Anyone like to improvise?

Hi. I have always had a desire to be able to sit at the piano and just play - without knowing what I will play. It seems to be a daunting task, but since I found a great teacher who was classically trained before becoming a professional jazz pianist, I have made some progress. When I don’t feel like practicing I sit at the piano and play a simple chord sequence - for example Fm7, Bbm7, Cm7, Fm7 - and find notes and phrases that sound good to me.

 

Does anyone else improvise or plan to learn how to? It would be good to share ideas.

57 replies

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    • Vicki_R
    • 9 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Thank you both for your input.  Will look into those recordings, and perhaps one day, find a teacher.  I've  been doing much online study of jazz theory, but to attempt creating any 'beautiful' solos, there is a huge knowledge gap so far.  Have been enjoying your posts.  Thank you both! :-) 

      • Ken_Radford
      • 9 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Vicki. I enjoyed time with my 8 year old grandson in my studio today. He has no theoretical knowledge, but he played a piano line that resonated and persisted in my brain for hours. Could this be the true value of music?

       

      • Vicki_R
      • 8 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I should hire him instead of studying theories ! :-)

    • Unfrozen Barroom Piano Player
    • Peter_G
    • 8 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello everyone, just wanted to say that there are some very interesting things going on here!  I'll be back with a few more posts of my own when I next get a chance to record something.  (right now I'm cramming for the "Unfinished Business" challenge and it's monopolizing my piano time, but this topic and thread remains dear to my heart so I'll have some more posts soon!)  In the meantime, Keep Jamming everyone!

    • Ken_Radford
    • 8 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is my take on a ii-v-i progression in A minor. I am treating the first chord Bm7b5 as chord 6 of the D JMM scale, the second chord E+7#9 (or b9) as chord 7 of F JMM, and the third chord Am6 as chord 1 of A JMM.

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 8 days ago
      • Reported - view

       great job Ken! I can see that we are basically on the same page , I’m excited to press on with our project …

      • Ken_Radford
      • 8 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks Mark. Bring on the F and d!

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