One of the things i did when i started improvising was I just played through the scales I knew. I practiced changing up the intervals and rhythm and found I could improvise melodies that way. You'll also want to try playing over chord changes I know that's a big thing in jazz so record yourself playing whatever chords you want and try soloing over them. You'll pick up a lot that way.

I'm sure other people will have better things to say but that worked for me.

Good luck

Hello Joe,
Charlie Gacsi including many other JAzz players on this site know plenty about applying theory to improvization. I don't know much about Jazz either.



I am now a two-hand tapper (type Adam Fulara in youtube). He knows Jazz also.
Adrian

Start by learning the melody to Jazz standards. Then improvise a bit with the way you play the melody.

Some ideas. Find different ways to play the same note or phrase. Use slides and bends, add vibrato.

Try singing or humming variations of the melody, then try to play it back to yourself.

Learn note for note "improvisation" from recordings, then try your own variation of those.

It sounds like you have learned enough scales and theory. Now forget all that and just play, heh.

Peace,
Rick

All above is good advice Joe, but Rick said what I was thinking, almost word for word, and in the same sequence...

I especially like the idea Rick stated about learning some improvised phrases you particularly enjoy, and thinking about them, the chords they are played against; you will just naturally put your own stamp on them.

Before long you'll hear chords to a different beat, maybe slightly different structure, but you'll begin to incorporate the music you hear and like into it.

I play jazz but have never been very fast. I compensate by playing things that sound very melodic to me. So see, you can start slow. Sometimes it is the pauses and rests between your impovised lines, that add the drama to what you DO play.

As another personal anecdote, sometimes it is long after I have quit listening to music for the day, and set the guitar down....say, waking up at night, that I realize a melody that I meant to play or add. I have to write it down immediately, at least roughly, or I'll forget by morning.

I'm just glad ya like jazz; keep it alive brother! Good luck!

Craig

Yeah, I know what ya mean - and I am doing some in this way. When I like some song, I get the sheet with the theme and chord progression and then I learn the melody, the choruses and then I try to play over the chord changes, using notes and tones included in every chord and I try what tones sound good to play over this chords. I most like Pat Metheny, Eric Johnson, Mike Stern and Scott Henderson and when I like some song by them I try to get notes of it and I try to learn it. I analyse the chord progression they use, what tones they use over this chords and how they phrase and build the melody. I think this is the best way to learn how to improvise, but there is still long way in front of me.

Joe

You're doing precisely what I would have advised!

The only additional thing is to imagine singing your phrases before you play them.

IOW, what you're getting from your system at the moment is good technical background and understanding, and a sense of generic style - the right kind of thing to play, depending on what the tune or style is.

What you need to move on to (probably) is being able to invent your own phrases: play from scratch rather than copy someone else, playing what you think they might have played.

Not that copying is wrong! All the greats began by copying their own heroes, note for note. But eventually that feels a little sterile and unrewarding.
You also need to avoid the temptation to let your fingers do what they know best. This is where singing comes into play.
You should be able to imagine a line in your head before you play it. You may not be able to play the exact same thing (you wouldn't need our advice if you could...;-)), but you can go for something like it - at least in terms of its rhythmic pattern, and overall up-down shape. Whatever comes out of the guitar can then inspire you to sing (and then play) an answering phrase.

It's also a good idea to really limit your material. As an exercise, see what you can do with just 3 different notes, over a whole solo. This forces you to think about rhythm, dynamics and articulation. IOW, it ain't what you play, it's HOW you play it!
It also makes you listen to how each note works on each chord - they won't always fit every chord, but they will each have a particular sound on that chord. This is the language of the improviser: knowing (eg) what an E sounds like on a Bb7 chord, or a D on an Am7; etc etc.

Joe one way to practice your scales is to go to groove builder here and play a three chord progression and play you scales behind the chords .Another was to improvise is to learn the songs of you favorite guitar players and them change around what they are doing . But just to play mindless scales for six hour in my humble opinion is a waste of six hours .

hope this is a help Rob !

Just sing the scales while playing them first.

Then try to play a melody within the scale (still singing).

Then try to play a melody over a chord progression within the scale (still singing).

Then try more complex progressions... (still singing).

And so on...

Like Steve Vai said or quoted: 'Singing is believing!'

Hi Joe -

One thing that has really helped me "put it all together" is practicing a tune using the following routine:

1) Figure out how to play the chord changes in five "master positions". When working in a position, do not leave that position on the neck...figure out a voicing for each chord in the progression without leaving that position.

2)Now do the same with the melody.

3)Now do the same with the arpeggios for each chord.

