Five Easy Steps To Practice Thematic Improvisation
- Date: 2010-09-04 - Word Count: 222
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Have you ever been wondering: "How can I improve my solos building up ideas in a more, thematic way?"
In many jazz improvisation books you can read about the "call and response" method however, in my experience, little or no time is spent on how to practically teach your brain to do that step by step.
So here there are 3 main approaches you can use to expand your solos thematically:
1) Imitation
2) Extension
3) Fragmentation
In this short article, I'll introduce the notion of imitation.
Step 1: Pick a very simple rhythmic and harmonic setting (e.g., 4/4 , G7)
Step 2: Choose a very short melody (3-4 notes) and play it over and over.
Step 3: Create a variation of the initial melody using the same rhythm and melodic curve (if you don't know what a melodic curve is, just write the notes of your melody and then join them. You'll immediately see what your curve is).
Step 4: Play the new melody 4 times, then play a new set of notes (still same melodic curve)
Step 5: Now choose a chord progression (e.g., II V I or an easy standard) and practice imitation throughout the harmonic progression. You can play the same group of notes thoughout or choose to change notes in different areas of the tune (e.g., AABA)
There you have 5 simple steps to start working on your thematic soloing.
In many jazz improvisation books you can read about the "call and response" method however, in my experience, little or no time is spent on how to practically teach your brain to do that step by step.
So here there are 3 main approaches you can use to expand your solos thematically:
1) Imitation
2) Extension
3) Fragmentation
In this short article, I'll introduce the notion of imitation.
Step 1: Pick a very simple rhythmic and harmonic setting (e.g., 4/4 , G7)
Step 2: Choose a very short melody (3-4 notes) and play it over and over.
Step 3: Create a variation of the initial melody using the same rhythm and melodic curve (if you don't know what a melodic curve is, just write the notes of your melody and then join them. You'll immediately see what your curve is).
Step 4: Play the new melody 4 times, then play a new set of notes (still same melodic curve)
Step 5: Now choose a chord progression (e.g., II V I or an easy standard) and practice imitation throughout the harmonic progression. You can play the same group of notes thoughout or choose to change notes in different areas of the tune (e.g., AABA)
There you have 5 simple steps to start working on your thematic soloing.
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