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Jamming is a bunch of people playing music together, unrehearsed, with everyone getting the opportunity to join in and add their interpretation to the arrangements and for the confident to take a solo without taking over the whole song.
Less experienced players will discover the joys and challenges of contributing to a group performance, and old hands have a chance to "jam" (and, at the same time, help guide the newcomers).
Musicians at any level can learn a lot from jamming: that is, playing informally with a group you've never played with before, without arrangements or music. You can learn new songs, new riffs, new ways of presenting material and yourself. It can increase your motivation to practise. But above all, it teaches you to LISTEN.
Arguably, the ability to listen -- that is, to be alert to what the musicians around you are doing, individually and collectively -- is the single most valuable asset that a musician can possess. More valuable than an expensive instrument. More valuable even than virtuosity. And, alas, it's a skill that's often underdeveloped in bedroom musicians (which is what folkies usually start out as).
Jamming is about ensemble playing - starting together, keeping in time, giving and taking instrumental breaks, putting the middle eight in the right place, indicating the end with a tag or repeat chorus or whatever, and if you're really cooking, all finishing on the same beat (big buzz!).
........ You have to accept the limitations, such as the necessity to keep to songs with reasonably predictable chord patterns. The upside is the sheer fun of making music with other people. |
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