So after about 5 weeks one of the people I emailed finally responded to my email. His name is Robin Haffley who is a Professor and Jazz Artist that has written his own Jazz Pieces. Here is some of his songs that you can find on YouTube (CLICK HERE). Although preferably I wanted to have an video interview with him, due to his schedule, he said he wouldn't have time for it. So here are his email answers to my questions. The full answers are here.
One of the biggest gains from this interview, I feel, is a sort of reassurance. Sometimes I rush into things trying to get better to quickly. Two of his answers below allowed me to realize that getting better at improvisation is something that takes time.
There is not shortcut to learning improvisation. Certainly there is no way I will have a complete grasp of something so complicated after 6 weeks. It allowed me to sit back and sort of come to terms that I am still learning, and that it is okay I am still learning. Even he still considers himself a student that has yet to understand improvisation.
One of the best tips he gave me, is how to practice outlining the chords.
Throughout this process, I have been struggling on finding a balance between outlining the chords, and also having a solo that doesn't just sound like me repeating chords. Basically there is no one way to do it, and that it is ultimately going to come from experience and constant practice. It's going to take time for me to get used to outlining the chords.
Overall, I feel that this was beneficial interview that really helped me not only musically, but to gain a little bit of confidence. Check out the rest of the interview here.
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