You add to the melody using existing pieces of the melody — you ahve to take the meldoy apart and put it back together again in a slightly different form.
What to do: identfiy short riffs or motifs within the melodic line.
You can then extract these motifs and repeat them in other sections of the melody — typically in place of longer notes.
Most motifs are notable for their unique rhythm or for their short melodic hook.
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You can also take a motif and alter it, either by adding syncopation or by displacing it on the beat or in the measure.
For eg. we’ll take the previous motif and repeat it every 3 beats, instead of 4 — you still recognize teh riff, but it has a different feel cuz of where it’s placed relative to the first beat of each measure.
You can have lots of fun with this technique. In fact, it is possible to build a completely new solo by playing around with selected riffs from the original melody.
You can repeat them exactly, move them to a different part of the melody, or play them backwards.
You can even use existing motifs to create now motifs, through the process of theme and variations. It’s a terrific way to build your improvisational skills while still maintaining ties to the oiriginal melody.