Jazz Improv Question

[ncj]

Question for you jazz improv players out there.

When improvising a solo are you aware of what the letter names of the notes you're playing are? Or do you just forget the theory aspect of it?

[pauldil]

I work the theory stuff out when I practice, but I try not to think of theory when I play. I went crazy for years trying to do that, and I could never think fast enough to keep up. One day I realized that I didn't have to think so much, just listen and react.

 

Paul

[AlChuck]

Same here. I am aware of the roots and the flavor of the harmony but that's about it. As soon as I try to think about anything more than that it flies apart and wildly smashes to earth.

[Funk Jazz]

initially i had to think about the changes a lot, but now i just play melodies.

 

when i learn a new song, i work out a ton of potential ways to play through the changes, after a while i don't think about theory at all.

 

it's like one note just sort of leads into the next.

 

but to the point, do i think of individual note names? no way. but i am aware of my harmonic surroundings.

 

like wes said "i don't practice, i just work out tunes."

[mdog114]

Try to run the chord changes in every possible combo with all different inversions. Get familiar with the melody and do the same.

 

Then forget all you learned and just play! Don't think!

[musicalhair]

I can't really say I've got improvising over a jazz tunes changes "down" in any really reliable sense, but I use patterns and recognize chord shapes up and down the neck and how the change into each other with the tune changes. Between keeping the melody to the tune off to one side of my mind and the changes I get through sometimes nicely sometimes not so nicely.

 

I've also found writing new melodies that work as solos helpful. Not because I remember them and can whip them out but I end up seeing and hearing real ideas that end up leading to a more inspired line than just worrying about where that next chord tone is.

 

An idea I'm just beginning to look at is something I think Sonny Rollins has really taken to a next couple of levels: applying the kind of melodic manpiulations that are used in counter-punctual melodic writing and that get applied to serialism, like: retrograde, inversion etc.

[jazzalta]

I'm at a point in my improv that I can basically play what I think/hear now. Sometimes that involves using arpeggios or parts of a scale but I don't analyze now. I just play.

[Billster]

I have certain "targets" in mind that I want to hear at certain chord changes, but I don't think about every note when I'm playing. Like the man quoted Wes - I just work out tunes. Then when I'm playing, I have a vocabulary.

[henryrobinett]

I guess I kind of do it the hard way. But definitely NOT thinking of the note NAMES. That's way to slow of a process. You have to think quick, on your feet. Licketysplit.

 

After years of practicing arpeggios and scales I see the outline of the chords on the fretboard, in my mind. I see them in one fell swoop all up and down the neck. So I definitely target the third, 7th, 9th, etc., as well as the notes above and below target ones. It's not a THINKING thing. I've just done it so much that I can look at a chart and play. Or KNOW a chord and see it/play it. If it says Bm7b5 I can just visualize the notes of that chord and play what I hear around it. I know what the b5 sounds like so if that's what I want that's what I play.

 

So forget about note NAMES except in the most basic ways. Eb reference for Eb7+11. The note Eb gets me started and the shape of the arpeggio gets me there. That's the advantage of guitar. Moveable shapes. It's a very visual instrumment.

[Funk Jazz]

Originally posted by henryrobinett:

It's a very visual instrument.

kind of a blessing and a curse. some players get the mechanics but fail to get the music because they can just move shapes around.

 

this certainly doesn't apply to you though, henry!

 

the key is to get music out of those shapes. not just playing the right notes but intentional notes that have a sense of motion.

[henryrobinett]

Yeah, that's the whole thing. You have to HEAR it to make it happen. Your fingers have to follow what your ear is telling you to play. The seeing shapes is only really useful to help you guess the proper notes of what you're hearing. As the music gets really complicated the ear alone is not accurate enough, even for those with perfect pitch, to hear all the altered tones over quick or slow moving complicated chord progressions. But if you're just connecting the dots it's going to sound like that - mechanical. But it's all a process. There will more than likely be a period of stiff, connect the dots type playing until it all begins to take shape (no pun intended) and you start flowing and playing invented melodies and beautiful things again.

 

The key is to listen, listen, listen listen and listen some more.

[Gruupi]

Sometimes I feel like I work backwards. I'll play anything and start eliminating the notes that don't work. Obviously this doesnt work in a performance situation. I know some theory but can't think of it fast enough, I have to go by my ear more often than not.

[ncj]

thanks fellas

[NMcGuitar]

I usually try to "let it flow" without thinking too much. I just try to get what's in my head out through my fingers. I don't think of note names at all, though I do tend to keep the harmonic progression in my mind (so I know that the next chord will be a _____ , etc.).

Mostly, when I am thinking about the notes, I tend to think about intervals. I don't really care that I'm playing "E", and the next note wants to be "G", I just know that I want the sound of a minor 3rd. I don't actually think it in terms of the numbers, just the sound of it.