Day 2 - Basic Improvisation Tricks

 

Melody Based Improvisation

Whether you are Charlie Parker or a beginning player, stating the melody is not only welcomed, its almost a requirement. You must remember that when you are playing a song, the melody is the thing that glues all of the changes together. More importantly, the melody is the thing that the listeners can relate to and feel. The most basic form of improvisation should always be based around the melody. The funny thing about being a tuba player is sometimes the bar is set so low for us in terms of expectations, if you can play a jolly version of the melody people will often love it.

Continuing further than that, even if you can burn through the changes of a song at ease, the melody STILL exists and needs to be referenced or noted in some way from a rhythmic or melodic standpoint. A great way to use the melody is by ending your solo with it. This is an obvious way of signifying to the other players that you are done blowing and its time for the next thing to happen.

Transcribing

If you ask any skilled jazz musician how to get better at improvisation one of the things you will usually hear is to start transcribing. The reason this is the case is because you want to ultimately further your vocabulary just like you would learn phrases in another language. As a young musician, you usually do not have a large vocabulary and learning what other musicians have played over time helps to improve that. It is important to know that you are not necessarily trying to transcribe so when you are on a gig you will play that exact line. That often doesn’t work well or feel natural because you often have your own thing you want to say. The goal is to see what the other players played over a set of chord changes. There is so much that can be learned through that process.

Tips

Here are a handful of tips to help you get started

  • Sing it first, learn the solo and be able to sing it by ear. If you can sing it first, playing becomes much easier. Even if you are missing notes, you still have the feel down.

  • You don’t have to transcribe the entire solo.

  • There are written transcriptions available. Even though you get probably the most value doing it by ear, there is still a lot you can learn from studying a written transcription.

  • Use the tools and technology available to you.

  • Some old recordings are out of tune. It’s okay, move that tuning slide and fit in.

  • Compare the solo line against the chord changes. This is where the REAL magic happens!

  • Don’t just learn the notes, learn the feel as well.

  • Transcribe material from other instruments. If you only transcribe tuba solos, your repertoire will be extremely limited. Vocalists are also GREAT to transcribe.

  • Don’t beat yourself up, this takes time and patience.

  • The more you do, the better you get at this. Think of the longer term goals vs. short term feel good.

Comping

Another absolutely great tool to work on with songs is by comping on another instrument (piano specifically). The act of simply by learning the chords of a song and playing them on the piano will greatly build on your harmonic knowledge and translate into your playing on your horn. This is why for most music degrees, there is some type of piano proficiency test that you must pass. Educators understand how powerful this tool is to any musician. Don’t be afraid to invest time into the piano. It may even feel at times like your tuba playing is taking a back seat to it and thats okay. I PROMISE you that it will come back around and help you in the future.

Arpeggio Studies

Root Position Arpeggios

Here is an example of what we talked about in the video. The song below is the standard “All of Me.” All we are essentially doing is outlining the chord changes. Note that this is the same concept as building a bass line, the only difference is that you are playing it within an 8th note grid as opposed to a quarter note grid. This method helps us learn the changes to the song but just like the bass line exercise, if we keep to the pattern of 1,3,5,7 all of our lines will have the same enclosure shape. Ultimately, this is just an exercise. I wouldn’t show up to a gig just playing the changes like this for a solo but this is a great way to help you understand the harmonic structure.

 

Voice Leading Arpeggios

Let’s take a look at the same song “All of Me” and think about it in a more linear fashion. Instead of always starting on the root for each change, try starting on the next available chord tone. In this exercise, we will start ascending and then alternate with descending lines. Again, we are always looking for that next available chord tone to work with. If the chord tone repeats for multiple measures, keep alternating the direction regardless. Note, if the next available chord tone takes you in an uncomfortable range, you can adjust accordingly.

all of me sample voiceleading arpeggios.png
 

Stay in the Grid

A great tip I tell all of my early improvising students is to practice keeping your lines within an 8th note grid. What young players trip up on is their own sense of rhythm and often play things that are not idiomatically correct for the style of music they are playing. An easy way to sound coherent is by staying within an 8th note grid. Keep yourself confined within this structure until it almost beings to be easy and simple. Focus on feel and style and let the notes you play outline the changes. If you can master this, then you can begin to take out notes, deconstruct your solo and add hints of melody and other enclosures and elements.

Example:

Below you will find the first 4 bars of the standard “There Will Never Be Another You.” The song is in Eb Major and the changes are as follows.

another you 8th note grid.png
 

If we were to play constant 8th notes over the changes, here is one example of how that would look.

another you 8th note grid1.png
 

Get Out of the Practice Room

Ultimately the best piece of advise I can give you is to get yourself out of the practice room. The biggest growth often happens on the band stand and the reflection afterwards. Music is a language and if you just speak it to yourself you won’t know if you are saying the right thing or not. Go out, sit in, observe. Find a jazz jam session and start to frequent these sessions. Don’t sit it right away. Watch and learn first and then get yourself in there once you understand what the vibe is. Music is a practice just like medicine. Your best route to quick success is getting yourself out there. This could also mean disappointment at times but thats the grit that makes you stronger. That grit forces you to learn the things that you need to learn.

Good luck!