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"Don't play what's there, play what's not there"  (Miles Davis)

Well, there was only one Miles Davis but even though the rest of us musicians are mortal, we can still make an attempt at 'coming off the dots'. Do you remember when you were four or five years old and your mum took the stabilisers off your bike?  Improvising is a bit like that - suddenly you're making it up on the fly.  No longer is the composer telling you how to play it - you are the one in charge!

So, how do you do it?

 There are four main methods which are used to learn (and of course teach) improvisation:

• You learn all the scales in all the keys.  This means a great deal of work - according to Jamey Aebersold's Scale Syllabus there are about thirty two different (jazz) scales, each of which, ideally, needs to be learned in all twelve keys.  That amounts to a grand total of three hundred and eighty four scales!
• You collect and learn as many jazz riffs, licks and phrases as you can, hoping to slot them into the right places at the right time.
• You listen and listen and listen and listen then listen some more... (for years!!).  Little by little your aural perception improves.
• You acquire the skills by performing.  In other words you learn by doing.

I don't believe in doing things the hard way.  The first two methods above involve so much work that it just can't be any fun.  If you're not having fun what's the point?  The third option, in isolation, might be fun but it would take far too long to achieve your goals.  Take the third and fourth methods together and you're giving yourself a chance.

Learning by doing

The Improvisation Kits that you can obtain from this site enable you to start improvising immediately.  The main part of the Kit comprises a score which is in the four main transposition keys.  The score is a written improvisation of your chosen title and, by reading/playing this score along with the accompaniment, you will hear new melodic opportunities opening up.  Because you're not playing the original written tune you will feel no trepidation in modifying the improvised melody and rhythm to ones of your own liking.  You will be improvising!

One of the obstacles to improvising is the speed at which the music 'passes you by'.  As part of the Kit you will receive .mp3 files containing 'long chords'.  These are all the chords which appear in your selected title and each of the chords, initially arpeggiated, is sustained (on strings) for about thirty seconds.  This will enable you to play your instrument against the chord and experiment with different melodic lines.  When you're happy with a particular phrase, write this down or memorise it and proceed to the next chord.  Do this for all the chords appearing in the first four bars say, then try these phrases out on the real time accompaniment track.  Alternatively, take the written improvisation on stage and perform it as your own!  Additionally, you can use the Chord Notation score to create your own (chord based) improvisation. 

What's in the kit?

• The score of the written improvisation in .pdf format.  The score is provided in the four main transpositions.
• The chord notation in .pdf format.  Again, in the four main transpositions.
• .mp3 audio file of the improvisation plus the accompaniment
• .mp3 audio file of the accompaniment alone (for playing along to)
• .mp3 audio file of the accompaniment plus click track (for playing along to)
• .mp3 audio files of the Long Chords for melodic experimentation

 

See an example score then choose a title or titles from the list below.  More titles will be added later so please check the site every so often. (You will not be pestered with email reminders).

Each Improvisation Kit costs £5.00 Sterling.