Why do you want to improvise? Because it’s fun, because it’s freedom. A respite, a refuge, a platform for raging. But what you don’t want is another skill that you have to force yourself to master. That’s why I’m going to distill things to their essence.
There’s a LOT of information out there on improvisation. Very good information. In the old days players learned by hanging out with older players, shadowing them, buying all their records to learn by heart, pestering them with questions. Though the improv skill still has to be learned by doing, now at least the theoretical component of it is available in excellent method books
And improvisation is the best, quickest, most intuitive way to understand music. I took two years of classical music theory in college, and at the end of it I have to say that I still didn’t know how music really worked. I knew some arcane terms, most of it historical and no longer used today.
However, after learning improvisation, I thought, “well, why didn’t you just say so?” It all suddenly made sense, and not in a bookish way, but much more organically. Certain tones and chords just want to go in a certain direction or to be grouped together, and music is just a matter of playing with those relationships.
To understand theory, it’s important to DO theory, not memorize it or talk about it. It’s important to get a select few things to the point that they are second nature to you. Everything else then becomes much easier.
So I’d like to distill everything for you into two keys to the theoretical side of improvisation. These are the shortcuts to the necessary theoretical base.
Let me be clear about one thing. When I say improvisation, that does not imply “jazz”. Improv can and should be applied to any style: classical, folk, etc.
Key Skill #1: Play a scale starting from any note of that scale. Doodle around with major scales until it requires literally no thought to play an F major scale starting on A. Or an Eb scale starting on Ab. And when I say “doodle”, I mean it literally. This is not a mental exercise. It’s a relaxed time to play around. All we’re doing is giving your brain synapses time to entrain to some patterns. The learning is not according to your time table. Your brain will learn ON ITS OWN if you don’t start fussing with it and mess it up.
Part II (and this may be months later): Mix the scales up. Play four notes of a C scale, then switch to F#, then A. Whatever you want, at random.
“But that ugly.” Yes it is. Make as many ugly tunes as you can. Just play with scales in this way, randomly, mindlessly, both up and down, until they are a meditation, a massage for your hands, something your hands want to do when they touch your instrument.
Key Skill #2: Play three and seven in every key. Learn to find, without thinking, the third and seventh note in any major scale, in two ways: third on the bottom, and seventh on the bottom.
The reason: the third and seventh determine the type of the most commonly used chords. Lower the third and you have a minor. Lower the seventh and you have a dominant. Lower both and you have a minor seventh. But don’t worry about that yet, just learn the third and seventh in the major scales.
With these as scaffolding, we can later add all kinds of flavor notes: 9ths, 6ths, flat 9s, etc. And you won’t have to memorize dozens of chord voicings because you’ll relate everything to the basic scaffolding of 3 and 7.
Do this in every key. A few minutes a day. Don’t obsess over it, it will be a gradual process. FORGET ABOUT BEING GOOD AT IT. Just do it. It will simmer in the back of your mind for months, like soup on the stove, and then we’ll be able to put it to good use.
I spent nine months on Skill #2 when I first started. It opened the mental door.
There were (and are) further doors to open having to do not with mental, technical knowledge, but with deeper being. But that’s a newsletter for another time.
PicGram
Awhile back I spent a couple of weeks programming a website, PicGram.com, which allows you to make your own photos into eCards (greeting cards which you can forward to friends by email).
It’s complimentary, no registration is required. Everything is on one page and the usage is self-explanatory.
There’s a button in the middle of the page which takes you to YourSongCode, where you can order tunes to accompany your eCards.
Ciao,
Ron
Ron Newman received a MME in Music Education and a MS in Computer Science from the University of North Texas, has film and commercial credits and openings for Willie Nelson and Tricia Clark as a member of the Great Northern Band. more…
