The Good Musician

Start a Jam Band

by Arjun Muralidharan on August 28th, 2007

A jam is an improvised passage performed by the whole band. It’s one of my favorite activities as a musician, and a great learning tool.

One of the most intriguing things about jamming is that you don’t really need much setting up to get going.

• You can jam alone, with a friend, or in a band of twelve.
• You can explore new styles, and must be open to do so.
• You can start playing a famous riff and see where it goes.

So yeah, jamming sounds like great fun and it sounds easy. But alas, it isn’t. Some of the dangers:

• You must be able to pick up a riff, a beat or a tune pretty quickly just by hearing it.
• You must understand basic theory of harmony. By that I mean you should be able to figure out the key of what someone’s playing and also be sure whether it’s major or minor.

• You’ve gotta be listening all the time.

So how to start?

1. Get a few friends.
2. Bring along a cool and really easy riff, tune or beat.
3. Start playing your riff.

Your friends should try and pick up what your playing, understand it and then play something new to accompany it. If your playing a few chords on a guitar, let’s say, Am-Dm-Emaj7, then the bassist could start by just playing the bass notes as you play (A-D-E).

Experiment. Try, mix it up. Play your favorite riffs. The great thing about jamming is that you have to make a genuine effort to understand and think “inside” other instruments of your band. Unless you have an idea what drums, bass or saxophone could be playing along to you, your part is pretty much useless.

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