Improvising I spend a lot of time on the guitar. Half of that time is spent playing solo acoustic or classical guitar. The other half is devoted to the art of improvising and composition. The following article will focus on improvising. I don’t know how many times in my life my guitar playing has sounded like an elevator accident. I’ve played so many horrible things that I consider myself an expert on the subject. But by listening to, and learning from other musicians, I’ve become much less of an embarrassment to my creative efforts. I’ve spent years trying to figure out what I want to say in my improvising stylistically and how much information I should impart on the listener with my playing. I constantly try to be aware of how much of a message I am giving the listener while I’m playing. I keep in mind what Miles Davis said: "it's not what you play, it's what you don't play" that can make a solo great. Suggestions Sing what you play. Taking Miles' advice it’s better to play what you hear than try to play just anything to fill the space. So if you don’t hear it — don’t play it. We all have music in our minds and in our hearts, no matter what level of player we are. We can also think of tunes and hum melodies in our heads even if we cannot form those notes with our mouths by singing or humming. You should try singing your musical thoughts to yourself as you play and see how many new ideas come to you as you do so. By following your own ideas, you will forget about scales and patterns learned parrot fashion, and your fingers will start finding the melodies your own mind is creating, not ones that came from a book or were entirely invented by someone else. It doesn't take much time to associate the notes on the fretboard with the notes in your mind, and as time passes you will become better at this technique and your 'ears' will improve measurably. However, this doesn't mean that you won't need to have some understanding of chord/scale relationships to create a cohesive improvisation. Like a prepared speech, knowing what you want to say and speaking through your instrument about what you feel at the moment are different things. One might be called a solo, the other improvising. I believe many solos are more of a structured musical statement that sounds like improvising. Improvising, on the other hand, involves some level of spontaneity reducing the probability of being redundant or playing unemotionally. Still, I'm aware the terms "solo" and "improvising" can be a matter of semantics since there are many concepts that bridge the two. Let's start with some. PhrasingOne of the most essential parts of playing a great solo is the phrasing involved. A phrase is simply a musical idea. Pat Metheny, Jimi Hendrix, Bill Evans (the pianist), Eric Johnson, Wayne Shorter, Eberhard Weber and Miles Davis are just a few examples of players who have a masterful command of phrasing. Much like a phrase or sentence in the spoken language, a musical phrase thrives on what comes next. For instance, if you begin a conversation about a movie one can usually bet that the following comments made will be regarding whether the movie was good or bad and how it affected you. In your stream of thoughts, you try to order your ideas to describe to the other person a list of things you felt about the movie. The phrases you are making are centered on the topic of the movie. But how many conversations have you been involved in where the person you are talking to completely changes the subject? It may even be your fault. Still it’s pretty annoying, eh? If the topic changes that area of your discussion dies. Similarly, in music, we seek to have a conversation with both the audience and the other players. Try your best to listen and not to annoy either. Keep your phrases tied together in some form of a story. Build your ideas thematically and take the listener on a focused musical conversation. Changing unconnected ideas constantly drastically affects the quality of your phrasing and your relationship with the listener. Another idea is to quote phrases from other musical works and place them in your solos to add interest to your playing. The “taken” quotes don’t have to sound like the original. For my taste, I prefer they don’t. As an example, I might be playing over a simple blues tune and I’ll think of the theme from the movie “The Godfather.” The phrasing of that theme is slow and hauntingly moody. With that theme in mind, I’ll put it in a blues context during my solo. The result: no one listening hears the theme to “The Godfather.” Instead, they hear a slow moving phrase that seems interesting in a blues context. It works because I am still playing the theme in a blues model and staying true to the conversation. Phrasing mainly consists of three parts: rhythm, contour, and note choice. The note choices can be singular as well as chords or intervals. Note choice could come under the heading "harmony/melody." Let’s take a look at those areas. RhythmRhythm has to do with the length and placement of notes in relation to one another. Take a string of notes as an inchoate melody line, and you can play those notes in different rhythms, some longer than others, some farther apart or closer together. Furthering this concept, think about how the Beatles' "Day Tripper" would sound if you made the first and sixth notes half as long and then extended the remaining notes to match the meter. You can phrase that simple melody endless ways rhythmically. Rhythm is an obvious, but extremely important element. An interesting rhythm can make only a few notes sound fascinating. Listen to the rhythms that are being played rather than the note choices. Often times a note choice is reflected upon the rhythm being played. ContourThe contour is the direction (up or down) in which the phrase is moving. It is necessary to vary this for a variety of reasons. After playing the same position for a while it creates interest when a player suddenly goes from a low note to a much higher one. Varying these two points creates a nice variance, a sort of attitude and travel to your phrase. However, be aware that contour improvising without thematic connections can sound like a train