Category: Jam Session

Learning to jam with other people as a beginner guitarist

When your face was your first jamming session it can seem very intimidating. Especially if you’ve done the preparation a new practice for your fans jam session. So if you know you’ve got a jam session coming up here are a few tips and tricks just picked up prepared so that you can feel slightly more confident then extremely nervous at your first jam session.

First of all, what is a jam session? 

A jam session is so good when a group of musicians set round the circle (well it doesn’t have to be a circle) and play music together bouncing ideas off each other to a rhythm I normally staying within the same Musical idea.

As a beginner guitarist it can be difficult to follow along. So here are some ideas on how are you can get prepared so if you are interested in jamming with other people and play with other musicians it’s a little less scary.

1.) learn the communication of music 

Music is another language and therefore you need to learn how to communicate with it. The basic of music language is music theory. But it’s not enough to know music theory. You need to know how to apply it on your guitar! 

So when someone at the Jam session says, let’s play it in Am instead. Or let’s change to 3/4 rhythm. You know what they are on about! 

On top of that, people will go on about being play scales on the guitar. And that’s kind of useful… But just knowing how to play the scales is not enough. You need to understand them musically so you can jam. 

For some people, they don’t need to know scales… and just play by ear. And if that’s you, that’s great! But still understanding how to communicate with other musicians is very important. 

2.) Practice improvising on guitar at home

You can help to prepare your musicality to have it ready for Jam by practising at home first. This can include practising over a backing track. I’ve attached an example below for you to see. 

You can also practise different genres, different rhythms, different areas of your guitar neck to improvise over to help you prepare. 

3.) Have a guitar teacher help you 

Find a guitar teacher help you get ready. It can be less intimidating to play a jam in a classroom set up with other students. Or with your guitar teacher. 

When you are in a room with other students, learning to jam together. It can be a lot more relaxing, and a lot better learning experience. Because everyone is in the same boat! Learning alongside you. It gives you a lot more opportunities to make mistakes, get feedback. Compared to being in a real life jam session. This is true of any level of guitar player, whether you are a complete beginner or experienced guitar player. 

The more opportunities you get to play with other people, the easier it will be! …

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