Progress Update
It's finally time to actually improvise. Finally I'm gonna sound like Charlie Parker and be so cool. Of course there is no way 4 weeks of practice was gonna get me sounding like a jazz legend. But hey I was dreaming. This week I have been playing jazz standards easier chord changes or less frequent chord changes such as Billie's Bounce, Blue Bossa, Autumn Leaves, and Song for my father. All of these are famous jazz standards that you should check out (idc if you don't like jazz). I begin by playing chords and scales over all of the changes to get a good understanding of the song. When I finally felt I was ready enough to start an actual solo, it basically sounded like this.
Yeah... a bunch of scales an chords mixed together. I mean technically it wasn't wrong musically. I played the right notes in the right spots, but it was really just me playing scales in a weird order. I didn't have any creativity in it. Basically it wasn't a solo. Now this is really different than any of the previous issues I've had. It wasn't a lack of comprehension, difficulty memorizing scales, it was having ideas for solos. I was having JAZZ SOLOER BLOCK
However, this was a much bigger deal than the other issues since creativity is not something I can learn in 6 weeks. It is something that takes years of listening, playing, and experience to get a hang of. So I needed to find a short cut. A couple weeks back I went to a Jazz clinic, and a professor at the University of the Arts said that one of the best ways to start of soloing is to look to the melody of the song. As long as the chords of the song match up with the melody chords, you can use those notes as basis. He also said it is fine to steal licks and ideas from other great musicians. So of course I quickly used this to add some flare to my solo. Here is my solos for the previously mentioned songs:
Ordered from best to worst.
All in all I think I made some pretty significant improvement. I still think there needs some work in responding to the chord changes faster, but I am getting a better grasp on improvisation. I have still have a long way to go though.
Before I sign off I just want to say that this weekend Wissahickon is having it's Jazz Festival. It's a good chance to here the many Jazz bands in our area and a chance to hear our very own 1 O'Clock and 2 O'Clock jazz band (Sadly no solo for me). One of the best things to improve is to listen to more jazz music which happens to be the next thing on my list. Listening to Jazz music and actually try transcribing it. It is good practice for my ears and also a way for me to get new ideas for solos. If I can practice a pseudo perfect pitch, it will only be easier to play the sound that I want. See ya and hopefully I'll see you at the Jazz Festival.
I am glad you are really starting to get into improvisation! Improv is really difficult so its good that you mastered all these chords and scales before you jumped right into it. While there is no golden rule to improv, you seem to have a good grasp on what it is all about. Wish u the best of luck!
ReplyDelete^^^ Truly inspiring! I think it would be cool to provide a video that exposes this improvisational process, as I think us readers would definitely benefit from one.
ReplyDeleteLove listening to you play. Sounds great!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard of your solos, you seem to be really great at improvising already! It's great that you want to challenge yourself even further. All of the songs that you used sound pretty good - since I'm doing jazz as well, I learned a lot in this post, too! You seem to be making great progress.
ReplyDeleteYour improvisation seems to be improving and I would love for you to provide access to that for us to hear! You sound great and it's really cool how far you've come so quickly!
ReplyDeleteI remember being impressed when I watched your jazz performances! You would always get some kind of reward for your solos. Is this improvisation any different from what you were doing at those times? I thought those solos were jazz improv.
ReplyDeleteI love the progress you've made! I've tried improvising before and I know that it's not easy at all. I don't expect you to become a master after this project is over, but I think you've already made SIGNIFICANT progress. I think that as you become more familiar with music and theory, improvising will feel like language and you're just talking to your audience. The research portion of this project is very, very important. I also like how you started with chords and scales and built from there. Have fun becoming Charlie Parker!
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