Question about jamming

When you guys have a jam session with your friends, are you playing chords that you actually already know, or are you just using common chord fingerings? How do you make your chord progressions?

I'm not sure I understand your question.

A good way to make chord progressions is by understanding keys. Certain chords work together well. Download a helpful document here.

Like seeso said, understanding keys is, well, key. another way is to agree on a certain progression proir to everybody playing. you can also look up a chord progression if you want a certain sound. I find it good to keep a backup chord progression that you are comfortable with as well. I have two: C,G,F,Am and E,B,D,A.

nirama said:

When you guys have a jam session with your friends, are you playing chords that you actually already know, or are you just using common chord fingerings? How do you make your chord progressions?

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Common chords are the ones I know. Most songs in our jam just have chords above the lyrics. Any unusual chords are described across the bottom of the page. If I don't know the somg, by the time the first verse has gone by I usually have enough to go from there.

I guess what I'm saying is, do you guys remember a chord progression in the IV-ii-I format and then apply it to whatever key you are playing in, or do you just remember random chords and make up your progression as you go?

nirama said:

I guess what I'm saying is, do you guys remember a chord progression in the IV-ii-I format and then apply it to whatever key you are playing in, or do you just remember random chords and make up your progression as you go?

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For the most part lead sheets of some form are essential. They certainly make everything easier. Unless everyone already knows the song you are playing in the key you are playing it, they are required.

You should come to a jam session with at least lyric / chord sheets for anything you want to play with the group. Having copies for everyone makes life much simpler.

If you are in an improvisational group, things run a bit different, but you still need lead sheets (preferably good ones with the melody and rhythm spelled out). Generally you can't perform freeform improvisation in a group setting. You at least have to be working off some common source.

In jazz you take a piece everyone knows and play through it straight ahead once. Then, each player takes a turn soloing and improvising above the songs chord progression.

Common Hawaiian keys and vamps:

Key_Chord Progression.......................Key_Vamp

C - ..C.....C7....F....Fm....G7....C...........C -...D7...G7...C....

F - ..F......F7....Bb..Bbm..C7....F............F -...G7...C7...F....

A - ..A.....A7....D....Dm...E7.....A...........A -...B7....E7...A...

G - ..G....G7....C....Cm...D7....G...........G -...A7...D7...G...

D - ..D....D7....G....Gm...A7....D............D -...E7...A7...D...

learn basic progressions, but really you learn chords and watch your buddy's fingers and follow along

It depends on the kind of jam, but it's a mixture of approaches.

Learning familiarity with chordshapes so that one can recognise what others are playing is a great help, as cornfedgroove said. That's especially true of guitar chords. Everyone and his dog plays guitar, so you can be sure that there will usually be guitarists at most jams (informal or organised).

Most jamming is based on standard structures rather than TOTALLY improvised from scratch. Either a song will be the starting point, or just a chord progression. It's helpful to be familiar with the most common progressions as these will occur most often.

Examples are:

I, IV, V - used in 12 bar blues (usually with dominant 7 versions thrown in to taste).

I, vi, IV, V - used in many rock and roll and doo-wop songs.

I, V, vi, IV - used in many pop, rock and reggae songs.

It's good to learn the progressions by their numbers (I, IV, V or 1, 4, 5) because then you can figure out the progression in any key by simply counting the intervals off on your fingers.

If you just learn it as a list of chords in a key, for example G, C , D, then you can find yourself stuck if someone calls out for a 12 bar in A or in E. If you know it more generically as a I, IV, V progression you can just start with the A or E (or any tonic note) and count up 4 and 5 steps to find the other chords in the tune.

From what I get with your question, if you don't know a particular chord, per se, it is possible to play a "root" chord. Say someone is playing a "G" with a variation of some sort and you are not sure what they are doing, so you play a "G". Most of the time, the root will blend pretty well. That is not always the case, but you can get away with it on occasion. Is that what you are asking?