hey guys, me and few of my friends planning to jam together... but we do not know what we need or what we should do....
can you guys give some opinion.
last time we do have a drummer, 2 guitarist and a basist.
now we do not have base already... can still jam?
maybe you guys can tell me... what should we do before jamming?
any skill each of everyone of us needed before we come to jam?

honestly the important 1 is to have fun. . . the other important one is to be tight ( ie communicate well with your other members)

depending on your song. . . if you're playing simple songs then i guess not much skill is needed? just get everyone to nail their parts right then jam it out

you can work without a bassist with a 2nd guitarist working as rhythm but its better to have a bass. . . just have fun =D

Just make sure that you and your friends like the same type of music.


Don't end up like me and my drummer who can't get along with the guitarists and vocalist's punk/pop taste

practise before you go for the jam or at least inform your members what song r u guys goin to play. dont reach there then ask for the cords, wasting time.. step in the jam room and straight away starts playing songs..

What type of music you guys intends to play?? Do you guys have the same influence?? Starting a band is not EASY but it always one of the FUN ways to hang out together..

agreed with the others. if you're at a beginners level, make sure you plan the songs ahead. make sure everyone knows their part. it's really hard when you have to cue the drummer for rhythm change when you're the lead guitarist .

plus, make sure the guitarist knows their presets. it's really annoying to wait for guitarist to get their sounds from the studio's equipment. better yet, bring your own effect so that it will reduce the setup time.

know what are you going to play, plan what song you guys are going to jam, tune your guitar, edit your effects and most important of all, have fun...

like what the others said, go in there and do your thing...

i had a very bad jam experience with my college mates once, where they only decide what to jam when we reached the studio, everyone's more like practicing/playing their own stuff in the studio...

for a first jam, don't bother planning anything. Just go gather at the drummers house and make some noise and have a good laugh. It is called a jam after all. My first jam was the worst ever, but the most fun because we had near to 0 skills and trying to imitate all the weird techniques out like playing with our teeth and standing on our heads.

The rest will come automatically later on. Unless of course you're in a rush to become famous, then you better start tomorrow

reminds me of my 1st jam. lol. 1 word to describe: mess !

Play as messy as u can . and then later encourage each other on their "rhythm" and "tempo"

First practice the songs before you have at home, maybe your rythm guitarist can take over the bass for a moment while u find another bassist. Make it 3 piece then. Bass is the core of music, if dont have it, you will feel something is missing, although you played rythm+lead guitar, there will stil be something missing, i suggest you go for 1 drummer, 1 bassist, 1 leadgtr/rythm.

like what Notoriez said, starting a band is not easy, but its always FUN to hang out together. You can talk about music, instruments almost anything. If youre really close with your band members, i think it would be nice, that is if you really give full concentration on music as well as your mates.

the hardest is communicate and trying to bring it together into1...

sumtimes every1 jz seem to be doing their own stuff...
Satriani influence guitarist on his boogies..
Linkin Park influence vocal on his Wild screams...
Pop bass...loafing around.....
Drummer simpli banging....

T-T it feels so waste of money to rent a jamming room
and waste of time....summore assignment not yet do...

lol why is everyone so down about their first jam experiences hahaha.. For me the most important thing is the musical preference. The band members must like all the stuff you plan to play. If you have one or two members who dun like jamming to Nickelback, better not even GO there. This is what I did before I started jamming with the band members; got it off a website.

1) everybody list down the bands that they like (past and present; contemporary etc)

2) circle the ones you guys have in common.

3) choose a couple of bands to start with: choose a few songs from each band.. one guy go home, dl all the tabs, email to everyone + the mp3s

4) one week later jamming lorr... sure no problem.

5) never get a satriani influenced guitarist. you'll never get him to stop. ergo, prepare shovel instead. use appropriately.

6) screamers = can't sing. see number 5 for solution.

Kinda feels like our first Low Yat official Jam!

5 guitarists, all soloing over each other! Hahahahhahahaa.........

But avoid our mistakes.... get a solid playlist done and best if you can all practice your parts individually before the jam.

before even starting to jam, its important to get along well with your bandmates. best if you all have the same music taste and if possible, skill level(not that important as the inequality actually pushes the weaker ones to improve)

keeping a band together is not very easy and many bands breakup because of this. i'm having quite some problems with my band right now too.

but for jamming, always prepare early so you don't waste time and money in the studio. stuff to do:

1) decide what song(s) you are gonna play and make sure everyone is comfotable with it
2) practice the song(s)
3) practice the song(s) somemore till you get it right
4) tune your guitar if you're bringing it to the studio
5) decide on your effects and settings if you're bringing
6) practice the song(s)
7) keep a good relationship with your mates

to sum it up, just prepare before you go, don't waste time practicing in the jam room

Wow~~ i learned a lots here, just like what u guys said... most important thing is Having FUN... i will try to discuss it with my team members...

jamming too seriously without having fun is like playing games too seriously thinking about winning and foregoing the point of playing games: fun.

but i must admit, not being able to play a song(or a game) can be pretty frustrating, so be sure to choose a song that you know you and your bandmates can play or else your band will not go anywhere from there.

have fun !

hey gizmoduck, may i ask what anime you got your avatar from ? Interested in guitar related animes and would appreciate if you can give a list. currently watching tv series 'hard rock saves the space' aka black heaven.

Whatever you do, make sure your lead guitarist doesn't turn up his volume too loud. Because the the rhythm would do the same, and the bassist would do the same, and then the drummer would mic his bass.

Haha, then you'd all just be caught up in the cycle of trying to sound louder than the rest.

*true story of my first 1st jamming experience*

This post has been edited by fatboythin: Jun 28 2007, 10:37 PM

ask your band members to list down the songs that they like to jam.. and then.. pick from there.. as gizmoduck says.