4)Now do the same with the scales for each chord

5)Now limit yourself to a rhythmic duration (like a quarter note) and play each arpeggio for each chord without leaving a position and try to "link" them together. Just go for the closest available note as you change chords/arpeggios. Again, it's important that you do this without leaving the current position you are working in.

6) Now do the same thing with the scales.

Usually by this point I have memorized the changes to the tune and I am able to start combining scales, arpeggios, and positions. I keep doing this process until it becomes more and more comfortable, and eventually I start to see the whole neck when playing over the changes. I start to incorporate chromatics, too.

Limiting yourself to eigth notes when trying to improvise is a good exercise, too...the idea is just keep playing eigth notes no matter what..don't stop, even if you hit a wrong note.

Here is a small of what I mean over the first four chords of "All the Things You Are" (a tune that always gave me trouble until I used the above method):

Chords (1st position)

Fm7

Bbm7

Eb7

Abmaj7

Arpeggios (1st position)

Fm7

Bbm7

Eb7

Abmaj7

Arpeggios linked (lst position, 1/4 notes)

linked arpeggios

At this point you should be hearing the chord changes reflected in the line (and you can use this as a lick over those first four bars of course). I can't map out the entire process here in this message, but here is a sample line over those first four bars. After working out the chords, arpeggios, scales, and chromatics over those first four chords, you might end up with an 1/8 note line like this:

line 1st position

sorry if this message is a little unclear... am rushing thru it at work! I hope you find it helpful!

keep pickin,

Rob

That was very clear Robert; nice job! I always learn something on here, amazing.

Yeah, that's great! Thanks for your idea...

I found fantastic example of using that what you wrote here - and this example is from the great John Coltrane and his famous Giant Steps. I found this transcription of his tenorsax solo on www.lucaspickford.com

He uses the chord arpeggios and phrases over the chords using tones included in these chords. It looks it's not so difficult as it seems, so my only problem now is the rhytm - to keep over that and know in which part of the chord progression I am.

http://www.lucaspickford.com/tranesteps1.jpg
http://www.lucaspickford.com/tranesteps2.jpg
http://www.lucaspickford.com/tranesteps3.jpg
http://www.lucaspickford.com/tranesteps4.jpg
http://www.lucaspickford.com/tranesteps5.jpg
http://www.lucaspickford.com/tranesteps6.jpg

Well hey Joe, if you're workin' on the 'Trane and Giant Steps, ain't no stopping ya now...cool.
Jazz on man!
Craig

Yea, Coltrane is great! I love these classics - Chet Bakers "Autumn Leaves", Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon" and "Cantaloupe Island"...but my most favourite song is by Miles Davis - Amandla! Great song, I love it. Huh.

Joe

Pretty cool. Us jazz lovers are few and far between, my friend. It was Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, Wayne Shorter sax, Freddie Hubberd on trumpet if I recall, that got me started on jazz at all. Even my 82 yr old mom I got turned onto Mile's Kinda Blue...

Last year I read a good new Chet Baker bio that came with a very nice CD. After reading his depressing story though, I wished I had just stuck to his music.

Nice to meet you, brother! You'll have friends on here.

Craig

My father turned me into this music. His the biggest fan of jazz music I've ever seen. He plays no music instrument, he knows nothing about music theory, but he loves that emotions hidden in jazz. There are thousands of CDs with jazz music in our home. My father has his biggest pride - complete Miles Davis discography.

When I was small, I didn't like jazz. I could'nt understand it. And my father did know that, so he bought us the radio and we listened to the radio - we listened to pop music and some of fathers tapes - Bob Seger, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen... And I grew, I started understand to jazz, I found the emotions and I loved it. In our house, there the jazz you can hear all the day - from the radio, from the CD player. I think that my biggest advantage in playing jazz is that I grown with jazz, the jazz is in my blood. And it would be the worst mistake in my life to not exploit it!

You say "You'll have friends on here" - where is that your "here"? I am eighteen, I study and I have no money and time to travel, especially if you are from USA - that's to far for me - over 5 thousand miles huh :)

Joe

Joe, thanks for sharing that good story, about your dad and his music, which is now yours. That was terrific!

The "here" where you now have more friends is literally here.....right here. On this website and other music websites. Man, we have such an advantage over previous generations, that couldn't travel, thus could not exchange interests and ideas! Viva le information age! Long live the web!

Whie you study, maybe you can use the school's computers, etc, and stay in touch with like-minded folks.

You were really blessed to grow up with music in the house, especially jazz...keep on with it.

Stay in touch buddy. Your long-distance American friend in jazz,
Craig

One more question: Do you have any website or music you play?

Joe