Your Jam Session's Ideal Song list.... And Rules.

Okay, here's something I'm trying to put up for my site. What songs do you feel should be played in a Jam session, where you would be in the guitarist's chair? And also, what would be the 5 Dos and the 5 Don'ts of Jamming? Here are mine:

Songs:

Hey Joe
Sweet Home Alabama
Red House
Mary had a little Lamb (SRV not the nursery rhyme)
So what (Miles DAVIS)
Mustang Sally
The Thrill is gone
Little Wing
La Grange (zz top)
...

Do's

-Tune up
-Turn that damn amp down
-Learn the ENTIRE song
-Call the ones you CAN play
-Tell the guys if you can't, just sit down and leave the chair to someone who can play the tune.

Don'ts

-Be a solo hog
-Show off, make music.
-Blame the other ones, encourage them if they didn't play it right.
-Think you're the best in the house (even if you are, because that's lack of modesty)
-tell you won't play the song if you don't like it, leave the chair to someone that likes it and that can play it.

Thats a fair set of rules...only thing i'm not sure about is the 'say if you can't....' Okay, if you've never heard the song before then you cant, and if you have but never tried to learn it then you cant, but sometimes 'cant' is in the mind.....on occasions I've told myself I couldnt play a song and said 'I'm going to sit out' but when made to at least have a go I found I was better than I thought and even if I screwed up nobody cared, me included. Voodoo Chile was a good one for that.

Here's some of my jam songs:

Voodoo Chile
Highway Chile
Red House
Midnight
Dazed and Confused
Whole Lotta Love
Stairway to Heaven
Working Man
Aint gonna give up on Love
Leave my Girl Alone

Many of those seem like obvious choices but thats the idea, lots of people will know them.

well i dont have any special rules, except for one thing i realy dont like:
when people insist on playing pop songs just because they think its funny
when people dont want to play "your" song so they just make noises in the background instead of turning the amps off

ok thats two things, not one ;)

songs to play

leave my girl alone
crossfire (srv's song)
you shook me all night long - ac/dc
stairway (no stairway?! denied!)
rock'n'roll (led zeppelin's as well)
anything that is 12 bar blues
cold shot
have you ever loved a woman?
blues power
smoke on the water (well its a must )

songs:
anurysim- nirvana
devil's hair cut- beck
the end- the doors
Burning of the midnigh lamp- hendrix
When the levee breaks_ led zepllin (i dont know who did the original)
and last but not least, free for all NOISE...

Do's:
- play out of key when ever you want
-TUNE UP!
-feed back nicely
-dont put poeple down
-the more instruments the better

Dont:
-goddam play lots of notes that dont resemly a melody in any shape or form, noise is ok, but soloing so fast that you just run into practice scales is a no no.
-feed back only drown other poeple out
-start making noise when other poele are intrested in sticking to a melody/ chord progression
-feel restrainted by the whole "verse chorus verse" aproach.
-mic are to sing/ talk/ shout into for the sake of expression, not making crass jokes, or swearing at other poeple...

it would all get recorded as well, but i would be very loose, and not really sound much at all like the recording by the artists

In my opinion, a "Jam Session" should not be restricted to songs, thats why they call them "Jams", therefore i don't have a list of do's and don'ts, its one of those "open mind" things...as long as your in tune.

When I do a Jam session I usually don't rely on covers. I'll write a basic 12 bars blue riff and go off on that, everyone gets a solo spot, both guitarists,Drummer,Bassist, Keyboardest, and vocalist. Something I learned in Berkeley California at a Bar called Blakes where every Monday night the houseband (Blues) would play...then anyone could come up and jam with the band.
I'll do the same concept with my band...it hella fun...and it's a great way to get tight together while having a blast.

On the same note it can be done with rock n roll or heavy metal....country too for that matter.

Originally posted by aiwass
E minor.

Dear God, no!

That's the thing
Sooooo many things are in e minor that it sounds kinda dull to play in e minor.
Furthermore open strings can be used for much more interesting things than playing e minor heavy metal in most cases.
E minor is a heavy metal zone

Originally posted by aiwass
You have a problem with E minor? You know how many awesome things you can do with open strings in E minor? Oh, that's right! You're a bass player!! So sit yo' ass down!

Nah... just kidding. But what's wrong with E minor?

Ahcht, grow yurrrself a pairrr of balls and play in a Rrreal Man's Key like G#!


E Minor gets very boring. I like to challenge myself. You should hear some of the stuff I've been doing with time signatures lately.