wlopicka

As a comeback player I've got a question on jazz Improv...Things are getting better but still consider myself a beginner. I've memorized all major and minor scales. I'm still working on getting diminished, bebop, and pentatonics under my fingers.

A couple the my parts in a jazz band have the solos with the chord progressions. I welcome the opportunity to solo as I am actively learning improv. In the band if you struggle on your solo....they give it to one of the pros. Here is my stumbling block when it comes to improv. I can either play around with the melody or when reading the changes I have trouble always wanting to play the root because.....THAT IS WHAT JUMPS OUT AT ME WHEN I SEE THE CHORD NAME. Do you have any advice?

Thanks,
W-

Brekelefuw

Get a fakebook and play arpeggios through the chord changes and run the scales. When it is dominant run the bebop scales.
Next take your arpeggios and scales and start them from from the 3rd and the 5th and the 7th while you play over the chords. This will get you hearing things other than the root.
Then try making up a solo JUST consisting of the 3rds and 7ths and see how they flow from one chord together. If you aren't quick enough with theory yet, feel free to write the specific notes of each chord out so you can see them.
The trick is to keep it simple until your vocabulary lets you be able to play what you hear.

Solar Bell

Get in touch with our member Trent Austin.

Send him a PM.

Trent is a VERY good jazz musician who improvises and teaches improvising.


-cw-

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TrentAustin

CW,

I suggested to W that he post this in the forum for a discussion. I have two more chaotic busy days today and tomorrow but I'll try to answer this on Fri night or Saturday.

The first thing I have to say is that playing only from a reference point of "scale" is limiting. In that aspect I do believe the "aebersold revolution" has made a vast majority of the improvisers less concerned about melodic playing and obsessed about scales. This seems to be a trend only in the US. Listen to a few of the great European jazz trumpeters (Tomasz Stanko comes to mind)... they are incredibly "organic" and less predictable.

Practice little tiny ideas, or motives... each 1-5 note short phrase can be a seed to exciting melodic discoveries. I will dig much deeper into what I'm talking about in a couple days. Perhaps you can take a few moments and write out a few on a page. Internalize them and then we can really dig deep when we develop those kernels of information.

More coming soon!
-T

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wlopicka

.

bostonjazz29

I am very close to going live with my new website which will feature a free improv lesson section. I will post the link in the forum once it is live. Now to start I am not a fan of sitting and practicing scales over chord changes, but if you don't know what you are playing you will sound silly. Listen to Clifford Brown, he was all about harmonics. Practice the chord changes in the following ways: 1. play the pattern 1 -2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 1 over each chord. 2. start on the 7th and play down the scale ending on the root. 3. start on the root and play up to the 7th. Doing this will get you thinking harmonically how the changes sound, and you will have a good amount of notes to play over these changes that you know will work. Now once you are comfortable with this you can start to innovate your own ideas over these changes. Don't be afraid to work with a transcribed solo over these changes either. Play two bars of the transcribed solo and improvise the next two bars and continue doing this through the progression. Think in terms of where you are going with the idea. End on notes that define the chord. I believe it was Miles that said "just find a pretty note and sit on it". This should be a good start.

Mike

horner

Do you have any advice for a purely new trumpeter (in the jazz sense, have been playin for years now) to improvising? I have done some solo's and stuff in the jazz band at my former school but i didnt think they were that good, i did win the school Jazz prize last year though...

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bostonjazz29

horner if you were replying to my post then yes I do have advice for a new improviser. What I posted before is an excellent start to learning how to play changes and really understand them. I commend you for getting up there and playing with your band well enough to win awards and I'm sure those exercises will help you out as well. I will be posting a link to my website this weekend which will have free improv lessons available, and the first lesson talks about what I posted before and goes a bit deeper. Good luck with your improv and please let me know if I can help further.

Mike

TrentAustin

I finally have some time to post...

back to my idea of motivic improvisation. Think of a solo being comprised of small motives (ideas). These can be anything from 1 note onwards. A great soloist not only uses the scale and chord information of the selection but also should really develop ideas and also show contrast in the solo.

Here's a "cliff notes" version of working on motivic improvisation. I think I'll take some time in the next week or so to dig into each topic.

• Variation (Melodic and Rhythmic): This is where you keep one aspect of the motive you establish. This could mean a simple four note rhythmic shape (eighths) where you keep the rhythm but alter the melodic curve (that’s melodic variation). Rhythmic variation is where you keep the exact melodic notes but alter the rhythms of the phrase.

• Extension: Simple concepts here… play an original motive and extend the line either before or after the basic motive.

• Fragmentation: Take the original motive and shrink it: Even shrinking this by one or two notes can be an EXTREMELY effective means of improvising.

• Fragmentation/Extension: Now’s where the fun really begins: You play the original motive, fragment it to some extent and then extend the fragmentation (either before or after like in the fragmentation example above).


There are more topics but this is a good place to start. To better help you grasp this I made a Finale file (this is a big thing I work on with my online students) to quickly demonstrate. You'll need finale to look at this.

Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

OM (original Motive)
MV (melodic variation)
RV (ry... variation)
EX (extenstion)
FR (fragmentation)
FR-EX (yep fragmentation extension)

Please note I haven't said anything about chord or scale. IMO true organic improvisers do know their scales and modes but focus on far more melodic ideas.

Let me know what you think!

-t

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http://trentaustinmusic.com
Consultant, S.E. Shires Trumpets
Shires B59BLW "TA" model Bb trumpet
Adams Gold Brass Flugelhorn
Wedge Mouthpieces
PM me for an appointment to try a Shires!

brem

I don't see the files Trent...

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