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Jazz Improvisation GENERAL INFORMATION written by Jamey AebersoldThis treatise will give you the basics which you will need in
order to learn the art of improvising in music. Many feel that people who
improvise or play jazz are special. If they are special, it is because they have
spent their time wisely learning the tools of the trade. A few of the tools are:
scales, chords, patterns, licks, songs (standards and originals), training the
ear, listening to records of jazz greats and any other thing which they feel
will contribute to the growth of a well-rounded musician. Spend your practice time wisely. Don't play things over and over that you can already play. This is great for the ego but does little to advance your musical progress. Be patient with yourself. Don't expect everything to come at one setting. They say that things come to us when we are ready to accept them. A healthy mental state is also responsible for progress when practicing. Gradually train your ears to really HEAR music and all of the components that make the final product. Since most of us do not have a good rhythm section at our disposal, I recommend practicing and soloing with the play-a-long records. Each volume contains a book and one or two recordings. Many professionals use these recordings to warm-up, keep in shape, practice new patterns or licks, or to learn new songs and improvise on the chord/scale progressions. During the past ten years, many private teachers as well as high school and college teachers have made the recordings part of their daily or weekly teaching assignments. It is good to begin playing with a rhythm section as soon as possible and the better they are the more you can benefit from the experience. Playing jazz teaches self-esteem and independence. Last but not least, play on the best instrument that you can afford and study with the finest teachers available.
1. Keep your place - don’t get lost. If you do get lost LISTEN to the rhythm section. The drummer will often give a little crash at the beginning of new sections. If you hit a note that is not what you intended, move it up or down a half-step and you’ll probably be back in the scale (or chord). Remember, jazz music usually moves in two, four and eight bar phrases. You’re never far from a new phrase beginning.2. Play right notes. This really means play the notes you hear in your head...the notes you would sing with your mouth. Having the scales and chords in front of you on a piece of paper is merely a guide. They don’t provide the actual music that’s going to be played. THAT comes from YOUR imagination. If you’ve got the scales, chords, and chord/scale progression MEMORIZED it provides courage to your imagination and allows you to operate from a more creative natural basis. It allows you to take some chances. It helps remove FEAR. 3. Using REPETITION and SEQUENCE is natural in music. It’s found in all types and styles of music. The novice improviser often feels that if they repeat an idea, everyone knows they are going to repeat it, so why do it; plus it’s not original enough for your EGO so you don’t play it. WRONG! The listener needs to hear some repetition and sequence or else they can’t remember anything you play. Repetition and Sequence are the glue that holds solos together. The usual number of times something is repeated depends on you but the average is 2 or 3 and then your mind will tell you when to repeat and/or when to use sequence. It’s a part of the way we hear music played by others. 4. CHORD TONES (the 1, 3, 5, & 7 of a scale) are great notes to begin and end a phrase with. Just sing a phrase and see if you don’t follow this simple rule. Our ears HEAR chord tones first so it’s natural to begin and end there. Plus, it gives us and the listener what we’re listening for - harmonic stability.5. SOUND: Be sure that you are getting a good, full sound on your instrument (or voice). Don’t let the scales and chords or the progression or tempo intimidate you. Sound is foremost and is the FIRST thing a person latches onto when you sing or play. It leaves a lasting impression. So, be yourself and let your voice or instrument ring out. It’s the main ingredient of your musical personality.6. LISTENING: There’s no way anyone is going to play jazz or
improvise well without listening
to those musicians who have come before. Through listening alone you can
find ALL the answers.
Each musician is a result of what they have listened to. It’s easy to determine
who people
have listened to by listening to them play. We all tend to use imitation and
it’s good to do this.
Some feel that if they listen to others they’ll just sound like them. This is
not true but your ego will 7. Everyone has the ability to improvise - from the youngest
child to the senior citizen. You
have to have desire and set aside time to work at it until moving your fingers
becomes automatic
and the distance between your mind and fingers grows smaller and smaller to
where you think an
idea and your fingers are already playing it. It’s not magic. If it is, then
magic equals hard work
and perseverance. When asked, “What is the greatest obstacle to enlightenment?”
the Buddha
PRACTICE PROCEDURES FOR MEMORIZING 1. Play root/tonic note of each chord/scale 2. Play first 2 notes of each scale 3. Play first 3 notes of each scale 4. Play the first five notes of each scale 5. Play triad of the scale (1, 3, and 5 of the scale) 6. Play 7th chords (1, 3, 5, and 7th tones of the scale) 7. Play 9th chords (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9th tones of the scale) 8. Play the entire scale up and down 9. Play 6th chords (1, 3, 5, and 6th tones of the scale) 10. Play up the scale to the 9th and back down the chord tones 11. Play up the 9th chord and then come back down the scale 12. Play the scale in broken thirds up and down (1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6, 5, 7, etc., up & down) The above approach can be used when learning the scales and chords to ANY song, or, when learning any new scale. You may want to use a metronome when the tempo on the recording is too fast for you. You'll want to play these exercises UP and DOWN. If you feel you need further practice with any particular scale/chord there are many more patterns and exercises available from various practice books. Once you become familiar with the various scales and chords and
gain adequate facility you won't have to practice these type exercises any more.
Remember, the exercises are merely to help you MAKE MUSIC. TIPS FOR LEARNING A NEW TUNE 1. Listen to the song over and over. 2. Memorize the melody in your mind. Be able to sing it. 3. Listen carefully to the bass line and the harmony in general. Get an overall sense of how the song is put together. 4. Try playing the melody from memory, slowly at first. 5. Then play the melody along with the recording. Copy inflections, articulations, slurs, phrasing, dynamics, etc. 6. Learn the scales and chords in the order as they appear in the song. Make sure you've got the right changes (chord progression). Get them from a reliable source, such as the playa-long books. 7. Improvise over the harmony, keeping in mind the original melody as a frame of reference. 8. Emphasize the thirds and sevenths of scales in your soloing. 9. Memorize both melody and chord/scales if you haven't already. Know where the chord tones are ON YOUR INSTRUMENT. 10. Improvise your original melodies based on what your mind HEARS. Let your mind guide your choice of notes, phrasing, rhythms, articulations, etc... 11. Listen constantly to the original recording of the song to further stir your imagination. Incorporate ideas of the recording into your solos. 12. Learn the lyrics if the song has any. Mentally sing the lyrics while playing the melody. 13. Fall in love with the melodies to songs. Play them like YOU wrote them. "I've always tried to recreate melodies even better than the
composers who wrote them. I've always tried to come up |