How does a guitar player jam with a bass player?

Question

I've recently learned to play guitar. My brother in law knows a few bass runs. My question: How do I play/jam with him? How do I know what to play (what key, chords) while watching what he's doing?
We both sound pretty good alone, but we don't know how to sound good together. Not much of a theory guy, but if that's the way it must be...:-(

Answer 1

A little of that theory wouldn't hurt. A big part of theory is the study of how notes go together, which notes go together, which notes don't and why! In order to jam together yo need to agree on a set of changes. Changes are chords that go together in a particular pattern. The most familier set of changes is the twelve bar blues.

1. E7 / 2. A7 / 3. E7 / 4. E7 / 5. A7 / 6. A7 / 7. E7 / 8. E7 / 9. B7 / 10. A7 /

11. E7 / E7 //

there are a million variations, introductions and endings, but those are the basic building blocks. When you agree on a set of changes, the next thing you agree on is a riff or a beat. A riff is a group of notes that are repeated to establish the identity of a tune. Sunshine of your love has a great riff. The most famous riff in rock music is probably the beginning to Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. The next might be Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne's group. A beat is usually defined by the drummer, but can even be defined by the bass player in combination with the riff, especially if you don't have a drummer.

When you learn these three things, you can generally depend on each other. Then, one of you plays the basic pattern while the other solos. If you are soloing, then the bass needs to play a solid simple background, stay out of your way, and allow you to shine while you lean on the other for support. The bass is much more difficult to support. You can either just play the first beat of the measure and let the bass have the other three beats, or you can play a simple but syncopated rhythmic pattern that the bass can play over. ow that I've described the process, you can hear it in the playing of most of your favorite groups. Hope this helps. Best of luck on your quest to play together and remember, less is more. Never play six strings when two or three strings will do. When you play with another instrument, you have to give them the space that they deserve. Space is like respect, except that in jamming, you have to give it before it can be earned.

Answer 2

You have not to wait him what he will play. If you know a song, or you know a chords you have to play your partition, he will play his. During the playin' you can jammin' because everyone KNOW what he have to play and jam is just a stage figure and it is like an acting... but you have to drill it. NOTE! for every musicans important is quality of playin' but what they are perform on stage this is just background screen. Veradisca & Best Regards, Neven.

Answer 3

1. Play at the same tempo.
2. Play in the same key.
3. Play the same song.
4. Play. You should both be able to do this without watching each other (eventually).