Jamming?

[mainedrummah]

I've always been intrigued by the idea of jam bands and improvisation and such, staring with Zeppelin and working into bands such as Phish and, obviously, jazz. But I've never really played a full-on, improvised jam with other musicians. Sometimes our guitarist has some songs he writes, and I play along for a while, but we never really jam, I just try and figure out sections in order to write drum parts.

Anyways, my question is, what exactly is the role of a drummer in/at a jam? I figure it is mostly playing simple rhythms with simple fills, due to the newness of the tunes. I would assume the drummer would take a more musical approach to jazz than rock, though.

So, do any of you guys have any experience with complete, improvisational-jamming? If so, do share your thoughts, feelings, stories, etc.! Thanks all!

[marko138]

I don't play in a jam band...but certainly after playing with the same folks long enough you tend to pick up on their tendencies.

When our guitar player comes in with a new tune or is jamming riffs I can feel what's coming next. That comes from playing with him for the last 5 years.

I'd imagine jam bands are similar in feel and prediction of whats next.

[Olimpass]

Yes, what Marco138 said and also IMO you just learn to ride the groove and sometimes a suprise of improvisation comes in and you just go with it working off of each other. This to me is great practice and gets ones creative juices flowing. Of course the basic rhythm can't go too much off into some weird tangent. (which made us stop what we were doing) I've recorded and listened to our practices and even have occasionally asked myself, how did I do that? LOL

[slinglander]

+1 Olimpass.
Jamming is a great drumming experience!
Drummer's job is usually same as any other instrument player's job in a jam: follow/enhance any improv; play to rhythms or pick out new rhythms others are developing and enhance them. And....you guessed it! Keep some semblance of time to keep all the members playing together. Usually keep your solo impulse down and be very aware of others' playing tendencies. Introduce some dynamics to make things more interesting, especially if you can anticipate chord changes.
It's fun. It's creative. Sometimes with the wrong people it's really, really boring.
Good luck!

[marko138]

Yes, what Marco138 said and also IMO you just learn to ride the groove and sometimes a suprise of improvisation comes in and you just go with it working off of each other. This to me is great practice and gets ones creative juices flowing. Of course the basic rhythm can't go too much off into some weird tangent. (which made us stop what we were doing) I've recorded and listened to our practices and even have occasionally asked myself, how did I do that? LOL

The crazy thing about the way we jam...example...last weekend we practiced. Our guitar player brings in a new song. He's just playing the song and I am jamming along. Just sort of anticipating the changes and guess what's coming next.

When we actually stop to learn the song now the drum parts don't have that "feel" to them. Not flowing or natural.


But this is normal for me. I jam and rage out. Then when I'm learning the parts it's sorta crappy till I figure out the nuance of the riffs. Then after a few weeks I come up with something more concrete.

[Olimpass]

The crazy thing about the way we jam...example...last weekend we practiced. Our guitar player brings in a new song. He's just playing the song and I am jamming along. Just sort of anticipating the changes and guess what's coming next.

When we actually stop to learn the song now the drum parts don't have that "feel" to them. Not flowing or natural.


But this is normal for me. I jam and rage out. Then when I'm learning the parts it's sorta crappy till I figure out the nuance of the riffs. Then after a few weeks I come up with something more concrete.

Yep, this has happened alot to us and doesn't have the same RAW feel it did when it was fresh. This is why recording it has helped us, if anything to remember it! LOL

+1 Slinglander!

[marko138]

Yep, this has happened alot to us and doesn't have the same RAW feel it did when it was fresh. This is why recording it has helped us, if anything to remember it! LOL

Our singer said that very same thing after we discussed this.

[kaosotis]

For me there's definitely a difference between improvising and working on a new song. I only really jam when I play for the school musical. The guys they hire (besides me) are very good and much better than I am. When we just do swing and blues I'm fine, but when they start trying to get me soloing, trading 4's, I get all nervous. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not so much, but they always encourage me. It's the only way to get better at it. I'm just way out of practice on jazz particularly. Blues I can handle.

For me working on a song with my band is totally different, especially because it's rock. Like Marko, we just go with it. Marko, it sounds like when you sit down to "learn" a song, you worry too much about playing the part instead of playing the song. I just worry about signature fills, tempo, stops, feel, etc... and I don't worry about playing the song the same way twice. That's my take on it all for whatever it's worth.

[marko138]

For me there's definitely a difference between improvising and working on a new song. I only really jam when I play for the school musical. The guys they hire (besides me) are very good and much better than I am. When we just do swing and blues I'm fine, but when they start trying to get me soloing, trading 4's, I get all nervous. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not so much, but they always encourage me. It's the only way to get better at it. I'm just way out of practice on jazz particularly. Blues I can handle.

For me working on a song with my band is totally different, especially because it's rock. Like Marko, we just go with it. Marko, it sounds like when you sit down to "learn" a song, you worry too much about playing the part instead of playing the song. I just worry about signature fills, tempo, stops, feel, etc... and I don't worry about playing the song the same way twice. That's my take on it all for whatever it's worth.

You're right...I do approach it by parts. I try to come up with something for each part of the song. Once I get something I'm happy with I really don't change it. My goal is to be predictable to the other guys in the band when we play live. If they pick up on a certain fill or whatever during a particular part then I want that to be consistent each time we play it.

For me it goes back to when I played bass. I don't count. I never have. I play by feel. Drums and bass. So a lot of times, as a bass player, I would hear a certain drum part and know a change was coming.

That's not to say I'm not constantly trying new and better things on old songs. If I learn something new I'll try it in older tunes. But only at practice. When we gig I do what the guys are familiar with.

[66musicmaster]

As part of the host band for an open mic jam session, I can tell you there are lots of different approaches. We got a guy showing up regularly that is just all over the place. In a good way. Makes me want to go home and hide under the bed. Others keep the beat and add in standard fills (more or less my approach). It can go anyway you want. When it is oour band playing, I keep to a pretty standard approach, not changing up things while we play. But when others rotate in with us, it can go in almost any direction.

I would say you gotta spend some time "jamming", even if it's your own tunes, just so you can try new stuff to see if something new works and is better/worse.

Randy

[isurf]

We practice every week, each practice we start with about a 20-30 minute jam session. It allows everyone to get warmed up feelin good and the juices flowin. Puts everyone in a good grove mood. Sometimes it gets crazy creative and we wished we would have recorded it. I can't imagine starting a practice without a good jam sesh.

[66musicmaster]

We have started recording everything we do. Good & bad. Practice or gig. Makes a good tool and with handheld recorders being so cheap, I figured we may as well.

Randy