Music is one of the things most enjoyable when made, appreciated and played together. Although it’s a great thing that you can listen to your favorite collection when driving your car as well as singing along with it, the reality is, music is better when enjoyed with friends.
Being a musician does not change this. Nobody becomes a superb musician by being inside a room the whole day practicing. One has to expose himself to other musicians and learn from them. This way, he will find out that true creativity is not done alone and that the four sides of your room is not a very good teacher.
Live jam sessions are the best ways to do this. It is when musicians meet up and just jam. It is when someone starts a lick, a groove or a melody and the other musicians join in and pick it up – letting the music take the lead in a free flowing musical direction.
If you are a musician, you need to have two things: head and soul. Majority of musicians has either too little of one and a lot of the other. A musician who has a lot of the ‘head’ is very technical; he knows when to play what mode, which is the best note for certain chord progression, what kind of groove is ideal for a particular time signature, etc. Musicians should know this stuff. However, these types of musicians sometimes lack substantial amount of creativity. They live in boxes, which contradict the idea that music is about breaking free from the box.
The other type – the one with lots of ‘soul’ – usually is the naturally talented one. He can easily pick up notes, play a groove well, and is very creative. However, most of the time, he has no idea arranging that creativity efficiently. Normally, he is the musicians who are ‘misunderstood’, struggling working with other musicians and becomes frustrated with them.
The reality is, if you cannot work with others as a musician, you are less of a musician, and you need to learn how.
To become an excellent musician, you have to be well-rounded. This is the reason why live jam sessions are so important. Jam sessions help musicians obtain skills that he lacks. A musician who has a lot of soul will learn how to construct his talent into a song, knowing when to play and when not to. On the other hand, the technical musician who has a lot of ‘head’ will learn a little to free himself from his box and will just let his artistry take over.
This is the essence of live jam sessions, and this is the reason why bands should jam a lot. They will learn each other’s (as well as their own) weaknesses and strengths. Furthermore, they will learn how to ‘play of’ and inspire one another.