Top 5 Tips For Playing With Other Musicians
Playing with other musicians is an invaluable experience.
It's very common for guitarists to wonder when they should start playing/jamming with other people.
The answer is as soon as possible.
The experience and feedback you get from playing with others is truly priceless, and it's one of the best ways to test your rhythm and other skills.
I understand that for many people, the thought of playing with others can be nerve-wracking. However, it doesn't have to be a daunting experience if you approach it the right way.
In this video, I will share five crucial tips to ensure you have a positive experience.
Even if you already play with other musicians, some of the advice in this video will apply to you and may help you become one of the in-demand musicians in your area.
Tip #1
Take advantage of every opportunity you have to play with others. Whenever possible, play with musicians who are better than you. Being around and playing with others who are better than you will make your skills increase much faster than sitting at home diligently practicing by yourself. The people you want to play with will have a better sense of rhythm, more fretboard knowledge, probably no more songs than you, and can give you a lot of tips as far as what they've done in the past to get to where they're at.
Remember that you're not playing to impress those people. Your job is always to serve the song. What I mean by that is you're always trying to make everyone else around you sound better. That's your job. If you do get a chance to solo and it's your turn to shine, you're still trying to play the best possible solo, so the whole song sounds better. Even in those situations where you are the star of the show, you're still trying to serve the song and make the group sound good. If you go with that mindset, you'll do a whole lot better in these situations. One little thing you can always think of when you first start getting in and playing with a group of people is listen more and play a little less.
Tip #2
Be okay with the fact that mistakes are going to happen. We're human, so there's going to be mistakes. The big thing you are learning is how to recover as quickly as possible. If you get out of time, play a little bit less until you hear where the downbeat is. If the chord changes are too fast, simplify your strum so you can keep up. It's okay to only play whole notes. As long as you're playing the chords on the beat with everybody else, it's going to sound good.
You want to be able to adjust in the moment to what's going on. If you get lost, make eye contact with who you're playing with. Everyone wants everyone to have fun when you're playing together. Other musicians are looking to help you out of that situation. Don't internalize everything, put your head down, and hope no one's noticing. Look up and make eye contact. The musicians you're playing with are more than likely trying to help you find where you should be at in that song. They really want you to find your way because as soon as you get back to where you should be, it's going to sound much better, and it's going to be more fun for everyone. So just embrace the fact that mistakes are going to happen, and that you are always working on being able to recover from those as quickly as you possibly can.
Tip #3
when you get a chance to play with other people, not only is going to force you to learn full songs and be able to play through a complete song. It's also going to force you to find ways to come up with other parts that are complementary to the song. Okay? You don't want everyone playing the same thing all the way through the whole song. Okay? So it may not be you that's doing it right away. The other person you're playing, especially if they're more advanced, if you're sitting there and you're strumming and it's sounding really good and you're keeping time, there's a good chance they'll stop doing that and come up with another secondary part that's really complimentary to what you're doing. Okay, it's going to use being a complimentary rhythm. It could be an arpeggiated part. It could be as simple as two notes that sound really good over all your changes. More advanced players will know how to do stuff like that, and it just adds to the song's overall sound. Again, we're always trying to make everyone else around us sound better. So by everyone not playing the exact same thing that's going to happen, and it's taken as a compliment if someone starts doing that, because that means that your rhythm and your groove is really good, and it's freeing them up to go ahead and do something else. So just be always looking to see what's this person doing, what's this person doing, what's this person doing. Again, it comes back to listening as you're playing and just being around that, immersing yourself in those situations where you get exposed to those types of things; you're going to come up with ideas or be introduced to ideas that you probably never would have thought of on your own. And your skills will increase much faster than just sitting at home practicing alone.
Tip #4
Record yourself. You can do this yourself by putting your phone on a tripod or balancing it on a table, or you can ask someone else to record you. What you want is the feedback from that recording. This recording is not to be posted online so your friends can see what you did. This is so you can listen back and evaluate how you played.
When you listen back and evaluate, don't start off being critical. Find at least two or three things that you think went really well, and write those down first. Musicians tend to be overly critical about our skills and what we do, so start off by being positive. Hopefully, you end up with a long list, but at least find two or three positive things to say about your performance.
After that, listen closely for things you could have done better. Did you get out of time? Do you play a rhythm that fits with what the other musicians were playing? How were your transitions from strumming to arpeggiated parts or single note lines? If you did make a mistake, how quickly did you recover?
You can also listen to what the other musicians are playing. Did they play a part that you like? Can you figure out what they did so you can put that in your skills toolbox? Did anyone else make a mistake? How did they recover?
Tip #5
After watching that video, make a practice plan. It only needs to be a short list. You don't want to include everything on the list. Start by picking the top five things you think are most important.
You can start with the easiest thing you think can be improved within a week's time. Start there. That's a nice, easy fix. Next, find something that will take some time to fix. You were able to evaluate what items need your attention first. Now you have a plan for your practice time. Having a plan makes your practice time much more valuable. You are no longer noodling and randomly picking things to play. When you practice that way, you may get better, but you are more than likely just entertaining yourself. With a plan, you now have a focus, and you'll see your skills skyrocket when you do that.
If you struggle to keep time and stay in the groove when you play with others, I recommend you check out my free video guide, “Six Easy Steps To Learn And Play Any Rhythm With Perfect Timing.” In this video, I guide you through each step in the process and show you how you should practice rhythm to make the most progress. Click this link to get your free video today, “Six Easy Steps To Learn And Play Any Rhythm With Perfect Timing.”