(Calling all jam band players) Garcia, Hanes, Anastasio, Kimock

[jeffgothro]

Was wondering if there are any "Jam Band" style players here in the forum that share my enthusiasm for a "Grateful Dead" style of playing. Are there players who like to try to incorporate inprovisational blues, rock, jazz, country into your style of playing.

J.

[adjason]

Oh yes there are quite a few on this site

[goldtopper]

We noodle with a purpose on ABB and a little GD.

[greggorypeccary]

I put a little Jerry into everything I play.

[Daddy Hojo]

Originally Posted by jeffgothro

Was wondering if there are any "Jam Band" style players here in the forum that share my enthusiasm for a "Grateful Dead" style of playing. Are there players who like to try to incorporate inprovisational blues, rock, jazz, country into your style of playing.

J.

LOL. Your avatar gives a few clues that you might like jam bands.

[jeffgothro]

I suppose you can call it my "mojo"

[chabby]

All I did was jam bands for the first couple bands I was in, until we had to start gigging

[Fret Wilkes]

Present!

[jjkrause84]

Who is 'Garcia'?

[Telarkaster]

I learned a lot from listening to Dickey Betts, and I've been accused of sounding like Jerry Garcia. I even have a Grateful Dead bear sticker on my strat (see jjkrause's avatar, but just the head). When I was a kid I heard that the Doors never played a song the same way twice. I thought that was so cool that I've tried to do the same.

For the last 4 years I've been trying to study jazz and it has really improved my improvisational playing.

[hoodtube12]

I too really enjoy picking along with the Dead. I also love Phish, String Cheese, etc. Those bands force me to be able to play a very diverse range of music. Go Cats.

[Paul in Colorado]

I'm not much of a Phish fan, I can't make my mind up about Kimoch, but Warren Haynes is amazing.

However the Dead were a huge influence on me. I grew up in the Bay Area in the late '60's/early '70's, so as a friend of mine once said, "There's a little bit of LSD in every note you play."

I also like a good clean, fat Twin with JBL's kind of amp tone for a lot of the music I play. Though in recent years I've learned how to handle distortion and I listen to Chicago and English blues players and James Burton more then Jerry.

For a while I played with a loose configuration called "Not Dead Yet" that played Dead, CSN&Y and Dylan covers. I wish my current band had a second singer/guitarist or keyboard player so we could do more of that.

[Soldano ROS]

The jam or improvisation is an essential part of my playing

[pondcaster]

Originally Posted by Soldano ROS

The jam or improvisation is an essential part of my playing

+1 ~ well put.

[doublee]

An avid Dead fan here but I wonder if
Jam band is a bit of misnomer, as the Dead
tunes always have a structure, and its the leads that change a bit each time,
but not really all that much, ie some more inspired than others but not radically different?

I mean its not like they reinvent everything each show. Leads will get extended of course but they always seem to land on the '1' at the right time after decades of playing together

[Ricky D.]

Gifted players. Good/great songs. Extended jams? Fun to play, but about as exciting as listening to a dog barking if you are in the audience IMO. Sorry, plenty of room in this world for everybody to enjoy what they like.

[picknfool]

Originally Posted by Soldano ROS

The jam or improvisation is an essential part of my playing

+1- and mine as well.

[Red Square]

Extended jams? Fun to play, but about as exciting as listening to a dog barking if you are in the audience IMO.

Unless it is the Grateful Dead doing it...then there are fewer more captivating sonic things in the history of the planet (imho).

Count me in as well....but I am not of a fan of the term "jam band" either.
Calling the GD this is misinformed at best and insulting at worst.

[JohnK24]

Fan of Warren Haynes & Derek Trucks, heck even Phish riffs appear in my playing from time to time and yes..."Dave Matthews"...I play acoustic only on DMB songs...love his unorthodox approach to rhythms...

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by Ricky D.

Gifted players. Good/great songs. Extended jams? Fun to play, but about as exciting as listening to a dog barking if you are in the audience IMO.

That all depends on the audience. Never underestimate the ability of a room full of stoners to find the fun in a good jam. Especially if you can make the girls dance. get a couple of cute hippie chicks dancing, and the party is ON.

The style(s) in this thread, and the people who pioneered them, will always have a place in my playing. I gig a lot with what is (for lack of a better term) a blues rock trio. We jam like crazy some nights. I never, ever, even in straight up cover bands, cover a song exactly. I'll play with the arrangement, improvise the solos, extend here, snip there, all kinds of stuff. Creativity is what playing is all about for me. Being a parrot holds no attraction for me whatsoever. And before anybody says "you have to if you want to get paid", BS. I get paid, every night. Playing is my only job, I do well with it, and I only play what I want to, how I want to.

We will be gigging that trio twice this week, in nice places, for good money. We have never once had a rehearsal in the 14 months we've been gigging together, and we extend things and improvise a LOT. Some nights a song is four minutes long, some nights that song is half a set.

People who think the jam thing is boring aren't doing it right, or seeing it done right. Just vamping while people take turns soloing is not "jamming" as I see it. When me and my guys go on extended romps, we go everywhere we can conceiveably take it. It might start out as funky/bluesy take on a Miles Davis head in 4/4, and before it's over, it's hit country, rhumba, polka, and all points in between, then the drummer will switch up the groove yet again, and it'll make the bass player think of some other song entirely, so he'll quote the melody for a couple of bars, and we'll be hip deep in that one. Sometimes things get trancy and loopy, but for the most part, if we're on a trip, we're actually going somewhere. People like it. They come to see it, and we never have trouble booking gigs.

I never got how anybody could be "bored" by the Grateful Dead, or the Allman Bros., etc. If you are listening, they never stop moving. Too many of the young jam bands I've seen in clubs don't get that. I call them vamp bands. There is an art to jamming well, and you need players who know what's up, and can really pull it off, which mostly involves actively LISTENING to what going on around you. It's not just about soloing for ten minutes.