Questions tagged [improvisation]
For question about spontaneous composing in real time, typically during performance.
318 questions
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How to not lose the feeling of the meter?
I’m learning how to improvise on the piano and I am running into trouble maintaining the “feel” of the meter as I improvise rhythm.
For example, if I play a drone note on the first beat of every two ...
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Is it better or even possible to use one syllable for vocal improv (scatting) or is there a benefit to using multiple syllables?
I really want to be able to focus on just the pitch instead of lyrics of changing syllables when I do vocal improv. I’ve noticed that certain rhythms do not seem to flow as smoothly with one syllable ...
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Improv over Tennessee Whiskey
I'm playing Tennessee Whiskey. So, the progression is A to Bm. I know there's some pentatonic involved, but should I stay in A pentatonic or should I be switching things up entirely when I go to the ...
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bVI -> I which mode do I treat the bVI
I'm analyzing "Lost in the Woods" from the "Frozen 2" soundtrack and some other similar quirks in progressions and I'm wondering how to treat different modal interchanges.
The Lost ...
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Knowing where you are at in a progression during Improvisation [duplicate]
I'm sure this has been asked a million times but I cant find it.
I have a hard time listening and playing at the same time. Knowing exactly which beat we are on so I can play to the chord changes. I'm ...
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Improvising if I don't hear anything in my "mind's ear"?
Ever since I recently discovered my total aphantasia, I've been really curious as to whether or not I can achieve musical success. Part of this, at least to me, is creating music. So far I've learned (...
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Can I Learn Ear Training Without the Ability to Audiate?
I asked a question a couple days ago along the lines of "can I become a pro musician if I can't audiate?", which was rightly met with some opposition. I appreciate the responses I got on ...
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How to play over add 11, 9 etc chords
How do u approach improvising. Over extended chords like c 11 chords eg. I ask because I struggle soloing over them on jazz tunes
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Singing improvisation when the band plays low
I tend to go to jams with other musicians and sing (improvise).
On such events musicians often play blues/rock on quite low-pitch scales, which is a difficult place for me being a mezzosoprane voice.
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Major chords on bass guitar
So I've been playing the bass for about a year and a half, I play most nights and play with friends as often as I can. Until now I have only played songs I can get tab for, and spend time learning it ...
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Is all this modal theory for guitarists truly necessary?
A common strategy to learning to improvise is to learn modes. On quite a few different guitar sites (source), I've found a strategy presented that goes like this:
Learn all the modes in a parent key....
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Improvisation and Jamming - the Similarities and Differences
I've been discussing with musos what similarities and differences there are between improvising and jamming. There seems to be a lot of vagueness here.
Some say that improvisation is one player making ...
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Why do i keep forgeting the sections while improvising?
I can do variations of my first section but when i go about developing: or i play the new section, but then i don't remember most of the first one; or keep repeting mentaling the first one while ...
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Help me to understand more interesting improv techniques [duplicate]
Question for all, doesn't have to be specific to jazz.
I love to improvise, and I'm definitely not new to it. This is something that I have been doing for many years.
I'm in a bit of a rut at the ...
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specifics on modal playing, or emphasizing an underlying chord
i've been reading a lot about modal playing, perhaps that which is derived from modal Jazz. the sources i've been reading & watching seem split about the notes/scale & which to emphasize.
some ...
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What Does Vertical and Horizontal Improvisation Mean?
In a question from around 8 years ago, one answer quoted jazz and rock/blues as using vertical and horizontal improvising, respectively. Never heard those terms. What are they representing?
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What does it mean to play "behind" or "in front" of a root scale note [closed]
I've been playing bass for a couple of years now, learning mostly from tabs. Now I've turned to actually trying to learn more than robotically copying bass lines without understanding them. I've ...
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How do i solo with both scale and chords? [closed]
I know how to play pentatonic, major and minor scale.
The question in solo i have chord progression like: C G Am F.
Then i play C major scale, i could play are C major chord in all shapes.
But how ...
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Jazz Piano: Progressing to hand independence
I can improvise relatively freely over standards when using a moderate variety of voicings in the left hand.
I can improvise basslines reasonably well over right hand voicings.
Given I'm a ...
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Why is a soloist using an E major triad over a G major 7 chord?
I've just transcribed the trumpet solo in the following recording:
http://www.sierramusicmp3.com/mp3/newmp3s/Heat%20of%20the%20Day,%20The%20(UNT).mp3
At around 5:20 the soloist plays an E major triad ...
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How to compose for 5 notes/two octaves
I am playing a ngoni, a 10 string gourd harp. I have been happily playing various traditional African songs, but I want to progress to writing/improvisation. It seems like with the traditional setups (...
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Does practicing set pieces on the piano lead to the ability to improvise or play accompaniment?
I am thinking of somebody whose entire musical training consists of playing from sheet music. He goes though all Bach, Beethoven, etc. and eventually becomes good enough for Carnegie Hall. He is ...
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How do you play these parts?
I don't know much about music theory but this part seems to require you to improvise or something (1st & 2nd link) , if so how do you learn to improvise something like this, where to start and ...
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Playing Am pentatonic scale over A blues chord progression
I had a guitar entrance exam yesterday regarding improvisation. The guy put on a A blues backing track and told me to improvise.
As I'm not a blues guy myself, I went and improvised on the A major ...
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What do you have to do to sound like you're improvising when you're actually reading from sheet music?
There are several reasons I often can't think fast enough to improvise a trumpet solo live over an unfamiliar set of chord changes, things like:
if there are upper extensions on the chord (e.g. #9, ...
