Essay on Improvisation

[ii7-V7]

I just posted an article on my blog on Improvisation. I like it. I think its my best so far. Its not complete. There will definetly have to be another installment, but I think its a good start.

What do you think?

http://grandweepers.blogspot.com/200...isation-i.html

Instrumental improvisation is one of the most difficult skills for an aspiring musician to master. It represents one of the pinnacle achievments for most musicians. While in certain styles of music you can get away with never needing to improvise, for Jazz musicians it is a necessity. One of the reasons why improvisation is so difficult is because you must become extremely proficient with a number of different skills. You also need to have a great body of musical knowledge and vocabulary. I will try to break down these skills and schools of knowledge here in this essay. My hope is that analyzing the different components of improvisation it will help you to improve the ways in which you approach your instrumental study.

Scales, Modes, Arpeggios, and Chords

This is a major goal. It isn’t really helpful to have a “working knowledge” of scales, modes, arpeggios, and chords. You must know them intimately; like you know your native tongue. You cannot stop to think about what notes are in a chord, or scale. By the time you have done that chord you were supposed to play over has come and gone.

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[WillPlay4Food]

I enjoyed your article. There's lots of good information in there and much of it tracks with how my teacher has been instructing me about improvisation. As I have 3 bass solos to figure out by the 26th, your article reinforces what I know I have to do in order to build listenable solos. Thanks for the effort you put into your essay.

My biggest issues at the moment seem to be staying on track with the progression (counting) and putting in chord tones to outline the changes as I solo. At least now that I've identified my biggest shortcomings I have stuff to work on.

[Andrew.Glose]

Well put, man.

Improvisation is a constant struggle with me, and I'm a jazz studies major.

You've got a good body of information that, should you want to, you could most definitely expand into something more in-depth at any time. And I mean this in a positive way.

[ii7-V7]

Thanks for the positive words guys.

One of the things that I do that helps to stay in the form is to constantly have the melody in the back of my head. That helps me to keep track of the measures as they pass. I find it easier than actually trying to count while improvising.

[lello]

nice essay! it covers very important aspects of the whole improvitationnal process!
)

[ii7-V7]

Thanks!

[Skel]

I read it and thought about it. I'm not sure you emphasized "vocabulary" enough, although I'm not an expert. I read somewhere that when studied, the best improvisers repeat the same phrases much more often than the listener realizes. They are the cornerstone of improvising. You change the order of your phrases, take a few risks and end up safely back to another piece of your vocabulary, which is, in essence, a security blanket. You venture out of your comfort zone, but it's with some apprehension and you need to use that venturing out as a (hopefully) nice sounding pathway to your next safe spot. You have little "safe places" mapped out in your mind and on the fretboard where you know you can go, and it's really the subtle variances of how you play in these safe places, where your confidence level is the highest, that you most likely play your best stuff. You can experiment very safely in a piece of your known vocabulary.

So it seems to me that everything else you've written is more of a precursor to improvising. You have to practice it over and over until it's muscle memory, not thinking. There is almost no time for thinking - maybe none.

Nice work though.