If a guitarist is going to jam with others, what should they know?

[Grandturk]

Re: If a guitarist is going to jam with others, what should they know?

Let's suppose that you're just beginning to get together with other musicians to start pulling some form of (musical) performance together? What would you expect them to know how to do without really having to think about it too hard? It could be techniques, scales, chords, songs - the latter is going to depend a little on your own musical tastes and I wouldn't expect to need to sit in with Joe Bonamassa or Steve Vai any time soon. I've put a few ideas of my own down below to get things started, but what do you think?

• Basic 12-bar blues in E
• Pentatonic and blues scales in all 5 positions
• Major/minor chords in open positions
• Major/minor bar chords using E, A & D shapes
• Highway to Hell
• Boys Are Back in Town
• Wish You Were Here

What else?

I think you should just hang out and play some stuff first. Maybe if they don't know how to play a blues, you show each other what to do. Music's either about collaboration or orchestration. If its orchestration you're after, find people that want to do what you want them to do; otherwise its all about doing something cool together.