Doz says:
Copy and Paste quote here!
Hehe Doz. I don't know if anytone has mentioned this, but you aren't obligated to post to every thread ;-)
As for Jam machines... the easiest approach is the old RTFM (read the f*$king manual)sorry... not trying to be provocative, thats just how that old saying goes.
It depends on which specific jam machine you are using. I have a digitech jam man, and it works like this:
First... the machine will have a built in metronome. This is important, because if you don't play in time to the metronome, the loop you create will not loop seamlessly.
The Jam man has a record pedal. When you tap it once, it begins recording what you are playing. When you tap it a second time, it stops recording and immediately begins looping the music you played between the two pedal taps.
Now... if your section of recorded music is not divisible by a measure, and your measure is not timed consistently with the machine's metronome, then it is not going to loop in consistent time to your playing, and you won't be able to play along.
Getting the knack of hitting the pedals right on the beat of the measure does take a little practice, but once you understand how your macghine is set up to work, you should be able to master it in a couple evenings of screwing around.
The Jam man is cool because if you repeat the loop recording process while in the same channel, you can layer multiple recordings and build up a real interesting sound to jam to. I'm guessing all jam machine/loop stations work on the same principle... but you'll have to look at the manual for your machine to get the specifics.
Good luck... a jam machine is a fantastic tool to practice with(especially scales) and accellerates the skill of your playing way faster than playing alone.
Try laying down a repeating rythm of a single chord to go along with scales practice... for example, playing the C major scale over a loop of the C major chord, or D dorian scale over a loop of the Dminor chord etc.
Good luck... hope that helps.