How do you guys do it?

MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I can't tell you the number of times I've found one of these threads and thought "Yeah! I'd like to do this one".
Then by the time I've figured out what I want to play, memorized it well enough to do even a halfway decent job, then got it recorded, I see a post from someone saying that they are doing the last piece of it. You guys are getting SOOO good!
Well done guys!
 
Ted_Zeppelin

Ted_Zeppelin

I’ll agree with you so that both of us are wrong.
MikeS said:
I can't tell you the number of times I've found one of these threads and thought "Yeah! I'd like to do this one".
Then by the time I've figured out what I want to play, memorized it well enough to do even a halfway decent job, then got it recorded, I see a post from someone saying that they are doing the last piece of it. You guys are getting SOOO good!
Well done guys!
Click to expand...

Mike...if a track gets finished before you can jump in, just go back to the original post and start it up again. Pretty sure no one will kick you out of the VJR for that:Beer:. Memorize??? No one ever told me we were supposed to memorize our solo’s:) just wing it! You’ll be fine.
 
Elwood

Elwood

Blues
MikeS said:
figured out what I want to play, memorized it well enough to do even a halfway decent job,
Click to expand...
What TZ said Mike. If I memorize what I want to play, well that is just one more thing to forget. :eek: That whole "jam" thing and "wing it" go together like fried and chicken. :whistle: I don't really believe in "bad" notes, but if you hit what you feel are a few and show your a$$ it aint nothing folks haven't seen before, ;) and you get better for doing it, just like your gigs! :Beer:
I recall Griff saying he has a hard time playing the same thing once,:notworthy: no need to be holier than the Pope! Get loose and have fun! :D
Oh yeah, an appealing track does start a bit of a feeding frenzy, you snooze you get the blues! C'mon Mike! :Beer::Beer::Beer:
 
PapaRaptor

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
Just like Roger Miller's immortal classic 'You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd' says, "just knuckle down, buckle down. Do it, do it, do it!"
I know you know a lot of songs, because you use them in your solo act. How long does it take you to learn one? That's what... at least 60 bars, maybe as long as a hundred bars you have to learn chords, rhythm and lyrics.

I know you've said before you're not big on improvisation, but you are probably a lot better than you give yourself credit.
These are just 12 bar songs. Learn a 12 bar solo. Learn just a four bar minor pentatonic phrase. You can play that 4 bar lick over an entire 12 bars and sound just fine. Then transpose it through the most popular keys so you can do the same (or very similar) solo in most keys.
Then learn a dozen 12 bar songs (solos). I know you don't have problems memorizing because you have such a huge song catalog for your performances. Then just start stringing them together like a playlist. You only need 2 to do a 24 bar solo on a slow tune and maybe 3 on a medium to fast shuffle. As part of your practice, grab a random backing track. Get a long one so you can practice your licks as if you were using a looper (or use a looper). Use a different jam track every day. See what you can make fit from one track to the next.

You know your pentatonic minor boxes and you know your major pentatonic boxes and you know Griff's rule about playing major or minor over the I chord, the minor over the IV chord and the V chord. Just do those boxes while you're practicing to start and then start farting around with changing the order within a box, play a single fret lower before hitting the note you want.

In a nutshell, that's what I have been doing and still do to a large extent. I noodle a lot during practice.
 
JPsuff

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
Just wing it, Mike!

When I hear/find a track I like, I just get off on playing to it.
I generally don't think too much about structure and yes, I need to learn how to come up for air more often. But I tend to use many of those tracks to just stretch out and have some fun.
From time to time I actually try to think more melodically but I tend to treat the VJR more like a real jam as opposed to anything more considered and whenever I have jammed live with others everyone tends to just "let it fly" and have some fun!

Mike, I know from playing with you in Glen's Falls that you're a solid player and I have no doubt that you can easily handle the VJR! ;)

So forget about what you think others may expect and just do whatever puts a smile on your face and have a ball! :Beer:
 
ChrisGSP

ChrisGSP

Blues Journeyman
MikeS said:
I can't tell you the number of times I've found one of these threads and thought "Yeah! I'd like to do this one".
Then by the time I've figured out what I want to play, memorized it well enough to do even a halfway decent job, then got it recorded, I see a post from someone saying that they are doing the last piece of it. You guys are getting SOOO good!
Well done guys!
Click to expand...

Mike, I came in to the Virtual Jam Room for the first time about a month ago, and was gobsmacked at the goodies available. I haven't had anything worth posting (yet), but I'm using some of the tracks as backing for my noodling. One I recorded, just to hear what I sound like.... meh! The other day i was noodling over the Texas Blues track and I played something I really liked, so I played it again, but by the time the track ended I had forgotten what I played ..... so I promised myself I would RECORD myself in future; even if I throw away the rubbish later, at least I'll have a record of any other "gems" I accidentally come up with, so that I can "virtually" remember them.

