| There are several ways to learn to improvise. When I started over 40 years ago there weren't so many books and written methods. I learned by playing along with the current "pop" music on good old "WNEW in New York". Sinatra, Peggy Lee, etc. were what I used. I learned the song by ear, then played embellishments on the melody, then went on from there. Nobody told me anything about the changes. I learned to hear the chords, hear what sounded good to me and play it.
After a while, I found that I'd be playing along, enjoying what was coming out of the horn and notice that I had no idea what key I was in. It didn't matter. I was playing completly by ear.
This worked well enough to get me a lot of gigs in H.S., mostly playing frat parties and small wedding receptions. Piano, bass, drums and me on trumpet and valve 'bone with no music. The piano player knew the changes to practically everything, so we could fake requests.
People don't seem to learn this way very much anymore. The solos tend to be more technical now and, IMNSHO, less lyrical. |