jammr Forum

Hello!

I'm Jim, and I love playing sax, especially the blues! Looking for online jam sessions now that going out to local jam sessions really isn't possible. Blues, soul, 70s/80s, or anything really. Let me know if you, “need some reed”!

Stay safe and healthy, and keep on jammin!
Jim

Man, it's good to meet another sax man here! Maybe I'll meet up with you online one of these days. When are you around?

Would you be interested in trying to put some horn lines together in this weird environment? It'd be… interesting to say the least, but I think it's doable with some known structure.

Hi, Julian! Sure, I'd love to work on horn lines! I'm very new here, so I'd look to you for guidance on how to get started. I'm in Arizona, and at work from about 6:00AM to 3:00PM Az time (Pacific time this time of year).

I will be happy to assist in any way I can. I will need to negotiate with the family for a day of the week to meet up when you'd be here… you're three time zones away! The sax isn't really something I can play without disturbing the whole house, so I'll need to tread lightly

I will say right off the bat… one of the things to get used to is the slowness with which the jam develops. When guys (especially horn lines) are in the same room we an kinda work up a line and launch it within a few measures. In Jammr, say I come up with a line in the first BPI (what they call the length of the progression) and start playing it. You won't hear that line until at least the second BPI, and if you come up with something to harmonize with it I won't hear YOU until at least the BPI after that, so things ramp up really slowly compared to a live jam. If you get bored easily it can get tedious, but the key to developing a cool jam here is to be consistent and stay with the metronome and the progression. It's different but some cool stuff can still happen.

As for figuring out who's going to take a ride and when… well, that's something I'm still trying to figure out. Collisions and a lot of dead space during rounds of solos are pretty much inevitable in this environment, so just don't take it personally! Here if someone shoves in and plays over you, they probably were trying to find the ‘in’ and the lag got in the way. Do that at a live jam and … well, you're just an ass. Here it's just part of the deal.

Other than that change of mindset and getting your rig working before you join a session, that's pretty much all I have. Hope we can work out a jam soon, man! Again, good to meet you.

-J

Thanks again for the tips, Julian! Let me know what days/hours work well for you and your family and we can work try working around that. I just turned 60, and it's just my wife and me. The kids are isolating in their homes with their kids!

I'll start easing my way into the rooms, and try not to jump on top of folks. Your tip above reminded me how much visual cues matter in live sessions.

It seems like this would be a great place for school kids to stay sharp and for pros to maintain contact with their fans that play.

Thanks again for the tips, looking forward to jamming with you!
-Jim

Yessir, I look forward to it as well. I've been out of commission with THE most killer back spasm I've ever experienced this week, but when it decides to turn me loose I'll definitely get in touch. In fact, I'll talk to the wife about it today and see if I can … well, negotiate effectively.

-J

Hello Sax Players ! I am Clifford Maverick Taylor, a guitarist, singer, music composition arranger. I've been doing this (off and on) since the late 60s, playing Trumpet, Piano, Guitar, organizing bands for performance. I play the Blues, Jazz/Rock/Funk style and many of the backing tracks I create are particularly keyed to be friendly for Bb and Eb instruments. I also do work from the Real Book series and some of the Hal-Leonard JAZZ arrangements. I'm going to put MP3 versions of my song arrangements (less the guitar parts and horn parts) on the GoCliff dot com web site as Prak Traks for individual practice, and then we use the same for Jam sessions. Let me know if you'd like to Jam, and we'll make arrangements. Would love to talk about and compare song lists, too. Happy Trails playing music, Maverick.

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