Archive for April, 2009

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Good ears

Friday, April 17th, 2009

The ability to listen — to the melody, to the underlying chords, and to what other musicians are playing.

Few solos are played in a vacuum.

You  need to be able to hear the harmonic underpinnings of a song when you start to improvise.

You have to hear the chords and the chord changes

You haev to hear which notes and scales fit against those chords

You have to hear how all htose notes fit gotehr to create a melody.

You may theoretically know which notes fit a given chord, but you have to let your ears tell you which of those are the best notes to play.

Your ears can even lead you to notes that you might not think would fit, but actually do.

You have to truly hear the music to improvise to it.

  • you need to read music; to communicate your musical ideas to others
  • you need to know your keys and your scales; major and minor
  • you need to know your chords, all of them; extended chords all 6ths, 9ths and 11ths.

1. Hear  pitch. Be able to listen to a pitch, isolate it, and then replicate it. Develop tonal memory or pitch memory. Listen to the pitch and fix it in your head.

2. Hear rhythm.

Tags:,
Posted in good ears | Comments Closed

Solo

Friday, April 17th, 2009

What makes a solo great?

What you need to play a terrific solo

Transcribe great solos

Great musicians make soloing look easy. They close their eyes and let it rip.

What could be easier than making up music on the spur of the moment?

Soloing isn’t near as easy as it ooks.

Soloist who makes it appear so effortless actually spent countelss hours practicing his scales, learning just the right fingerings, and working thru thousands of chord changes in his head.

Think about it.

when you hear a great singer, a beautiful melody, are you impress with how fast she is singing?

No.

You are ipmressed by how she is singing, her technique, her phrasing, the way she interprets and sells the melody. It’s not showig off, it’s about making a connection with the song, with other musicians and with the audience.

A great solow is more than just stringing together a lot of notes one after another.

In a great solo, the notes combine to crfeate melodies.

It’s the quality of the melodies you create that define your solo.

Soloing is nothing more than composing melodies really fast.

Your improvised melodies, like those of a songwriter have to make sense, to have a musical form.

You must improvise in coheive phrases, building interest and tension over the course of the solo and the solo peaks, the tension released.

A good solo, like a good melody tells a story.

there is a defined beginning, middle and end, with each part of the solo building on and referring to what came before.

The solo is not just one note after anotehr, or even one phrase after another.  It goes somewhere, and the trip from beg to end is an interesting one.

To become an accomplished soloist, you learn to improvise in melodic phrases.

Tags:
Posted in improvisation skill | Comments Closed

Improvisation

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Improvisation is a language.

If we would approach improvisation in the same manner that we learn to speak verbally, we might be more successful.

When we speak, we are in fact improvsing through our linguistic skills.

One learns this musical langauge — improvisation — in the same manner, by listening and imitating.

As the person grows thru imitatio, he develops a musical vocab that expresses what he wishes to communicate.

As these improv become more refined and sophisticated, the player will eventually begin to develop his own voice, but in music, like speaking, this development takes place over an extended period of time. And in the case of musicians, usually by only those who have been hooked by the music.

Improvising through life on a daily basis is something that most of us take for granted. Each day, events happen that require us to alter our plans and improvise.  It maybe momentary or it may be life-changing.  WE adapt and survive for the most part by being flexible.

Experience usually pays off when unexpected events happen and cause us to veer off our normal paths.

Jazz masters — a strong desire to play music, a certain lack of fear of experimenting, not prejudging the outcome of a solow, an dmuch parctice so that mind and fingers cooperate spontaneously.

Improvising a memorable solow is a lot like composing a memorable melody.

Great soloists do just that. they improvise great melodies.

They have tons of techniques and play lots of fast licks and fancy scales, but they use all that technique to fashion solos that contain real melodies, they say something and go somewhere and stick in your head long after the tune is over.

Learn how to improvise melodically.

To get to that point: learn the baiscs first.

