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The Music Stem / Courses / Improvisation

Study harmony, form and production

Improvisation

Improvise over a blues with guide tones, motifs, silence and rhythmic variety.

Before you start

Steady time on your instrument or voice and the dominant seventh chord. Swing Time and the Blues covers the blues form.

Start Improvisation
Listen to a study from the first lesson: Guide tones through a blues

The lessons

  1. Guide tones through a blues. Improvise by targeting the third and seventh of each chord in a blues. Open
  2. Short statements and silence. Say more with short phrases and the silence between them. Open
  3. Motivic memory. Bring back a motive and develop it as your solo unfolds. Open
  4. Enclosures and approached targets. Approach target notes from above and below. Open
  5. Rhythmic variation against steady time. Vary your rhythm while the time stays steady. Open
  6. Your recorded solo. Record a solo and compare it with other ways it could go. Open