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Topic: What’s on your mind when you play ad. Lib? |
Bruno Rasmussen
From:
Svendborg, Denmark
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 2:59 am |
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What is your personal approach towards improvising?
Do you lean on the melody? Concentrate on chord changes and scales? Use guidelines, e.g. by 7th and 3rd tone in the chord changes? Rely on pet phrases? - Or something else?
[This message was edited by Bruno Rasmussen on 07 February 2005 at 03:04 AM.] |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 3:26 am
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| Chords and melody are a great place to base an improvisation. |
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Perry Hansen
From:
Bismarck, N.D.
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 5:20 am
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| I believe Buddy Emons stated once that if all else fails, you can't go wrong with the melody. |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 5:22 am
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| Hmmm.. good question.. I kind of agree with our friend DD... Here is what works in my situation..I hear the chord structure/melody and try to "feel" it.When my solo/improv comes up,I try to stay within context of what I have heard,but once I know what chords I am working with, I get the majority of my "foundation" from the bass,drums and rythmn guitar and I do my best to "lay down" something appropriate... melodic/hot/timely/sweet/obnoxious/pretty/ happy/ sad/ soulful bluesey/rockin/ ... just something that works at the time bob |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 5:59 am
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I practice a lot of home-made exercises of melodic fragments – 123, 234, 345, 456 etc, 1234, 2345, 3456, 4567 etc.; 135, 246, 357, 468 etc.; their inverses, i.e. 531, 642, 753, 864 etc.; backwards i.e. 864, 753, 642, 531, inside out 846, 735, 624 and on and on. You can never run out of exercises if you think a bit, and I try to play this stuff in all the positions on C6th, with and without pedals. I do it in the hopes that I’ll be able to grab any interval that comes to mind when I’m trying to solo – a lifelong process for sure. I also pay close attention to how many notes or beats it takes to get from one place to another – this is important for continuity, to avoid sounding like a karaoke “lick-machine.” Practicing things like five and seven-note sequences in 4/4 time lead you in and out of intersections that are helpful to know.
Whatever part of me it is that’s “soloing” can definitely play a whole lot better than the part of me that’s “thinking”, so I gear my practice towards creating potentialities. Then when the cork’s out of the bottle, I just stand back, let fly, and hope to avoid disaster. Listening to what other people have done and trying to relate it to your instrument is invaluable, of course. Bach, Miles, Duane, Ravi, there’s melodies all over the place, and there were semi-understandable thought processes used in creating those melodies. Robert Jourdain wrote a really neat book called “Music, the Brain and Ecstasy” that discusses why and how certain melodies work better than others at emotional connection.
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Terry Edwards
From:
Florida... livin' on spongecake...
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 8:10 am
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I don't think at all when I improvise. At least I am not aware of it. I just "feel". If I have to take time to think about it, it's too late - my breaks over!!
Hours of practice (noodling) at improvising eventually pays off and you don't have to "think" much except to know what key and what chord progression you are in. Then just go with the "feeling". That's when the soul comes through.
Terry |
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Klaus Caprani
From:
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 8:18 am
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I'm so new in this that I'll rather abscent from improvisation, or rely on a few pet-phrases (Damn' they're my ONLY phrases) 
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Klaus Caprani
MCI RangeXpander S-10 3x4
www.klauscaprani.com
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 8:30 am
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| Terror. Kinda like hittin' black ice on the freeway. |
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Michael Whitley
From:
Oxford, Mississippi, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 8:54 am
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| I'm with Terry Edwards - I don't think about it much, other than to mentally keep track of the next chord change coming up. I just get into the groove. |
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Steve Knight
From:
NC
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 9:03 am
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Hello Bruno,
If I'm playing blues or rock, I usually think of a blues or pentatonic minor scale.
For country, I might stick to the triads (1,3,5) of each chord with the occasional 7th note for the V7 chord; or use the pentatonic major scale. I also use the melody, harmonized in 3rds or 6ths.
On jazz, anything goes. I definitely will spend weeks working on a single approach, like targeting the 3rd & 7th note of each chord, or playing arpeggios with approach notes when I'm practicing at home. When I'm improvising jazz, I use everything above--whatever comes to me in the middle of the changes.
SK |
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Ricky Littleton
From:
Steely-Eyed Missile Man from Cocoa Beach, Florida USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 3:14 pm
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Sometimes I'll get rolling and play myself into some odd pocket and I can't find my way out to save my life. All you can do at that point is smile and say "...heck! At least I got it this far..."
Ricky...
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Emmons LeGrande - 8x4
Session 400 Ltd, Peterson VS-II Tuner
Dan-Echo, E-Bow, Ibanez Distortion, Boss Comp./Sustain, Ibanez Auto-Wah, PX4 Pandoras Box
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 4:40 pm
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I concentrate on how to stitch together a couple of well-placed A+B's, inversion/slides, some diatonic runs/trills on the top 5 strings with HEAVY attention to rhythmic phrasing to counteract the lack of deliberate intent in the 'melody'. Usually ends up sounding moderately acceptable, albeit cliche.
