We Jammin'

[gotto]

4 hours last week with friends old and new  at a former bandmates place, and 4 hours yesterday at my noisy studio with a different set of personal friends,  some who only get to play out out when I host the event. One of the players yesterday even got bloody fingers playing-go figure. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it is for real.

Greg

Edited March 11, 2018 by gotto

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Pretty lucky.

If only Neil could put up with my pathetic playing for that long..

Or more importantly the dog and family leaving me alone to play that long

[matonanjin]

Greg, you probably saw where I posted about jamming.  I don't need to tell you what fun it is.  And possibly more importantly, I have seen people post repeatedly that when you start playing with others it does way more for your learning than just standard practice.  This is so true. The last time we jammed I got a real jolt about keeping up with these guys. 

It's almost unfair.  Both these guys I'm jamming with are exponentially better than I am.  So I am learning way more from them than they possibly could from me.  Although the last time I was proud of me.  Keep in mind I'm on S13 "Playing the Blues"   We were doing just sort of a blues jam and I was just playing  a shuffle rhythm and one other guy was soloing.  Then he said "You take the lead.  Just kind of noodle around in the pentatonic box."  I did and it was horrible but I added a blues note.  We stopped and he said "What were you doing there?"  And I said, "I was just adding the flatted 5th".  And I said it exactly as if I knew what I was talking about! 

We made a pact that we are going to meet up every Wednesday night, 6 -8,  no matter what.  Pinch me as well. 

[gotto]

2 hours ago, matonanjin said:

Greg, you probably saw where I posted about jamming.  I don't need to tell you what fun it is.  And possibly more importantly, I have seen people post repeatedly that when you start playing with others it does way more for your learning than just standard practice.  This is so true. The last time we jammed I got a real jolt about keeping up with these guys. 

It's almost unfair.  Both these guys I'm jamming with are exponentially better than I am.  So I am learning way more from them than they possibly could from me.  Although the last time I was proud of me.  Keep in mind I'm on S13 "Playing the Blues"   We were doing just sort of a blues jam and I was just playing  a shuffle rhythm and one other guy was soloing.  Then he said "You take the lead.  Just kind of noodle around in the pentatonic box."  I did and it was horrible but I added a blues note.  We stopped and he said "What were you doing there?"  And I said, "I was just adding the flatted 5th".  And I said it exactly as if I knew what I was talking about! 

We made a pact that we are going to meet up every Wednesday night, 6 -8,  no matter what.  Pinch me as well. 

Everything here-so true. Playing with better players at first was quite intimidating to me. The key is to play with accommodating, encouraging and supportive better players. And I only play music with people whom I really enjoy their company. No jerks for me. Too many really nice musicians out there to share time with instead.

Greg

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

That' why I like playing in the "choir" in front of 400-1200 people weekly.

I'm not playing "popular" songs but I'm playing live (church songs)

(Is you can call 2 guitars and anything from 2 to 15 kids a choir)

Edited March 12, 2018 by Eracer_Team-DougH

[gotto]

2 hours ago, Eracer_Team-DougH said:

That' why I like playing in the "choir" in front of 400-1200 people weekly.

I'm playing "popular" songs but I'm playing live

(Is you can call 2 guitars and anything from 2 to 15 kids a choir)

This is a great outlet Doug and the opportunity to learn from mentors as well. An audience is priceless, regardless of age, or venue and your audience exceeds anything I might ever experience. Very cool.

Greg

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

the 'audience' maybe large but other than Christmas Songs.. how many people outside of a church would want to hear Glory to God in the Highest

 

need some 'real' songs in my bag of music.. some day..

[matonanjin]

15 hours ago, gotto said:

Everything here-so true. Playing with better players at first was quite intimidating to me. The key is to play with accommodating, encouraging and supportive better players. And I only play music with people whom I really enjoy their company. No jerks for me. Too many really nice musicians out there to share time with instead.

Greg

And Greg, the two guys I'm playing with, even though way better than me, could not be more "accommodating, encouraging and supportive".  And a couple really good guys.

[Oldjock]

Matonajin is bang on. The guys I play with are accomplished guitarists and when I blow it during a song, they continue. Afterwards, they help me to correct my mistake and we replay the song. My playing is improving immensely because my jams are disguised lessons.

Henk

[gotto]

18 hours ago, Oldjock said:

Matonajin is bang on. The guys I play with are accomplished guitarists and when I blow it during a song, they continue. Afterwards, they help me to correct my mistake and we replay the song. My playing is improving immensely because my jams are disguised lessons.

Henk

"Lessons"....a great way to look at this!

Greg

[matonanjin]

21 hours ago, Oldjock said:

 My playing is improving immensely because my jams are disguised lessons.

Henk

Great point, Henk.  And starting next week I am also going to have jams disguised as lessons (the opposite of yours).  Years ago I went up to the lead guitar player at this concert and asked him about lessons.  He said that he would consider it but that he had never given lessons.  I got his phone number  but I didn't call him.  Then last year I did.  We got together for a few lessons but health issues forced me to stop.  He is the first to admit he is not an experienced teacher.  There is no lesson plan.  A lesson normally starts with him saying, "What do you want to work on?"

But for the brief period we got together they were great.  First off, if you look at that link you can probably tell we are generationally similar. We found out we both graduated from Benson High School!  I was a few years ahead of him.  Part of each lesson is spent reminiscing about about bands we knew or the "teen clubs" we frequented.  This is not to say lesson time is wasted yapping because every hour lesson with him lasted 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

But we would work on something and then end up jamming.  The last lesson with him we worked on Rolling Stones, "Brown Sugar".  He taught me chords and then I played them and he solo'd.  Just a fun get together.

I just called him last night and we are starting back up a week from today.

So starting next week I am going to have a jam every Tuesday morning at 11 disguised as a lesson.  And then a lesson disguised as a jam every Wednesday night. 

If I can't progress with these weekly sessions I had better give up.

 

[K9kaos]

I had a couple of people to jam with (usually once a week) when we lived in Tennessee.

After we moved to Florida, I kept an eye out for any opportunity to find a few folks to play and or practice with. 

Luckily, I saw a post in a neighborhood website, a guitar player looking for others to jam with  

Well, we've been at it for probably 6 months. One guitar player is about the same level as me, and second guy who is more advanced in most respects so he takes the lead (although he is more than willing to let us!). Also another guy that plays a mean harmonica! 

The four of us have very similar taste in music so we enjoy learning and practicing the songs we are working on  

I can't begin to explain how valuable these weekly jam sessions are!  

[gotto]

16 hours ago, K9kaos said:

I had a couple of people to jam with (usually once a week) when we lived in Tennessee.

After we moved to Florida, I kept an eye out for any opportunity to find a few folks to play and or practice with. 

Luckily, I saw a post in a neighborhood website, a guitar player looking for others to jam with  

Well, we've been at it for probably 6 months. One guitar player is about the same level as me, and second guy who is more advanced in most respects so he takes the lead (although he is more than willing to let us!). Also another guy that plays a mean harmonica! 

The four of us have very similar taste in music so we enjoy learning and practicing the songs we are working on  

I can't begin to explain how valuable these weekly jam sessions are!  

Very cool! Our band also has a harp (he prefers this word to harmonica-)  player, a great add to a blues oriented ensemble. Good for you Barbara, we are fortunate for these opportunities. Keep on jammin'.

Greg