TromboneChat

I don't know if this is the right section to ask so sorry if it's incorrect.

I remember one day during jazz band at my hs camp, we had a alumni come back to talk and play with us during our final concert. One of the things mentioned was they were told that a good way to come up with solo ideas was to record yourself sing over the changes, and transcribe what you sung? "It's something I found success with in coming up with original lines and ideas." I've slightly tried this, but wasn't too great at transcribing (at the time, it was months ago)

Now, I'm trying to practice jazz and improvising alot more and wondering if anybody else has tips on coming up with original lines? I love seeing transcriptions and hearing other people, but Really don't wanna get stuck trying to just learn and transpose transcriptions for any time I solo.

99% of "originality" comes from copying other things and combining ideas in creative ways. It rarely, rarely comes from pure inspiration and nothing else.

So - to practice coming up with original lines when working on jazz improvisation, I suggest start with really making sure your favorite melodies (jazz or not) are learned very well, so you can more easily break them down and start combining subcomponents from your learned melodies together. It does take a lot of smart practicing.