A switch into some 6th-type stuff (E9/B6) halfway through a solo helps shift attention away from repetitious E9 licks.
My "good" stuff seems to only work on originals where I developed the song around some neat PSG fills/melodies.
[This message was edited by Tom Gorr on 07 February 2005 at 04:43 PM.] |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 7:15 pm
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Get the BASIC chords into my head and improvise around the EXTRA passing ones(intimate the changes no one else is playing)
like if the basic is 1-17-4-57-1
I could go 1.../5m7.17./43m2m72m/5.2m757/1...
Baz
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| Quote: |
| Steel players do it without fretting |
 
http://www.waikiki-islanders.com
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Scott Appleton
From:
Ashland, Oregon
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 8:33 pm
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Try to imagin a lick you have learned or heard somewhere and find where those runs are then when it time to solo go for it.
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Mullen S12 Almost Mooney
71 Tele, Regal 45
Sho Bud S10 NP
Line 6 Flextone 3 + JBL D130, Acoustic 100 W all tube, Nash 112 |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 7 Feb 2005 11:08 pm
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I will clarify.
The chords and the melody are the road map,
you can weave and dodge around within this frame work
The nature of improvisation is to ro some extent lose yourself in the music,
but you MUST be IN the music 1st....
Random guesses aren't music, that are just that random.... |
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Scott Henderson
From:
Camdenton, Missouri, USA
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Posted 8 Feb 2005 10:42 am
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If I knew it wouldn't be improvising would it?????
I play what I feel usually. If it's jazz a go away from the head. if it's country yup melody line and chord movements. |
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Bryan Bradfield
From:
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
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Posted 8 Feb 2005 3:54 pm
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Terry Edwards and Michael Whitley are on the right track. When improvising, you are not really thinking mechanically about chord progressions and melody. Those had better be under your belt quite comfortably by the time the spotlight moves to you. My greatest asset in being able to improvise is tons of stage experience, and as a result, a lot of confidence. One big factor for me is how I sound (tone & volume). If my sound is the way I like it, and all of the other instruments and voices are clear in the monitors, then I feel free to fly. If the sound is muddy, or if the performance as a whole is "off", then I am inhibited. In that case, I suppose I am saying I'd rather not be there at that point.
From the above, my recommendation for acquiring the knack for improvising is to play out a lot. Go to jam sessions, open mic situations, senior citizens home circuit, etc. |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 8 Feb 2005 4:34 pm
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Almost all the best improvisors I have met or learned from,
all said they work from a framework and sometimes leave it, blatently,
but generally are within one or another type of framework.
Bird and Parker both worked like this, even though for many ears it is a very UNclear frame work.
Sure there WERE times of divine transport and all went out the window,
but eventualy they re-found the frame and continued.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 09 February 2005 at 12:12 AM.] |
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Ron Randall
From:
Dallas, Texas, USA
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Posted 8 Feb 2005 7:25 pm
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What's on my mind? Not much I hope. Once I have the basic progession, I will play out of different positions for the chords, substitute different chords, use passing chords when moving to the next basic chord.
I find it easier to improvise than to memorize.
Ron
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Winnie Winston
From:
Tawa, Wellington, NZ * R.I.P.
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Posted 8 Feb 2005 8:35 pm
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The most important thing is to know the chords and the melody.
If I have that "in deep" then what's on my mind when I "ad lib" is thinking about nothing except the good feeling that comes when doing so.
I've played solos where, when done, I had no memory of any of it. I was, as they say, "deep in the zone."
JW |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 8 Feb 2005 9:07 pm
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| I've played solos where, when done, I had no memory of any of it. I was, as they say, "deep in the zone." |
That's a cruel trick of nature: ya play your very best solos ever... and you're not allowed to even remember the experience! Harummph! (Wish I could do that more often nevertheless... ) |
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Smiley Roberts
From:
Hendersonville,Tn. 37075
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Posted 8 Feb 2005 11:00 pm
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| ya play your very best solos ever... and you're not allowed to even remember the experience! |
One time,I took an ad-lib solo on,"I Never Go Around Mirrors",& the band & AND the audience gave me a hand for it,(which,totally,surprised me)& I'll be DAMNED if I could remember what I played.  All I could remember is,that I stayed within the chord structure.
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~ ~
©¿© It don't mean a thang,
mm if it ain't got that twang.
www.ntsga.com
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Billy Wilson
From:
El Cerrito, California, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 1:18 am
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| What everybody said. I like to think of the lyrics to the tune cuz it gives you the story of the song and also keeps you in the right place in the song. |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 9 Feb 2005 4:30 am
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are my picks gonna stay on my fingers or am I ganna have to chase them around on the floor  t |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 10 Feb 2005 12:17 am
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I sing along in my head and then try to play what I'm hearing. Along with practicing scales and chords I practice singing along to a tune and then playing what I sang on my steel.
Bob |
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