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Composing romantic pieces
I am a fan of the organist Wolfgang Seifen. Recently, he played a piece which fascinated me: An arabesque in the style of German romanticism. (Hear it)
Being myself interested in improvisation, I did ...
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Is Gould playing extra notes in Bach's Toccata in C Minor, and if so, why?
In Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's Toccata in C Minor, it sounds like he modifies the melody in the the right hand to add two extra notes
You can hear it here.
Is this just a Gould improvisation, ...
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To add chords to a song, is playing the chord that carries the melody equivalent to playing the melodic note as note 1, 3 or 5 of the chord?
When I was learning how to play songs on piano by ear, I didn't know how to add chords to a song melody. What I found on videos and on the Web was that you select a chord that carries the melodic ...
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What applications did distant modulations typically have in the 18th century?
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, in his treatise on thoroughbass (p. 60 of this edition), gives a neat little table of modulations from C Major into many other keys.
Some of these keys, such as B Major, ...
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Is it practical to be able to quickly jump to another octave in another position while still remaining in key, without having to do much thought?
This question is going to seem weird, so I will do my best to describe the problem. Are musicians able to jump to any arbitrary note without giving it much thought and not go out of key?
Assume for ...
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When realizing a basso continuo, should the realization avoid consecutive fifths and octaves with the written parts?
Many continuo manuals (both historical sources and modern treatises) are careful to point out that a continuo realization should be contrapuntally correct, i.e., one ought to avoid parallel fifths and ...
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What to do with my left hand when jamming with other musicians?
So I'm an intermediate-ish keyboard player who's been playing very irregularly for the past three years, all self taught. I have recently started taking it more seriously and found a group of people I ...
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What does one need to know to learn to improvise with other musicians?
I came across the following video on YouTube in which two random people play the same piano together and to me it sounds really amazing. It's something that I couldn't do myself if someone started ...
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Who was the first to teach jazz improvisation with an approach that matches scales to chords?
I'm reading George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept right now, and I'm trying to better understand its place (and his) in the history of jazz theory. Was he the first to posit this improvisational ...
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How do I learn to improvise outside of the jazz realm?
I'm a classically trained pianist and I've spent a lot of time in the last year or two really learning the blues. I've worked through some of my favorite pieces and it's safe to say I can now rip a 12 ...
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To what extent is music mentally internalized with respect to the original key it was learned in?
This question was prompted by two phenomena I've encountered as a 24yo self-taught jazz musician of 2 years who is committed to playing entirely by ear.
A large fraction of people, myself included, ...
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Usage of Melodic Minor instead of Harmonic Minor on Secondary Dominant
Recently I watched this video which discusses secondary dominants and specifically for the case of A II - V - I in the key of C.
They play a secondary dominant for the II chord, so they are playing an ...
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How to play outside over a major 7 chord?
What are some (fusion-like) options to temporarily play outside over a major 7 chord? E.g. if I improvise over Am7 - Fmaj7 in A aeolian, what are some options to escape F lydian or such and sound ...
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How do I learn jazz on piano? [duplicate]
I am very interested in learning piano but more specifically jazz. I really like the way people can just improvise. I know that I would not be easy but I would like to know what the best book or ...
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Improvising with modes and over "advanced" chords
Say I'm playing along to a jam track in C major. From my understanding, this means that C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian etc. would work.
My question is: How do I bring out the flavor/characteristic of ...
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Is there a miniature handheld/lap acoustic piano? (not electronic) [closed]
So as I understand it a piano works by the keys pulling strings that make hammers ring bells based on how hard you hit them. I would guess that would be quite a sophisticated instrument. I myself have ...
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How to identify notes in a key that sound better while improvising?
I learned all the chords and their inversions. I'm pretty slow with inversions yet but I'm trying as hard as I can!
Now I started to improvise with my right hand a little bit (omg this is so fun!). So ...
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Improvising: can't play what I hear (internally)
When I play jazz/pop, I struggle to get the musical thoughts I "hear" in my head out onto my instrument. I can tell that what I've played isn't what I wanted to play, but I don't know how to ...
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Improvising Chord Progressions
Usually when playing along with jazz standards we check out the changes before we start, the changes define the song.
I was wondering if it is possible to not have a predetermined set of changes ...
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What is the full form of cont. RH solo and its meaning?
Sorry for my naivety, this is my first time posting here.
Does cont. stand for contrary motion for the right hand wrt to the left hand??
I'm playing a song and there's this improvisation for an ...
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Modes — C Lydian feels like G Ionian [duplicate]
I've been studying modes recently and since I have a piano, tried to experiment with them by improvising simple tunes.
My problem is that as soon as I use something else that Ionian, my perception of ...
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How do you develop the ability to express yourself via your instrument (e.g. guitar for my case) [duplicate]
I understand this question may be very broad and the answer may be very complex or allusive in nature. I hope I can get a little guidance from true musicians like you.
Last night I watched Ralph ...
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How to find scales to improvise with for "How Insensitive" by Jobim
I am pretty new to improvisation. So far I have improvised over a 2 5 1 change using the diatonic 7th chords and the underlying scale tones that fit in with that chord. I am playing on a guitar.
As a ...
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How to break out of playing scales up and down when improvising
I play piano, and when I am playing a gospel or a blues song, I always improvise with my right hand. I have been practicing major scales and pentatonic scales for a while now, and when I play, i ...
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what do IV or a I or a III with a 3 or 5 above it mean?
I am a professional organist who has been self -teaching improvisation from an organ improvisation textbook by Marcel Dupre, titled "Complete Course in Organ Improvisation, volume 1."
At ...