And, who cares if the other guys have already finished one by the time you (or I) have got something to "say"? There's nothing stopping us from starting "Take 2", is there?
 
Marv

Marv

I play 'err' guitar.
Mike, just post that you're recording the next segment.

Edit that post and include the link to your track when you are done.

That way, everyone will wait for you and you won't get shut out.
 
MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Thanks guys, I guess I should have added that I can just noodle and make it sound ok, but I'm trying to get myself t the next level and start sounding GOOD through planning.
Lloyd, you might be surprised how little I solo in my show, and when I DO, it's usually a near note for note copy of either the original or something from Griff.
I guess maybe the answer is: Keep posting "Noodles" in the VJR and eventually it will start sounding better?
 
Elwood

Elwood

Blues
Mike, just a thought.
It sounds like you are kind of working both ways...
you want to join in a simulated improv situation and have fun, cool,
you want to sound GOOD through planning, good,
either is great, and I could be dead wrong, but I really believe that in a descent jam you can hear the guys with the "plan". Sometimes you hear some really good playing but wonder why they put it in there.
All I'm suggesting is if you let go a bit you probably will surprise yourself. (So, I guess, right! Post noodles!):Beer:
 
Last edited:
jmin

jmin

Student Of The Blues
Confessions of a VJR abuser:
1) I have never recorded my first take on any jam, so I am not really spontaneously "jamming"
2) I usually make a plan (box n?, arpeggio? scale?, Griff's latest email?, etc.)
3) I listen to others' licks and attempt to replicate, understand, steal borrow, etc.
4) I don't post the RECORDING sign until I'm sure I'm ready to share it.
5) I have spent almost as much time exploiting the VJR as I have on Griff's lessons
6) I love the VJR!

MikeS said:
I can't tell you the number of times I've found one of these threads and thought "Yeah! I'd like to do this one". Then by the time I've figured out what I want to play, memorized it well enough to do even a halfway decent job, then got it recorded, I see a post from someone saying that they are doing the last piece of it!
Click to expand...

That's happened to me a lot of times, Mike. I used to get bummed that I "missed out," until I realized that I just "practiced" my [fill in the blank], in a given key, at a given rhythm, with some twist, and I managed to record it! Even if the guys don't ever hear it, I just had a great practice session!
 
JPsuff

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
jmin said:
Confessions of a VJR abuser:
1) I have never recorded my first take on any jam, so I am not really spontaneously "jamming"
2) I usually make a plan (box n?, arpeggio? scale?, Griff's latest email?, etc.)
3) I listen to others' licks and attempt to replicate, understand, steal borrow, etc.
4) I don't post the RECORDING sign until I'm sure I'm ready to share it.
5) I have spent almost as much time exploiting the VJR as I have on Griff's lessons
6) I love the VJR!



That's happened to me a lot of times, Mike. I used to get bummed that I "missed out," until I realized that I just "practiced" my [fill in the blank], in a given key, at a given rhythm, with some twist, and I managed to record it! Even if the guys don't ever hear it, I just had a great practice session!
Click to expand...

I sometimes record and submit the first take but I generally apply the "Jimmy Page Rule" which is to record three solos and pick the best one.

Of course "best one" is subjective and I tend to regard it as the best one of the three I came up with at that particular time and (with rare exceptions) is not necessarily the best possible one I could have played.
I feel that in the format of the VJR, if I go deeper than that or if I really try to construct something more detailed, then I've crossed the line between jamming and rehearsing and that becomes a whole different thing.

To me, jamming is more about being in the moment rather than having a blueprint.
 
artyman

artyman

Fareham UK
I usually download the track, hit record and play along to the previous contributors, then hopefully by the time I see the waveform trace indicating it's time to go 'live' I pause so I know what to get rid off and then play away. I sometimes tweak volume in places afterwards if I feel my picking was a bit too tentative. Mostly one take, but sometimes I'm not happy so have a second bite of the cherry.
 
JestMe

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
Mike

I getcha. I know the feeling. Perhaps we are in the same place re soloing and improv.

One thought I have regarding this is... How about starting your own track in the VJR then you can get it down and record it before anyone else even hears it!.

Seems like a great bunch of encouraging guys in the VJR.

;-) Maybe send it to me before you post it and we each can take a stab at it before it gets filled up!!! ;-)
 
PapaRaptor

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
Many Moons said:
@MikeS & @JestMe There is still over two minutes left on the 'No Warts Allowed' track. Why not take a minute each and break yourselves in gently.:)
Click to expand...
Yes, and pay no mind to the "No Warts Allowed" title. No one's going to enforce it.
cheesy.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top