wreck. Try to blend and match your ideas thematically so the contour of the phrasing makes musical sense. For example, if you been playing a repeated idea and you take it down an octave and altered it slightly the result should be a thematic contour to your playing. Check out jazz guitarists Pat Metheny and Pat Martino to hear two masters of contour improvising. Note Choice-Harmony /MelodyAll good improvisers strive to find the perfect notes. Many improvisers, myself included, look to the concept known as "outside" playing. ("Outside" playing can generally be defined as "playing over changes (or a chord) that avoids using the normal or diatonic scales, or has no relationship to the harmony.") If one incorporates the other areas of phrasing well, note choice will come with a lot of practice. Obviously, one must have a good theoretical knowledge in order to execute this successfully. Also, much patience must be exercised in knowing when to play outside. Robin Ford is an example of a player who can tastefully add “outside” notes to a simple blues tune and make the piece sound totally fresh. Harmony has to do with what most people call chords, the grouping of notes played simultaneously. If melody defines the singable line that lingers in your head, chords and harmony invest the notes of that melody and support a certain mood and texture. Jazz musicians love to take familiar melodies and reharmonize them. For example, pianists Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans can completely alter an otherwise familiar melody by changing the chordal structures. Many jazz guitarists think of harmonic chord shapes when they are soloing to help them identify the chord tones needed to give the solo the melodic content needed. This technique is built on the foundations of learning set patterns. This way of approaching solos is especially useful if the chord progression is unfamiliar or awkward. Using chord shapes can also improve the contour and voice leading of your phrasing. Guitarists, along with pianists and other string players, are fortunate to play an instrument where they can express ideas harmonically (intervals and chords). All guitarists should make creative use of this ability in their improvising. As an exercise, try improvising using only intervals. It will increase your fretboard knowledge, make you listen differently, and along the way you'll discover new things to play. Listen to Wes Montgomery to hear some beautiful intervallic and chordal improvising. Emotional vs. Theoretical Improvising You really have to deal with the process of improvisation two ways: emotionally and theoretically. Obviously, some aspect of technical skill comes into play in both these areas. The improviser has to have an immediate command of the above tools as well as some connection with the emotional side of how they play. Emotional power is the heart that fuels improvising. Ultimately, emotional playing has little to do with structures or forms. Emotional power you will hear on your own. Still, some understanding of the process improvising musicians go through will elucidate you on how they combine their emotions with technical and theoretical knowledge. Likewise, emotional playing without a strong set of tools to fall back on usually results in a solo that sounds like Oprah out of breath on a treadmill. Few accomplished musicians improvise without "trademark" compositional elements. Think of your favorite players and you'll hear them play variations of ideas (i.e. improvisational compositions) from their other solos. All great improvisers imitate themselves and have a strong set of stylistic tools in their musical vocabulary. Keep this in mind when you are designing your own improvisational tools and forms. In a nutshell, with any kind of music, the more you listen, the more you'll understand, the more you'll be drawn in, and the more richly you will hear and play. I also suggest you:
A great way of maintaining your fretboard knowledge is to put yourself through a simple exercise at regular intervals for short periods of time. By limiting the time you have to concentrate on any one thing, your memory will work more efficiently. In short, little — but often — is much better than once for a long period of time. Try and spend at least 15 minutes a day listening to the sounds you are producing from your guitar. Play slowly and listen carefully to each note, chord, and interval. Pay attention to your phrasing. Do not have any other distractions around (like a screaming significant other) when you are performing this exercise. Listen to what you sound like. Do you hear live what you hear in your head? If not, keep working towards that goal. In this regard, recording yourself regularly is paramount to success. For exploring new ideas, tune your guitar in an unconventional tuning. I use a variety of different tunings to help me discover new ideas. In particular, I've been writing and improvising in a "C,G,D,G,C,E" tuning for the last ten years and it has helped me to hear and play things that I other wise would have missed. Another good exercise, is to play improvised ideas thinking of a person or place that is important to you. If you are thinking of a person, try and think about what they might like to hear...or what you might want to express to them. If you're thinking of place, describe it musically: Is it a city? Near the ocean? In the woods? I improvise a lot using this technique and have found it very rewarding. Lastly, put your guitar down sometimes and get away from music. Read an inspiring book, see a great movie, spend some time with a friend, take a day trip, or learn about something you've never had an interest in before. I've met so many musicians who know little about life except music. Music is more than just playing — it's about everything you take in and experience and then put back into your art. Remember, when you improvise put your whole being into expressing something that is inherently you. You owe this to your audience and more importantly…to yourself.
Return to the main guitar page or use the link below to read my article on improvising. parts used by permission ©2000 NE improvising musician-Steve Albrecht |