other guys every Wednesday night and that has been exactly my experience.

The people that answered may look to you for leadership but I think if you state very clearly at your first session your playing ability level you will be able to set expectations.  I can't advise much more beyond that because I am in the same situation as @Oldjock.  Both guys that I jam with are far better than I.  And the guy whose office we meet in has taken the leadership role.  He is good enough that he could probably play lead in a good cover band.  I have somewhat become his "project"😎  He is often taking me aside and saying "Play it this way" or "Do this". 

As both Henk and Doug said pick some songs.  Or send out a message for each to submit, say, 2 songs to learn.   And then each take charge of leading the playing and learning of his or her song.  What we have been doing lately is the guy whose office we jam at has put a good size monitor on a table in front of us.  On that monitor we have Ultimate Guitar Tabs and he sets it to autoscroll.  We then play along with the song we are working.

Have Fun!!!!!  And, of course, report back!

[Old Guy]

That is truly the first step to guitar excellence. Playing with others will expand your repertoire, teach you timing, and build relationships.

If you can't already, I would highly recommend learning the I-IV-V progression using any key. This progression is the foundation for pretty much all Rock and Roll you've heard since the 1950s and is a great way to break the ice with people to jam with. Look up "I-IV-V chord progression" on YouTube and you'll finds thousands of examples to learn from.

The other thing to learn is the 12 Bar Blues, which is a variation on the I-IV-V that you've heard anytime you've heard blues. This is what 90% of people do for rhythm, when playing the pentatonic minor scale.

An easy way to practice for this upcoming event is to jam with backing tracks on YouTube. There are thousands.

Here's a nice slow, easy 12 Bar Blues in E backing track that you can jam to from my channel:

 

[The deuce]

I appreciate all your suggestions guys, certainly there is enough ideas to get started. In my mind I was making this Jamming thing too difficult. From what I'm understanding is just get together and let things evolve.

Just a little background how this whole Jamming thing has progressed. I placed an add in Next Door Neighbor 41/2 months ago without any response. My home is in Texas and I summer in Colorado where I'm at presently. About 2 weeks  ago I started getting response to my add, which I almost forgot about. So now I have emailed the potential "jammers" that we would get together when I return to Texas. Crazy how things in life unfold sometimes. Hope the add responders keep their interest until I return to Texas.