I was asked how I approach improvisation of music the other day. I explained that it really takes on various forms depending on mood, intent, and objectives. However, I do find that some of the best efforts come from just sitting down and letting go. The other day on a late summer day evening I [...]
Composition
Here in the U.S. the school year is over and summer is here again, everyone is in break mode. It’s hard to keep wanting to practice or study anything as we get outside and enjoy the sun and fun.
Improvising with Chords is another method of filling in short segments, or for that matter whole parts of a song with big sound.
Octave unison is an improvising technique that is easy to understand and takes just a little practice to implement.
Many students struggle with the very concept of improvising and believe you need to be able to create a motif on the fly. That is, create some melody or pattern instantly. It’s this idea, that its instant, which becomes a road block to improvising.
Once you’ve learned basic chord structure you will begin to enter the realm of chord voicing, which is how to you use chord notes in various combinations and reordered to create a different sound using the same chord or scale notes.
Improvising with scale tones is an extension of what we’ve talked about in creating melodies. Specifically we started with a scale and skipped or sequentially stepped through the notes or tones. Much of what is used in the scale is repeating patterns, so let’s explore what you might do with that scale you have chosen to use over your chord.
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