Part 2: What is a Jam?

 Part 2: What is a Jam?

So what is a jam? It is a unstructured group of musicians who gather to play together. Or in other words, not a band. For my discussion, we will refer to the jam as acoustic instruments only. Why? Well, there are more acoustics out there (usually sitting in corners), Electric instrument players tend to play a little better (sort of), and finally electric players usually are going to play music that really can be played by acoustic instruments. An electric jam works very similar to an acoustic. If you watch the pros play in a set ending, everyone on stage, a lot of the same things are at work.

There may or may not be a set list. There may or may not be a single leader (more on that later). There may or may not be a genre (more on that later too). Musical ability may vary as well. A jam can be in someones basement, back yard, around a fire pit, at a festival, at a location like a bar, coffee shop or store front and I guess on line, but I haven't tried it. Any number of people can participate but I find four to eight to be the best size. Too small and it seems like work because you have to pick and sing a song too often and too big and it isn't easy to get everyone to take a turn and easier for someone to hide out.

The types of music depend on the group. Knowing what music might be played does help you know if you will enjoy it. If a buddy asked you to join his group and forgets to tell you that they only play Dave Matthews Band (which is hard, jazzy and may not be your cup of tea), it will be a short evening. Same is true if they play both country and western!

There are jams and song circles. Both groups should be in a circle in order to see everyone playing. A song circle is to me where someone plays and sings a song, either their own or cover and everyone basically listens. And it moves to the next person. A jam is where someone plays a familiar song and everyone plays the chords and sings on the chorus and can play a break or improvise (more on that later. The next person in the circle suggests a song, a key etc and off we go.

Some jams have song books or lots of paper so everyone can follow along. I strongly discourage that. Most songs should be simple enough with three or four chord changes. Unless you are singing and since I can't remember words well anyway, it's ok. When everyone has their head down and reading the words and chords, no one is looking at the song leader who is probably searching for someone to take a break. Also the song leader will indicate when the song should end. It may not be at the end of the paper. Also, trying to use paper or a tablet around a campfire or standing around in the dark at a festival is futile. More on this too.

A jam is like a pick up basketball game. You might know a couple of people and know how well they play. But some of the other people might be outstanding, some might be beginners. Some might be ball hogs, others wall flowers. Just like in a pick up basketball game, you gotta play with the whole team. I hope everyone else wants to play with the whole team. Sometimes they don't. And the most important thing to remember. If it ain't fun, don't be there.