Adrian

What is the trick to improv really well....is it better to know ur scales and chords...or do u just have to be a natural......Can anyone do it or is it just for some!?

jpkaminga

scales and chords are very necessary to do any improv that will make sense to those who are backing you up and listening to you, I don't know if it comes to anyone naturally, I think there needs to have been alot of time spent with musicians who are willing to take risks together before a group can improvise well together, then if you do have some sort of natural disposition to make fabulous improvised music it will come out

trumpetpimp

Scales and chords help you be able to play what you want to play and help you understand what types of sounds will work in what situations. i.e. Playing a mixolydian scale(5th mode major) over Im7 will give you a dominant sound over a a chord that usually uses a haromnic minor scale or jazz minor scale. It wouldn't work very well. In fact, it would probably sound pretty awful.

However, playing the right scales over the right chords is only the first step in a good direction. You have to be able to play something that's actually worth listening to. Transcriptions are the best way to learn from the masters but if you can't always afford the time to transcribe make sure you're at least listening to good jazz. Listen to CD's, jazz radio, and go out to the clubs now and then.

trumpetgirl612

LISTEN

if you lack any theory at all....as long as you listen, your ear and your heart will do the rest

Robert Rowe

Yes ... our trumpetgirl612 is making a sound point.

LISTEN -- and listen to everything going on ... not just the horn part. Try to grasp the "big picture".


Robert Rowe

jazz_trpt

Learn to play by ear.

Then learn to hear something interesting to play.

Jazz Man

There are all different levels of natural ability, and lack thereof...

There have been amazingly gifted musical geniuses, who had so
much natural ability, that even though they knew absolutely none
of the music theory behind jazz... were still able to spontaneously
improvize circles around most of their peers. I'm thinking of guys
like Chet Baker and Bix Beiderbeck. Bix never even learned how
to read music, but he could listen to a song once, and then play it
back to you immediately in any key, with improvized choruses on
top of it all. Chet baker could do the same. In fact it used to drive
his fellow players crazy because he would play the same songs in
different keys each night! These geniuses are extremely rare.

There are also a very rare few that simply can't learn to improvize
at all. These people are absolutely tone deaf, and though they may
be able to "plug in a lick or two" here and there, it will never really
be musical or truly artistic. These folks are also extremely rare.

For the vast majority of us who fall somewhere between these two
extremes, we have varying amounts of natural ability, or talent for
improvization, but we can pretty much all learn to do this very well
if we are willing to develop our abilities. Improvization is very much
a craft. We start with the basics of music theory, and combine that
with the gradual training of the mind and body, and in time most all
of us can absolutely become quite proficient at it.

Like most things, the big factor is how much we are willing to work.
If you listen to jazz quite regularly, and practice in an effective and
efficient way, you will succeed. It takes a little time of course... but,
with all the educational materials now at our disposal, improvization
is something that is definitely within all our grasps.

In the early days, jazz players were very secretive about their craft,
and would pretend it was simply a "gift from heaven"... They liked to
make it seem quite mysterious. The perception that only a few could
learn to do it comes from those days, but it simply wasn't true. There
is indeed a talent factor, but with some practice... we can all share in
the fun, and the learning process itself is very fun and satisfying too!

"Jamey Aebersold Play-Along Books and CDs". No secret here at all.

This has been a public service announcement...... from...... Jazz Man

wiseone2

I grew up in a Jazz history book.
My mom made a big pot of pasta for the hungry teens who were at our house playing music.
Bobby Timmons, Ted Curson, Tootie Heath, Garrison and a bunch of kids crammed into our living- room. some times the North Philly guys would come by.
We jammed........and jammed....... and jammed. We played every waking hour. I played duets with Lee Morgan, Ted Curson and many players I am sure you would not know.
Once we started working, and we got started early, we played every kind of music imaginable.
The secret is doing it. Play. Play. Play the music.
Wilmer

wiseone2

There were no secrets in Philadelphia.
Jimmy Heath, Dennis Sandole and many others were more than willing to help young players.
Jamming was the way we learned our art.
I saw a 15 year old Lee Morgan absolutely embarrass Chet Baker at a jam session.
The older player were very supportive of the kids in Philly.....and the LP had just been invented. We got our stuff LIVE!
Wilmer

Billy B

Think of jazz as a language. Most of us learned to speak our native language by listening and imitating. Wilmer learned that way. Now think of how we learn a language in the class room. We start with individual words, progress to phrases, then sentences, paragraphs, etc. Learning jazz through playing patterns that are availble from books such as Coker or the patterns in Aebersold ii-V-I is equivalent to this. Now you may have been an honor student through several years of a foreign language, but if you try to converse in that language you will soon find what a gringo you really are. That is why a student of spanish may spend a semester or more living in Spain before they can really be functional in spanish. Or you could just move to Spain in the first place and learn as those who just jump in and play as Wilmer described. Of couse if you converse with people who use improper grammer, then you will speak that way. Balancing a combination of book learning, listening and playing gives you the means to internalize the language.