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.

105 replies

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    • Mark_Cooper
    • Yesterday
    • Reported - view

    Hi all

    apologies for the slightly long winded video…

    my take on the D minor 2-5-1 

    note correction: when I mention the 6 chord B Flat , it should be major 7th ( not dominant)

    another correction , when I mention the locrian mode , it should be E locrian (not F, but the notes could be understood as being taken from the F major scale )

    I noodle a little on the progression as well as on two lovely tunes , beautiful love and summertime 

    For those interested I’ll recommend two recordings of these tunes 

    beautiful love - from power of three ( this is one of my all time favourite jazz albums) featuring michel petrucciani and Jim Hall live at the montreaux Jazz festival 

    summertime - check out Oscar Peterson from the porgy and Bess album 

     

    D minor 

    2-5-1

     

    https://youtu.be/uh6kkCZdCvk?si=YpjJXqJVUVie4ckf

      • Mark_Cooper
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       thank you Ken !

      this project we are undertaking is proving to be challenging but interesting and enlightening too. 

      I have never  considered myself as a ‘scale’ person , often using imitation to develop patterns or phrases . If you listen to some of my suggested recordings you will hear that I’ve directly ‘stolen’ various lines . But having started this process , I can see that knowing the scales is a necessary evil. 
      Ideally , I need to develop my own language, and as I think you alluded to in a previous video , work on ´motific development’ which at the moment I’m not really addressing at all .

      btw,  I agree wholeheartedly with your teacher about keeping things simple !!

      Ken , I look forward to your contribution….
       

    • Ken_Radford
    • 20 hrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Here are my thoughts on learning how to create motifs with “improvising by numbers”. Comments, questions, and corrections welcomed.

    When I say that we have to know our scales, specifically for the Major II-V-I-VI, minor ii-v-i I am referring to the major, Jazz Melodic Minor (JMM), diminished, and whole tone (WT) scales. That’s a total of 29 scales to learn. Of course there are many other scales - major and minor pentatonic, blues, bebop and others - and maybe after our journey around the circle of fifths we can embark on a similar adventure using these other scales.

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 13 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       

      Hi Ken

      great discussion. Interestingly the scales you use are essentially identical to mine but I just call them differently. The g ascending melodic minor you use for the ii chord is the same as the E locrian sharp2 mode. The ascending B flat melodic minor for chord V , is the same as A altered dominant scale except it starts on A instead of Bflat. Personally I prefer calling it  the altered scale because you can clearly identify the altered notes in the scale which can be used selectively. 

      the numbering system is interesting , I’ll try using it , I suppose one can create a nice short motif first , then work out the numbers to use subsequently 

       

      onwards to B flat major …..!!

      • Ken_Radford
      • 3 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Hi Mark,

      A rose by any other name… I may have mentioned that I like to keep things simple and there is a rather interesting pattern that appears with the JMM scales as we go round the circle of fifths that helps me to remember where I am and where I’m going. 

      I am all for modes, and I have some exercises that I do with my separate “modal Jazz” head on. More things to explore!

      I agree that we can number the notes after we have created a nice motif, and I do this when I am at the keyboard. I also like to do it as a mental exercise when I am away from the keyboard. 

      Bring on Bb Major and G minor!
       

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 3 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       mental practice, excellent idea , I’m trying to develop this skill with my classical pieces , but definitely applicable here too …..

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