  • learn how to base a solow on an existing melody.
  • learn how to play all different types of fancy chords
  • learn all manner of scales and modes
  • and how to apply those scales to specific chord progressions
  • learn the little tricks that make your solos more exciting.

After you master all that, combine all those techniques to create melodic phrases

When you can improvise melodically, you have audiences hanging on your every note.

Tags:
Posted in improvisation skill | Comments Closed

Solo and Improvisation

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Solos and Improvisation – by Michale Miller

1.  Soling the Easy way

  • varying the rhythm
  • embellishing the melody
  • playing in harmony

2.  Learning Improvisational techniques

  • soloing on chords
  • soloing thru chord changes
  • soloing on scales and modes
  • going beyond the written changes
  • improvising on modal tunes

3.  Putting it altogether

  • develop patterns
  • turn patterns into phrases
  • make your solo more interesting
  • create melodic improvisation

4.  Soling in style

  • play rock solos
  • play the blues
  • jazz improvisation
  • scat singing

5. Playing with the pros

Tags:
Posted in improvisation skill | Comments Closed

quotes

Friday, April 17th, 2009

“The joy of playing music,

whether written or improvised,

is not possible when one still has to struggle with amterial.

The goal should be complete mastery….

so that one can focus on other issues,

such as inspiration,

and that’s where the important music is made.

Kenny Werner

——————————

A mistake is not hitting a wrong note,

rather it is losing the flow of the music.

If you are with that flow, the wrong note finds the next note

and could even turn out to be the best thing you play all night

Bob Mover

———————————————

Don’t let what you’ve practiced

dictate the way you play

Play what you hear,

not what you’ve memorized

Joe Lovano saxophonist

——————–

Improvisation is the courage to move

from one note to the next. It’s that simple.

once you conquer that basic fear,

when you are able to make that leap

from one note to the next without thinking

or preparing for it, then you areimprovising.

Bobby McFerrin vocalist

————————

First you find the logical way,

and whn you find it, avoid it,

and let your inner self break through

and guide you

Will Marion Cook’s composer

——————————–

Every  musician in the world has some limitations….

but the wise players are those

who play waht they ca master.

Due Ellington

——————————–

If you start judging what you

are writing or playing,

that puts another part of your brai in the

process, and it stops the crativity.

Jim McNeely

———————————

I try to become an observer, rather than thinking what should come next.

Tim Hagans

————————————-

Many people train from a mind set

of trying to get better as fast as possible.

The irony of that is…people skip some basic

issues that they should spend years on.

They think they are saving time, but in fact

they are dooming themselves to a certain

level which they’ll never get out of.

Kenny Werner

———————-

Tags:,
Posted in art | Comments Closed

Music Terms Appendix

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Intervals

  • an interval consists of 2 notes that an occur successively ( a melodic interval) or simultaneously (a harmonic interval)
  • names for intervals consist of 2 parts: a prefix such as perfect, major, minor, augmented or diminished followed by a number indicating the distance between the 2 notes. If that number is less than 8, the interval is called a simple interval. If the number is 8 or more, the interval is a compound interval.
  • simple intervals have compound equivalents. For eg. a 2nd plus an octave is called a 9th; a 4th plus an octave is called an 11th and a 6th plus an octave is called a 13th.
  • in major scale, the intervals from the tonic to the 4th, 5th, octave or their compound equivalents are referred to as perfect; they are diminished when contracted a half step and augmented when expanded a half step.
  • the intervals from tonic to the 2nd, rd, 6th, 7th and their compound equivalents are called major.
  • they are called minor when contracted 1/2 step, diminished when contracted a whole step and augmented when expanded a half step.
  • when intervals have he same number of half steps but are spelled differently, they are referred to as enharmonic.
  • develop your ability to recognize these intervals by playing them on the piano.

