Essential Skills for Jamming with Others

One of the best ways to improve at your chosen instrument, as a musician in general but also how you can have the most fun with music is to jam with other people. As long as you approach the situation with no expectations and an open mind, you are likely to have a great time!

Inspired by a question I was asked by a student recently, I thought I would put together a brief but comprehensive list of essential skills you need to hold it together during a jam. A jam can go in any direction, but you have to be able to follow that journey – keeping reading to find out what I think you need to make it work when jamming with others. 

What Kind of Jam Session?

There are a few different types of jam sessions you may find yourself in. One of them is the typical session where the organiser publishes a song list, where various musicians of different disciplines put their names down for certain songs. The other type of jam session is where someone in the ensemble starts playing something and then people start to join in, developing original parts as they go. A great example of the latter would be the intro jam Red Hot Chili Peppers do before they play ‘Can’t Stop’ – see an example of this here. 

Many of the skills I will discuss below are interchangeable, but some apply more strongly to one or the other type of jam session. Both are fun, but both can be highly intimidating too!

Time

Having a good sense of time is going to sound pretty obvious, as it is an essential skill for musicians anyway, but it is that important that I chose to include it first on this list. There will always be musicians that you connect with better than others, that is a fact of life, though you should always at least be able to work well with any rhythm section to some degree. 

This is made especially difficult when the people you are playing with are as far along their journey as you might be, but adapting quickly to different issues is going to prove invaluable at some point!

Adaptability

This is hard to practice unless you are in the moment. Being able to think on your feet, changing your part depending on what is going on around you and reacting to various cues and changes makes both your experience and that of those playing with or watching you so much more enjoyable. You will notice how this adaptability theme is woven through the rest of these skills!

Chord/Harmony Knowledge

Perhaps you are reading a chart or someone is shouting the chords out for you, the last thing you want to do is fall flat on your face. This can be extended to complicated, dense harmony (for which there are various methods for clawing your way through) or even just being able to find where those chords are on your instrument. 

What you choose to do with the harmony depends on how confident you are with the situation, and even just being able to navigate a song with a simple rhythm can be passable. The more confident you are, and the more effectively you can express the harmony, the better the experience will be for all. Be careful not to overcomplicate things though, unless the situation calls for it!

Know the Song

This is especially important when playing cover tunes at a more conventional jam session. Even just being able to roughly follow the structure can be better than not knowing the song at all. In fact, you will be surprised at how well your brain remembers all manner of tunes right after you hear the first chord (something that happened to me recently when playing ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor). The general consensus amongst jam session regulars is that, if you do not know the song at all and you are not confident you will pick it up quickly, do not play it. 

Tone

Each of us has a particular ballpark we aim for with our tone. This could be influenced by the music we play regularly or the people you play with often. However, there is a high chance that the ensemble in a jam session will be completely different to what you are used to. You should be able to adapt quickly, shape your tone using controls on the guitar, amp or any effectors. 

It also goes without saying that it might be inappropriate if you are playing ‘Play Thank Funky Music’ by Wild Cherry whilst using your 9 string Schecter with a Boss Metal Zone. On the flip side, if you are playing ‘Sad But True’ on a Hello Kitty Stratocaster with a sparkly clean tone… it probably will not cut through very well.

Know When to Step Back

There should be no egos in a jam session. This may seem obvious, but everyone should be there to have a good time. If your playing is usually pretty flashy, you might need to reel it in until such time as the opportunity arises, and this might not happen at all. Using ‘Can’t Stop’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers as an example again, you might be expected to play the exact solo. Some people might not like that… in that case maybe a jam session is not for you!

Knowing when to step back also means you know when to let someone else take the spotlight, or not being in the spotlight at all. In the end it is all for the service of the song and the performance.

Final Thoughts

I have seen some amazing musicians nearly crumble in a jam because they cannot adapt, they struggle outside of their comfort zone and they cannot enjoy themselves properly. At one particular session I have visited many times in Tokyo there are people who are just starting out, others who have physical limitations or those who just like to have a drink and let loose – they jump up and everyone has a great time!

Have a think about the skills I have mentioned here, maybe even see if you can get hold of a song list or sign-up sheet and prepare in advance. If you are really unsure, I also recommend going to a jam session one time just to watch, that way you can get a feel for the people, the songs and the environment. Either way, I still stand by my earlier statement that this is one of the ways you can have the most fun playing an instrument!