What am I missing for improvising?

[Trhtrbn]

Is there some mathematical concept in improvising that I am just plain missing. I can transpose on the fly most parts, I can transcribe solos but the process is tedious at best. I cannot solo on chord changes if my life depended on it. I have a sharp mind for arithmetic, it just seems like there is some concept that I am missing that will tie it all together. Is it rote, scale after tedious scale? Is it listening to music and trying to play it back over and over again? Is it all ear or technical mastery, or trial and error or a mixture of all of the above? Why do some people seem to be able to play by ear much easier than others?

[AndrewMeronek]

How many jazz melodies have you memorized?

[Trhtrbn]

I am sorry to say, but I find memorizing difficult at best. I will try to listen and play back what I heard, but it seems so much to take in. I have played a few solos over the years, but they were always written out on sheet music. I don’t know why but I cannot do with the horn what I can do so easily singing or humming along with the music. I can hum ir clap out a part a few times reading the notes in sheet music, but applying it to the horn so it feels like it does when I hum or scat a solo seems insurmountable. I am extremely hard on my own playing and no matter how often I go over a part it never feels quite right to me.

[Trhtrbn]

Which Aebersold book is best to start with if you are beginning to improvise?

[BGuttman]

Improvising, almost by definition, is not something mathematical.

Improvising is a way of talking. Stating something musically. It's more than just chords.

Try just playing a melody and "jazzing it up". Add a few passing tones, maybe a countermelody, change up the rhythm, etc.

Be prepared to be awful. For a while. It doesn't come automatically.

>Which Aebersold book is best to start with if you are beginning to improvise?

"Maiden Voyage" is a good one to start on.

[Bach5G]

“Is it rote, scale after tedious scale?”

100% sure it’s not that.

IReal Pro. Put on a blues. Play.

[Doug Elliott]

Both transcribing and playing by ear require just simply doing it over and over. To get better at it with repetition. Think of improvising as playing by ear what you hear in your head. I think you just simply don't know your way around the horn well enough. Practicing playing by ear is pretty much the only way to get where you're trying to go.

[Richard3rd]

Take all the mechanics of playing out of the process. Start with singing along with any song. Sing along with backing tracks. Get good at that, add the horn.

Some people improvise based on chords and playing parts of the chords. I dislike that approach, even though it is taught in schools. I think it leads to very non musical solos. I agree with the above working on melodic variations as an approach.

[Trhtrbn]

Both transcribing and playing by ear require just simply doing it over and over. To get better at it with repetition. Think of improvising as playing by ear what you hear in your head. I think you just simply don't know your way around the horn well enough. Practicing playing by ear is pretty much the only way to get where you're trying to go.

Doug, I like what you have to say in this and other posts. I think “Noddling”, or Bebop, seem impressive to other musicians but not as much to the public. The style of say New Orleans Brass Band Jazz or Swing seem much more melodic to me. My understanding is that most New Orleans street musicians learned by playing spirituals. Would you recommend starting with Hymns?

[Doug Elliott]

Start with anything you already know. It doesn't matter at all what style of music.

[tbdana]

Don't think of it as math, think of it as English. Jazz is kind of like talking without a script, which you do every day, only doing it with notes rather than words.

First, you need to know how to speak the language. And by that I mean you need to start by learning a bunch of words. Words in this context are licks. They can be anything, really. Start with one target note, say an A. Now surround it with two notes, one above and one below, so you'd play, for example, Bb-G-A. Violá! You have a three-note lick. That's a word! Now practice surrounding every note the same way. You now know that word in every key and every register.

Do the same thing with other licks you either hear and like, or see transcribed, or just make up. Pick one, learn it in every key all over the horn. Now you know more words. Words/licks can be patterns, scale fragments, intervals, whatever. I suggest starting with licks based on blues scales and pentatonic scales. These are the meat and potatoes of jazz. Learn short and long licks. In English you know short words and long words. Same with music. (A short lick can be two notes; a long lick is maybe 4-8 beats.)

When you've memorized a bunch of "words" you have a vocabulary. Now you just need to learn how to put those words together into coherent improvised "sentences." See if you can string these "words" together in ways that sound melodic. Try playing the same lick or shape a few times in a row but on different notes that fit the chord structure. Thematic repetition is a cool thing in improvising. It gives your solo shape and coherence, is pleasing to the ear, and makes you sound like you know what you're doing.

Of course, you'll need to know at least a little music theory. Like, you definitely need to know ii-V7-I progressions in every key. You also need to know what notes are in the chords, and what scales work over them. The scale that works will tell you which licks you can use. Don't worry about altered scales at this point, just stick with blues and pentatonic scales, and learn which ones work over what chord changes. Then, you don't play the scales, but you do select from the licks you know with notes from those scales.

Essentially, this process is like reading those "See Dick Run" books in grade school. Those teach you words and how to put them together in basic ways that have meaning. You don't start a 5-year old with War and Peace. And you're not going to start with Coltrane. You have to go through the basics before you can get to communicating complex concepts. You need to do the same thing with sounds. You'll learn progressively from the simple to the complex, and just like you can now speak and write without even thinking about it, you practice this stuff and you'll be able to play jazz without even thinking about it. It's all about having a vocabulary and learning how to communicate in a way that has meaning. But first, learn words.

I found this concept helpful. Hope it helps you, too!