learning to improvise progress

[Anonymous]

probably 6 weeks gone by, working
in G major 12 bar blues – looped backing track using chords G7,C7 & D7 (1411,4411,54 bar eleven two chords I&IV and bar twelve two chords I&V).

the order of learning
1 – know your G, C & D major scales + arpeggios. Know them in terms of degrees ie no 3 in C major is E, no 3 in D is F# etc..

2 – play along to the backing track, know & recognise the 3 main chords G7,C7 & D7, know which bars they occur in.

3 – get fluid with major scales G, C & D in terms of degrees. So if a bar chord starts in G7, improvise with keys in G major. If its D7 improvise with keys in D major etc..starting with the root note.

4 – Once you know the degrees of each scale off by heart and you can play various patterns example 1211 in each of the bar chords. Then now is the time to move away from the boring repetitive stuff.

5 – instead of starting each bar on the root note of the chord, start on a different degree of the major scale example in a G7 bar chord, start on the 3rd which is B etc.. Try starting on the various intervals or degrees and notice the impact it has on the backing chord.

6 – one of the most import things to do while playing different keys, is to vary the expression of the pitches. You need to be able to play a happy C, a sad C, an angry C, a swearing C, a sexy C.
When you’re playing the blues and telling your story you’re communicating your moods and feelings to the listener. Its just like acting where you pretend to be a fish and the audience has to deduce what your are doing. No expression played and the listener will switch off become bored and walk away.

7 – the same thing applies when you play fixed patterns, after a while the listener will know whats coming next – they switch off and get bored. One of the reasons for starting at different degrees in a bar rather than the root.

8 – an important exercise to do for 10 mins, is play the backing and just play along to it and just forget all the rules. play anything that comes out of your head. its like jumping in a car, i’m going to drive round for an hour, turn down this street and see where it takes, who knows where i’ll end up. Thats improvisation, its not playing something written down, its playing what comes out your head, just like in a conversation.

9 the basic blues scale in G “G Bb C C# D F” . Repeating steps 1 to 8 but this time when playing the backing track, only play notes that belong to the basic blues scale. Notice how it sounds different to the notes in the major scale.

10 now play the backing track jumping around in the basic blues and the major scales and notice the difference in the story.

– thats what i’ve been taught so far

[Anonymous]

if anyones interested, i’ve put some of my lesson sheets in

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x3o55qal1tpa33h/AACSavkH2wCJ5855J9MZnDiha?dl=0

[jake]

Thanks sxpoet. GREAT info there. Really helps breaking it down and starting out simple. Walk before we run. 😀🎷

[Anonymous]

@Jeff – i’m just trying to document the various stages that my teacher is teaching me the blues – aimed at a beginner like me.

He’s not teaching from a book, but laying a foundation from his own training and having taught hundreds of students before me, he’s got a fair idea of what works and what doesn’t work well with students in terms of progressing.
Like other academic courses, you cant jump into later stages without having done earlier stages.

Notice we started with major scales for improvising to get what it feels like working in those scales, then we add the basic blues scale and get the different feel for working in them. We haven’t even started the pentatonic scales (weeks away) or any other scales for that matter.

Each lesson starts with putting on the backing track and lets hear what you’ve been doing, with feed back – more expression needed, or a teacher demo – notice how it would sound if you had played this note etc.. These pointers are hard to document, you won’t find them in written material, its passed down from master to student, i suppose another reason lots of people try and get lessons with various top players, instead of one teacher.

The other problem is overload, in terms of teaching, you can’t throw everything at someone, you have to let various stages sink in, getting the student to play back shows the teacher at what stage they have got to and the teacher can decide whether to move on or not. in my case snails pace.

I’ve now got to the where you are telling a story stage, just using notes in the major scales and using notes in the basic blues scale.

i’ve got 4 more music sheets i haven’t put up yet, they’re a bit like the last few pages of the killer blues course. they’re a bunch of “one bar G major blues riffs starting on G, C & D” and then a bunch of “two bar G blues scale riffs starting on C and G”.
This is just to give me an idea what it would sound like if i applied these to the backing track bars – with the view of coming up with my own riffs that i have to write down – improvising proper

[Anonymous]

One thing i forgot to add is he keeps stressing over and over, is to practice playing the G basic blues scale “G Bb C C# D F” up and down the sax as FAST as possible smoothly – emphasis on MAXIMUM speed. (don’t ask me why)

Then to repeat starting at different notes of the scale – so start on C etc…

[jake]

I would imagine the speed part of the exercise is going to benefit you in a couple ways. 1 you will be working on finger speed and accuracy and 2 is muscle memory. Playing them that fast without error means you just play without having to think of the notes.

It took me a while to learn the solo from on the dark side by John cafferty. I couldn’t keep up with the reading the music. So learned it in pieces by memory reading small parts of the song. Now I just play through the song. My fingers press the keys and I don’t even think of what note I am playing. I would imagine the same type of principle would apply in your instructors speed exercises too.

[Anonymous]

@Jake – i don’t know why Jake, but i keep mixing you up with Jeff! Could have some valid points there Jeff!
I had another lesson today in place of my daughters clarinet lesson as she was unwell and off school.
The scary thing was he would play 3 or 4 notes on his sax, and i would play them back without thinking.

I got him to demonstrate some of his riffs on the 3 different chords in each of the bars. Blew me brains out.

Another interesting point which he raised was the importance of spending 10 mins just jamming to the backing track
and totally ignore every rule and just play what comes out of your head. And what he said was do not under any
circumstances be critical of what you are playing when you do this exercise ie if it sounds bad, don’t under any
circumstances be judgemental and think of it as bad because if you do that, you’ll start mentally putting in rules and
eventually narrowing down your range of creativity, and stopping your brain from going different places.
The idea is to carry on regardless, and eventually what will happen is your mind will then have free reign of your
playing – and thats when the good stuff starts coming out.

He was going to take me onto another level and give me more stuff to do, but i had to hold him back as i’m still
struggling with the stuff i’ve already got.
at the moment

[William Cingolani]

Good stuff sxpoet. I suppose I can and will use those sam exercises on my tenor. I put the link to a drop box and stored them in a folder. Where did you get the exercises. I have Johnny’s Killer Blues Course

[Anonymous]

Hi William, i’ve got both Johnny’s Killer blues course and his major scale improvisation course – both of his courses are excellent courses,
and i’m making full use of them. They are great if you don’t have a
teacher, or if you have a teacher, to complement them with. Either
way its a win win situation.

Its only recently that i got the opportunity to learn to play the blues
from my teacher – he’s quite proficient at improvising in the blues and
jazz. He doesn’t tend to give out sheets and isn’t teaching from any
specific books, he writes down a few ideas and asked me to put them in
dropbox – for him to check if he’s got time. I think he might be saving
some of the sheets for other students.

So i’ve tried to document everything from day one from his notes and from memory in terms of what he asked me to start practicing, including any
comments etc. Just thought it may be of interest to anyone else in the
forums that are doing the blues.

Due to my snail pace at learning, it won’t be at great speed, and there’s
lots more areas to cover later on, he’s trying his best not to overload
me as that could just put me off the whole complexity of it. like he says
you spend the rest of your life learning the blues.

Hope you find them useful, unfortunately they’re all for the Alto sax.
The sheets are in order of learning – i put a index in drop box with
additional comments,

[William Cingolani]

THANKS sxpoet. I have both courses too and today I’m organizing the killer blues course and the improve course

[Author]

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