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Jazz improvisation demystified


Terje

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Posted

I actually think it is this simple. Learn the tune really, really well. So well you can play it in your sleep. You should know the melody, the chords and feel completely comfortable with the form. Nothing in the song should feel at all strange to you. You should know all of this so that you'd actually have to make an effort if you wanted to make a mistake.

 

There are in all honesty not many jazz standards that I know that well. Might be less than five.

 

Improvisation is what happens when you play one of those songs that you know this well together with other people and simply say to yourself "let's have some fun".

 

Which is why I think the most important practice you can do as a jazz musician is to play the songs over and over and over. And the chords. Over and over and over. Sing the song and play the chords. Over and over and over. And do more of this than for instance trying to "practice improvising" (which really isn't possible).

 

This happened to me yesterday at a jam session. I played things I had never heard myself do on a tune that I never really improvise on at home. I play the tune (The Nearness of You) mostly to work on slide technique. Mainly vibrato. I have played variations on the melody but not much. Never ran the changes, played different arpeggios, phrases and scales over the chords, practiced my licks over it... none of that.

 

But I know the song. I can sing it. You wouldn't want to hear me do it but I could sing it while comping myself. It is 36 bars long but those last 4 bars never come as a surprise to me.

 

Actually, anything you do with a song is probably good. But more than anything you need to learn the song as it is. Let the improvisation "happen". You need to feel safe in order to be able to take chances.

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It's a great way of looking at things to be sure.

Of course, there's always going to be a situation when you have to solo over a tune you've never even played before. In thise case, it helps to recognise chord progressions that are common to other tunes, so you can approach it that way. Improvising doesn't always have to be in keeping with the tune. Miles Davis Live at the Plugged Nickel is full of tunes in which the soloists pay little regard to the tune and simply go for it over everyhting. It's fantastic. But then, they would still know the originals inside out. :o

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Posted

Originally posted by bardsley

But then, they would still know the originals inside out.
:o

 

Exactly! Knowing the tune inside out doesn't mean you can't stray very far from it if you want to.

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Now I can honestly say that I never play a tune exactly the same twice. But I still think I am missing something.

The mystique is that great jazzers make up a tune based on the chord progression as they are going along. Now that I've been looking into it more, they even change the chord progression. How can this happen and the results not be mish-mash?

 

I play several tunes with a jazz feel. But I still think I am missing something. Maybe I'm not. But that's the way it feels.

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Posted

 

Originally posted by Jerry NT

... great jazzers make up a tune based on the chord progression as they are going along.

 

 

Quite a few of the great ones are basing their improvisations on the melody of the tune. It may not sound like that cause they're so far away from it but for many that's the place to start. I think it's the only real short cut that exists in this.

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