Modes of major scale:

  • C major
  • D dorian
  • E phrygian
  • F lydian
  • G mixolydian
  • A aeolian
  • B locrian

Modes in melodic minor scale

  • C melodic minor
  • D dorian b2
  • E lydian augmented
  • F lydian Dominant
  • G Hindu
  • A locrian #2
  • B altered

Diatonic 7th chrods in Major keys

  • chords are formed from scales by stacking in 3rds on each scale degree, every other note in the scale
  • chords that are derived from the same parent scale are called diatonic chords
  • in any major scale, the chords built on the first and forth scale degress (notated as IM7 and IVM7 ) will always be major 7th chord
  • the chords built on the 2nd, 3rd, 6th scale degrees — ii7 iii7 vi7 are minor 7th chords
  • the chords built on the 5th scale degree (V7) will be a domianant 7th chord
  • the chord built on the 7th scale degree will be called half-diminished.

Diatonic 7th chords in minor keys

  • the pirmary diatoic 7ths chords are derived from either the natural minor or aeolian scale
  • i7  ii half dim 7,  IIIM7,  iv7,  VIM7
  • or the harmonic minor scale (the V7, vii half dim 7 chos)
  • on rare occasions, the v7 and bVII7 chords from natural minor, the iM7 from harmonic minor and the IV7 and #vi half dim 7 from melodic minor may also be used.

Cm7  — D half dim 7 — EbM7 —  Fm7 —  G7  — AbM7 —  B dim 7

i7        iihalf dim7            IIIM7      iv7         V7       VIM7       vii dim 7

Chords and their relationship to scales

Below is a list of all chords commonly encountered in jazz improv.  After the chord name is the name of the scale or scales that maybe used in improvising over the chord

1.  Major 7th, major 6th,  major 9th

  • scales: major, lydian, major pentatonic, major pentatonic a perfect 5th above the root

2.  Major 7thb5; M7#11,  M13#11

  • lydian, major pentatonic a major 2nd above the root

3.  M7#5

  • lydian augmented

4.  m6, m13

  • dorian, minor pentatnoic a major 2nd above the root, mino/added 6th pentatonic

5. minor 7th, minor 9, minor 11

  • dorian, aeolian, minor pentatonic, minor pentatonic a perfect 5th above the root, minor/added6th pentatnoic

6.  minor (major 7)

  • harmonic minor, ascending melodic minor

7. minor 7b5; half dim 7

  • locrian, minor pentatonic a perfect 5th above root, minor pentatonic a major 2nd below root, locrian #2, minor/added 6th pentatonic a minor 3rd above the root

8. m9b5; half dim 9

  • locrian #2, minor/added 6th pentatonic a minor 3rd above the root

9.  dom 7, dom 9

  • mixolydian, major pentatonic, dominant pentatonic

10. dom 9b5

  • whole tone, lydian dominant

11. dom 9#5

  • whole tone

12. Dom 7th#9; dom 7b9

  • inverted dim, altered

13. dom 7#9b5

  • inverted dim, altered, major pentatonic an augmented 4th above the root

14. dom 7#9#5; dom 7 b9#5

  • altered major pentatonic an augmented 4th above the root

15.  dim 7th

  • diminished

Upper structure or slash chords

formed by placing a chod above a bass note that does not belong to the chord or by placing one chord over another with a diffeent root

the upper chord is placed to the left of a slash, the bass note or lower chod to the right

these slash chords are also viewed as altered chords or chords with extensions

eg. A/F  — A triad over F bass  — same as FM7#5

eg. B/F7 — B traid over an F7 is equivalent F7b9b5

Improviser should learn to recvognize both ways of spelling chords.

Keyboard and guitar players tend to think in terms of slash chords

horn players prefer to see a single chord with extensions or alterations

Tags:
Posted in chord, scale | Comments Closed

practice

Friday, April 17th, 2009

If you find yourself struggling with an exercise, slow it down, simplify it, or sing it while visualizing yourself playing it.

After familiarizing yourself with the exercises, pick one or two to practice repeatedly until you can play them without any conscious thought.

Tags:
Posted in learning, practice, quiet mind | Comments Closed

Intervallic Improvisation

Friday, April 17th, 2009

All melodies and chords are composed of intervals.

