Improvising Continued

Thank you for stopping by to learn about improvisation. Remember we offer a $10 introductory lesson at the Colorado School of Music. We teach a variety of instruments ranging from piano lessons, guitar lessons, vocal lessons, voice lessons, violin lessons, viola lessons, drum lessons, percussion lessons, ukulele lessons, trombone lessons, tuba lessons, euphonium and other orchestral instruments. We have students come from Denver, Lakewood, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Evergreen, Morrison and Littleton. www.coloradoschoolofmusic.com info@coloradoschoolofmusic.com or 303-526-9865

Today I will be talking about improvising over two chords that are not from the same key. Our example chord progression will be a B7 chord to a GMaj7th chord. If you are familiar with your dominant 7th chord you know that the dominant chord is the five chord of a major key. This means the B7 chord is from the key of E major. By analyzing the B7 as a five chord in the key of E we now know we can use a E major scale to improvise over the B7 chord. This is a good starting point but just one the sounds that will work over the B7 chord. We could also use our E major pentatonic scale when improvising over the B7. Since we have two different chords from different keys I like to look at the B7 in the way a blues player might approach the dominant chord. With that said I really like the sound of the B major and B minor pentatonic scale over the B7 chord. You can also incorporate the flat 5 on either the B major or minor pentatonic scale. You could also use the B Dorian and Mixolydian scale over the B7 chord. (B Mixolydain is the same notes as the E major scale.) The last sound you might want to try over the B7 chord is a E harmonic minor scale. This scale will have a very strong sound but very hip.

Next lets break down our GMaj7th chord. We could analyze the Gmaj7th chord in two different position in a major key. Our major 7th chord could appear as the one chord or the four chord in a major key. If we analyze the Gmaj 7th as a one chord we have the option to improvise our G major scale, our G major pentatonic scale or the relative minor scale to G which is E minor scale. Now if you analyze the GMaj7th chord as the four chord from the key of major we now have a whole new set of scales and sounds to work with. Now we can use our D major scale, D major pentatonic scale and of course the relative minor scales of B minor and B minor pentatonic. If you remember from our break down of the B7 chord we could use the B minor pentatonic scale over that chord. We have identified the B minor pentatonic scale will work over both of the chords in our progression. This sound doesn’t only work but sound really great!

As you experiment with the different sounds over these two chords you will find that some of the different scales compliment each other and some contrast each other. This is for you to determine while you woodshed over these two chords. My favorite is playing the major and minor pentatonic over the B7 chord and the D major scale over the G maj7th chord while still hitting at the B pentatonic scales.

Learning to improvise can be a life long journey. The better you get a it the more fun it becomes and the more you’ll probably want to get better at it. Please contact us to come in for your $10 introductory music lesson from one of our great instructors or myself to learn further about improvisation and music education. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lesson, Ukulele lessons, vocal lessons as well as some orchestral instruments and more. 

Improvisation

Thank you for stopping by to learn about improvisation. Remember we offer a $10 introductory lesson at the Colorado School of Music. We teach a variety of instruments ranging from piano lessons, guitar lessons, vocal lessons, voice lessons, violin lessons, viola lessons, drum lessons, percussion lessons, ukulele lessons, trombone lessons, tuba lessons, euphonium and other orchestral instruments. We have students come from Denver, Lakewood, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Morrison, Littleton, Golden and Evergreen. Contact us to come and try a lesson. www.coloradoschoolofmusic.com info@coloradoschoolofmusic.com or 303-526-9865

The art of improvising is one of my favorite parts of being a musician. Improvisation can be defined as something that is improvised or created in the moment.  When I think of improvising with music, I think of being creative on the spot or at will. This means you are creating something spontaneous and it is for the most part not preconceived. If you have ever gone out to see some live jazz or blues music more than likely you have seen musicians improvise. There is a lot of preparation that goes into being able to improvise well. The more tools you have to improvise the better. When I say tools I’m referring to different scales, arpeggios, chords and phrasing ideas. The more comfortable you are with your different tools for improvising the more likely you will play things you like in a musical manner. 

There are different concepts to try to get yourself started on improvising music. The first concept is called call and answer. This is a way to create phasing. If we think about a telephone conversation, one person talks and then stops talking and waits for the other person to respond. This continues for the whole phone conversation. If I called a friend and say what are you up to, and they respond I’m practicing my guitar. The call is “what are you up to” and the answer is “practicing my guitar.” How this relates to music and improving is you would play a short musical phase and then stop that musical phrase and then play a second musical phrase to answer or compliment the first musical phrase. This does not have to be complicated to be effective.  You could play something as simple as the notes G to A back to G as your call and the answer could be the notes D E then G. There is a lot you can do with just these few notes. Remember how you attack a note and the dynamic of the notes can be very effective in the improvising process. Another common concept to improvising is repeating what you play. For example lets say you the notes D E and G and its phrased as a triplet. If you like how this sounds then do it again and then maybe again and even a fourth time. You might decide after the second or third repeat you may change just one note of the phrasing of the notes to give it a little bit variety. As mentioned before your dynamics are very useful when improving along with your different tools. It always a good Idea to listen to musicians that do this as a profession and borrow ideas you like from them. 

Learning to improvise can be a life long journey. The better you get a it the more fun it becomes and the more you’ll probably want to get better at it. Please contact us to come in for your $10 introductory music lesson from one of our great instructors or myself to learn further about improvisation and music education. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lesson, Ukulele lessons, vocal lessons as well as some orchestral instruments and more.