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While the Grateful Dead are generally accepted to be the founders of the jam band scene, the concept of spontaneous improvisation of music is by no means their invention. Early jazz musicians both pioneered the idea of improvisation and coined the term 'jam', though these 'jam sessions' tended to be completely free of constraints, whereas bands in the jam-scene tend to use the pretense of being confined by the boundaries of the song they are 'jamming out'.

1 Types of Jamming

A Phish fan named John Flynn once noted that the band had two distinct styles of improvisation. Expanding those two defined categories, these can be applied to the music of jambands as a whole.

1.1 Type I

Improvisations based around the already existing chord progressions of pre-composed songs, consisting of variations on the written notes and tempo. This is arguably a logical progression of the guitar solo, a feature of traditional rock music.

1.2 Type II

Jams which completely improvise the notes, tempo and structure of the music. Though these can and often do involve long workouts which end up sounding nothing like the songs they started out as, they are differentiated from jazz jams in that they mostly begin as either a Type I jam.

See also: free improvisation

1.3 Segues

2 Types of Jam band

With few exceptions, the jam-scene pre-1990 was primarily the scene of the Grateful Dead. Beginning with the formation of Phish in the mid 1980s, the jam band scene gradually gained momentum.

Musically, this new breed of bands contrasted heavily with the traditional camp by means of song structure. Spurred on by the pop success of Dave Matthews Band and often heavily influenced by modern-rock bands such as Pearl Jam and Hootie and the Blowfish, bands such as Spin DoctorsThe Spin Doctors are a jam band, best known for their 1992 hits, "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong". The album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite sold poorly until MTV and radio began playing the songs. Turn It Upside Down ( 1994) was relatively unsuc, G. Love & Special SauceLove & Special Sauce is an alternative hip-hop band from Philadelphia. Line-Up Garrett Dutton as G. Love ( vocals, guitar, harmonica) Jimi Prescott as Jimi Jazz ( string bass) Jeffrey Clemens as Houseman ( drums) Discography G. Love and Special Sauce (alb, The Samples and Agents of Good Roots began playing jammed out acoustic pop, paying more attention to lyrics and seemingly aiming for commercial success. With few exceptions, the improvisation in their live shows tended to stick to Type I jams and segues, treating their songs as songs, rather than launchpads for lengthly improvisational workouts favoured by their peers.

See also: List of jam bandsThese performers tour on the so called " Jam band" circuit or are sometimes classified as "jam bands:" Allgood Allman Brothers Band Bela Fleck & the Flecktones Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals Big Head Todd & the Monsters The Black Crowes Blues Travele