How I begin an improvised live set. Generally I will make sure nothing will make a sound, press play, so all the sequencers are silently running (some with notes, some without.) and then I just go with what feels right to begin with. In this jam, I started with a pad on the microfreak.
A lot of the time people struggle with live improvised jamming, but if you allow yourself the freedom to experiment and think of the piece of music as a journey, instead of trying to play 'songs' one after the other. Just jam and enjoy the feeling of seeing where you end up.
Link to the full jam from yesterday... • Synthesizer jamming - ...
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Watch me build a live set from scratch every Thursday at 23:00 UK time
Wonderful, thanks for that video. I really really dig your approach for playing live techno.
Glad you enjoyed it!
excelente
The man from cressmonte! He say yes!
thanks for sharing, Jonathan, it's great seeing how other peeps work 🙂👍
🙌
Thankyou synkrotron!!
I like the "director cut" style.. well done. I appreciate your commentary a lot.
Hey Thankyou! For watching and commenting! when I watch synth jamming vids half the fun is trying to figure out what is going on, but i sometimes forget people might also be interested. plust I'm mega nerdy on the whole topic! And as synths and hardware are so available now, it's making it really easy for folk to incorporate live jamming stuff into their sets. (hopefully) Have you got any synths/drum machines?
Brilliant
Hey Simon, Thank you! Congrats again for the win for last week's @hardwarejams challenge! Awesome work!
@@JonathanRCross Your welcome - would love be more fluid with my own jamming and you da man to learn from!!! And thanks for your kind words on the stream this week - much appreciated👍
@simongreatbatch wow thanks! I have faith in you based on your keyboard skills!! Any particular elements you have in mind?
@@JonathanRCross I'm a bit old fashioned in that I'm used to working in a structured format rather than improvising and 'playing' the gear as well as the keys if that makes sense. That's the hurdle I need to jump over and stuff like this is really inspiring and helpful. Like anything - I just need to work at it and practice I guess. Same applies to my keyboard playing - I've got some chops but not in your league - need to free up (and more practice lol).
funny because I'd say you're way more technical than me piano wise, never mind songwriting. But anyway, yes, in effect, it's about learning to de-prepare. Or prepare the minimum (i.e. just the raw sounds) and then live-jam record the rest in as you go. i started with 5-7 minute attempts at first and then 10-15 etc and just increased it. but yes, repetition and practice!
This is interesting JC, those pads setup your jazzy sprinkles well.
Thanks David! And all too often I switch it to an arp and lose the held pads. New technique for future, keep the pad as a pad!!
@@JonathanRCross ahh that’s smart for a change of pace.
Skills! ✌
Thanks Brett!!
Heheh nice
🙌
"How to Sprinkle the Jazz on the Techno - The Series" please....😃
Aha!! How do you explain what goes on in ya heed?! Should be an interesting challenge to figure out!
I meant me, in my head, how do I figure out what I’m doing !
@@JonathanRCross 🤣🤣🤣love it... But surely its a "feel your way through it" thing? You jam so bloody well after all.... I always find the best moments of my jamming are when the brain isn't front-and-centre.... and I can barely hold a candle to what you do
@@Grace_Griffin Agreed, sometimes when it surrounds you and you're in there, who knows what is going on. But also i find if i take breaks from jamming and then return, its sometimes like my mind has assimilated more things and leveled me up! But yes I will struggle to distill what I'm thinking, but will defo try it!
Nice one JC, always great to watch some creation. So no central sequencer then? Just use the built in seq on the monologue etc? And obviously arps on the freak. Random ones at that.
Hey Osvos, indeed each using their own sequencers with no overall control! TR8s is the main clock source but everythingn else is just midi'd or triggered for clock.
You stopped at the good bit - how do you choose the jazzy chords and what are you thinking with your noodling right hand?!
Ah maybe that should be another video?
@@JonathanRCross Might need to be a whole series.. Nice video though - I think it helps demystify things a bit which is great.
Thankyou Steve! Will defo give it a thought
Berlin school Basic's ✨🫡
Master Luke! (sorry couldn't resist) I'm honored by your presence. And thank you for your comment!
Hey JC mate.. I cannot find our messages anywhere. Can you pop me a message. Apologies I missed you the other week 🤦🏻♂️
HI I've just changed my insta name to match my name. so maybethat's why. will send you a message!