Timing issues

[john]

yes. the tune is based on the 12 bar progression but it’s not the typical 1, 4, 5. as a regular blues.
it’s entirely based on one major scale which is the G.
That’s why we cover this so much in the beginning of the course. the whole thing lies there, with these modes and how they fit over the entire tune, including the 5 chord, which is just a different mode, but still part of the G chord right? (D E F# G A B C D)
see how it’s the D7 scale but all the notes are still part of the G major scale? (G A B C D E F# G)

[Anonymous]

I find improvising very challenging, the sooner you start the better, it is a craft that only gets better over time.

Four parts (1 know some music theory behind it. 2 you must be able to play the scales, chords, modes from memory before hand of the song you want to work on. 3 you have to listen to the backing track of the song you want to use over and over, and hear how the chords you play will the match the bars on the sheet in terms of sound. 4 Play the track, and start out playing one chord note per bar, when you can do that (days later), try 2 chord notes per bar, then three chord notes per bar, then 4 chord notes per bar, and finally 8 chord notes per bar.)

It sounds simple, most songs will have 3 main chords to play – that equates to knowing 3 different scales, their modes and their chords.

In terms of practice you will learn
the
1 note of each three scales from memory
the 1 2 notes of each scale
the 1 2 3 notes …
down to
the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 notes of each scale

because for each chord, you can play lots of different combinations of chord notes for a bar. example in a 4/4 timing you could play chord notes ‘1 2 3 1’

This is where you spend time getting into time with the chords in each bar and keeping up with the track – so you must know the scales and chords.

later on you should start being able to feel which chords harmonise with each bar – which is why the 12 bar blues is easier to start out with in terms of sound/feeling, you soon hear the difference when you play the wrong chord.

improvising is supposed to be fun and experimental – my advice – move very very slowly

[Anonymous]

In my practice sessions, a lot of work is spent on playing the chord notes in each bar, trying to keep in time with the chord changes in the backing track, that takes a bit of getting used to, and you can’t skip that side of it. This isn’t a improvising technique, its more of a being able to play any notes in the chords in time with the bar “technique”.

LATER on when your’e up to speed, thats where the fun starts, as you can start experimenting with what notes of each chord to play, and hear how some notes work better than others with the backing track bar. Write them down on the sheet, as you will forget.

In terms of working with a teacher, to save a lot of them they will call out the numbers of the chord to play in a bar, so they will say play the “1 5 3 2” for any chord, they won’t want to say play “C G E D” for a C chord and “D A F# E” for a G chord. So at some stage you are having to start memorising where each of “1 5 3 2” is for that specific scale is on the sax if you intend to go further down the line.

What can happen and can be confusing for a beginner, is if the song is in the scale of say C major, if you play a chord other than a C chord, example if you play a G chord in a bar, you could for a “1 3 5 7” pattern play “G B D F” if you stick to the notes in the Song Scale key of C major, or you could play “G B D F#” if you want to use the notes in the scale of chord G. Which sounds better is down to your preference in harmonising. Or you could play the notes in the pentatonic scale.. so many choices, so much more fun.

One thing my teacher emphasised is hitting the new chord note on time with the backing track bars, and if you can fit it in, at the end of a bar, try and play a note that is just above or below the starting note of the next bar chord note, so it leads into it. theres rules you can stick to, or make up your own rules. In terms of improvising with jazz, it can get really technical. I personally can’t be bothered with sticking to playing fixed patterns, i just play what comes into my head as i’m listening to the track as each bar goes by , which my instructor would find annoying.

i’ve sat in an orchestra, and where there’s a section for someone to improvise on the sax with the band, i have heard a lot of meaningless crap being played in terms of harmony with the bars, just sit there thinking, what are they playing? so there is an artistic side to it, that comes with a lot of scale practicing. They would be better off just playing the root note of the chord for each bar.

[Anonymous]

The only other thing that i could rant on about improvising, is you need to keep up your normal grade sheet reeding skills, as in terms of playing in time, playing in time for a music sheet is a lot different to playing in time to when you improvise along to chords in a bar.

[Author]

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