In tonal improvisation, these intervals typically imply a scale or a chord but occasionally they are used to depart from or to avoid the implication of a predetermined harmonic structure.

The chromatic scle consists entirel of 1/2 steps and contains all 12 notes used in the western musical tradition.

Intervals may be used over chod changes as connecive material or as a means of obscuring tonality.

There is no chord progression for this chapter.

Tags:
Posted in improvisation skill | Comments Closed

4 note groupings derived from pentatonic scale

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Jazz musicians frequently improvise with groupings comprising 4 — 8th notes instead of complete scales.

In a tonal context, these 4-note groups maybe used to delineate a chord change.

1-2-3-5 groupting to outline major anddom chords

1-2-b3-5 groupings to outline minor chords.

In contemporary improvisation, 4-note groupings are often used to go outside the key center.

This can be accomplished by squencing a 4-note grouping through foreign key centers, before resolving back to the correct key.  This technique is often appiled to modal tunes, where the imporivser has time to establish the sound of the correct chord, leave the key center, and come back to the original chord.

Return to key center with ii7 V7 I

Playing outside in a tonal context:

There are many possible combinations of 4-note groupings.

The most common ones are derived from the major pentatonis scale.

  1. The first 4 notes in the scale yield a 1-2-3-5 groupings  C D E G
  2. 1-2-4-5 grouping  D E G A
  3. 1 b3 4 b6 grouping  E G A C
  4. 1 -2-4-5 grouping  G A C D
  5. 1 b3 4 5 grouping A C D E

The 1 b3 4 b6 not used cuz it lacks a perfect 5th and it tends to be unstable and vague.

Tags:,
Posted in improvisation skill | Comments Closed

Pentatonic scales

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Pentatonic scales contain exactly 5 notes, exclusive of the octave.

Pentatonic scales are commonly used in music from Africa and Asia.

Pentatonic scales commonly used in jazz are the major and minor pentatonic scales:

C major pentatonic scale: C D E G A C

A minor pentatonic scale: A C D E G A

Major and minor pentatonic belong to the same modal family with the minor pentatonic scale containingthe same notes as the major pentatnoic scale a minor 3rd above.

Major pentatonic scale — also known as the diatonic pentatonic scale, consists of the ascending pattern:  W W m3 W m3

It may also be thought of as a major scal with the 4th and 7th notes omitted.

Major pentatonic scales may also be used over maj7 and dom7 chords.

For maj 7th chords, there are 3 options:

1.  the major pentatonic scale built on the root of the chord

C D  E G A C

2. the major pentatonic scale built on the 5th of the chord

G A B D E G

3. the major pentatonic scale built on the 9th of the chod

D E F# (+11) A B D

— The first choice contains the smallest number of chord extensions, the latter choice the greatest, including the #11 of the chord.

When using the pentatonic scale over unaltered dom 7th chords, the major pentatonic scale built on the root of the chord is the best choice.

When improvising o dom chords with altered 5ths and 9ths, the major pentatonic scale a tritone (dim 5th) away from the root of the chord works best.

This option contains alterations of both the 5ths and the 9th:

C7 — C D E G A C

C7+9+5 —  Gb Ab Bb Db Eb Gb

MAJOR pentatonic scales also maybe used when improvising over ii-V-I progressions.

If the V chord is unaltered, the major pentatonic built on the root of the I chord or the V chord may be used over all 3 chords in the progression:

Dm7  G7  CM7

Dm7 – C D E G A C

G7 – C D E G A C

CM7 – C D E G A C

Dm7 G7 CM7

Dm7 — G A B D E G

G7   —   G A B D E G

CM7 –  G A B D E G

If the dominant chord is altered,t he major pentatonic scale a tritone away from the root of the dominant chord should be used over the V chord:

Dm7  — C D E G A C

G7 +9+5 —  Db  Eb  F  Ab  Bb  Db

CM7 — C D E G A C

Dm7 — G A B D E G

G7 +0+5 — Eb Eb F Ab Bb Db

CM7 — G A B D E G

Tags:
Posted in scale | Comments Closed

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »