Damn, I Miss Jamming!

[lbpesq]

We’ve been holed up at home for a couple of weeks now.  I don’t miss getting up early and going to work.  I don’t miss traffic.  I don’t miss going out to restaurants or the movies.   I’ve been keeping busy.  Today I’ll be winding pickups for an Alligator replica I’m building, as well as finishing a nut for another build.  We’ve been watching movies (Bull Durham on what would have been Opening Day - 1917 is excellent), and we are binge re-watching Curb Your Enthusiasm.  I just finished yet another John D. MacDonald book and downloaded Laurence Shames’ new novel.   I’ve done some maintenance on the cars.  Senior Management and I are getting along famously.  But damn I MISS JAMMING!!!! Sure, I’m playing and futzing around with my rig,  but it’s just not the same as playing with my band!


Bill, tgo


P.S.  And something else to complain about:  The Kars 4 Kids commercial just played.  I HATE that damn earworm of a song!

[StefanieJones]

I wish there was a way to play with the band through Skype or some other program. But, I haven't found it yet. :/

[mica]

Everything has too much lag for a proper jam.

[elwoodblue]

There is a plugin in Reaper; NINJAM , that aims to allow cyberjams.
I haven't tried it, but it probably has a bit of latency as Mica suggests.


 

[David Houck]

Just started in on Asimov's Foundation last night.

We drove into town to go for a walk today.  Saw something rare; available parking spaces right down town.

[keith_h]

It's been 40 years since I read the Foundation series. I might just break them out as I can use a break from the book I'm currently reading. Thanks for the idea Dave. 

[hammer]

Tried Zoom meeting for a mini jam earlier today. Used the group meeting format. It wasn't all that bad as long as people were pumping the audio they were hearing through a suitable set of speakers and could set their own volume at a reasonable level. We do all have as high speed internet as is possible and other than starting together through visual means it was really only following what we were hearing. Certainly not the same as being in the same room together but a lot more satisfying than playing by oneself.

[edwardofhuncote]

I realized the other day, it's hard to explain to people who don't play music, what it's like when suddenly you are deprived of the ability to play. Music is like a language to us. A jam is very much a type of conversation between musicians. Taking that away for an extended period in some ways, it's even worse than the 'social distancing' we're currently being asked to observe.


It's not the same thing as live Bill, but you can jam with Wikiloops... downloadable backing tracks, that are somewhat customizable to what you you want in a mix. There are some darn good players who frequently upload tracks there. I have a couple dozen tracks with a group of certain guitarists, keyboard players and one particular drummer I can lock well with. Give it a rip. https://www.wikiloops.com/backingtrack.php

[lbpesq]

We just got a new drummer.  The old drummer retired and moved away.  We've played with the new guy 2 or 3 times and it was really gelling.  At least he's working on our tunes while we wait for the opportunity to get back up and running.

And to add to everything else, I completed one pickup and got to 7000 of the 8100 intended winds on a second when I ran out of wire!  MAJOR bummer.  Had to cut all that wire away and trash it.  Now I have to wait for the spool I just ordered to arrive.

Bill, tgo

[paulman]

Bill I agree with everything you're saying.  A couple of years ago I started playing bass in a band (The League of Benevolent Spirits) and I miss it almost as much if not more than my guitar band projects.


This too shall pass.   

[Glynn]

Yes - get the point about time -lag.
Some of us used Zoom the other night with a fair degree of success. If nothing else, it was great fun. I am sure my face doesn't look like that in real life - or is that wishful thinking?
Glynn

[cje]

Some friends of mine have been asking about jamkazam - anyone ever try that? I feel like most of these virtual jam solutions are  years old, as if it was a fad that's had its time.
I may try it out. My big hurdle would be isolating the amp - I'll just have to heap blankets over it. I don't want to go direct.

If I get my act together (the house is surprisingly busy) and try it out, I'll report back!

[glocke]

Ditto...


Prior to all this I was going to Manhattan every Saturday for double bass lessons with Joe Solomon.


Every other Monday night I was up there for some jazz trio/quartet stuff..nice thing about that is that it was with people wanted to actually work on tunes and go deep on them as opposed to just jamming through stuff.  It was good for me because they pushed me to do better and would call me out on things like dropping the tempo.


Funny thing is, now that Im home and have all the time in the world to practice, Im not.  Maybe 2 hours tops. 


Im enjoying sitting around and resting in peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle quite a bit and it's good to have my brain "turned off".

[Khrist92]

Sort of the same situation as lbpesq - newish band, finally found a drummer in our area who gels, recorded a demo/EP (Viator, below), had our first gig booked for a week from Friday...then poof, all gone. Thankfully our counties in NJ aren't too badly affected, but who knows when this will end.

Thank goodness for DAWs and smart phones, we've been slowly putting together demos of new songs we've been jamming on. Still disappointing, however.

Adam

[sonicus]

I have been brushing up on my Trumpet & other brass instrument chops . As well I am also now able to devote more time to my solo loop aspirations

So far my one gig with Dead Guise on 4/5/20has been canceled at the Starry Plough in Berkeley,CA.

We have our next gig set for 6/20/20 at the Historic Bal Theater in San Leandro
 http://www.baltheatre.com/

On 7/31/20 at the World Famous Turf Club
https://www.worldfamousturfclub.com

So many of my friends internationally are having all their gigs and tours canceled .

Love all around , Stay Safe & Healthy !