10 steps to telling your story
How does an improviser construct these stories? - 10 steps to telling your story.
Here is a list of the basic processes involved in constructing a jazz improvisation:
- Listen
- Learn the melody
- Motifs
- Chords
- Blue notes
- Bass line
- Chords with Walking Bass
- Arpeggiate
- Scales
- Chord Substitutions
Listen
- Listen to as many recordings of the piece as you can find
- Try to find the first recording of the piece
- Was it in a movie? Watch the movie (e.g. Autumn Leaves)
- Was it in a musical? Watch the musical and see it performed live if you can
- What are the lyrics?
- What is the mood? Happy? ... sad ??
- What is the rhythm.... walking - running - skipping ?
Melody
- Identify the important motifs (melodic fragments)
- Most melodies are built on 1 or 2 strong motifs
- Is there a distinctive interval in the motif?
Harmony
- Play the chord progression as a series of melodic arpeggios.
- Try and play the "guide tones" - (the 3rd and 7th degrees) - on the strong beats.
Scales
Play the appropriate scales, running up to the 9th degree where appropriate and joining them up smoothly.- Apply the common chord substitutions to the turnarounds
- Add upper chord degrees where appropriate
- Alter the dominant chord