Answering - “What Do You Think About When You Improvise?”

When we take a solo, where do our brains go? Are we strictly feeling what's about to come out, or are we calculating every move as we go? Discussing time feel, scale-based ideas, self-imposed limits, melodic skips and sequencing, I walk you through my own thought process to try and get to the bottom of this question, using "Just The Two Of Us" as for chord changes.

[tiablasangoriti]

I've loved listening to and singing music
that utilized Jazz Chords since the late
70s. My Birth Mom played
Earth Wind and Fire Luther Vandros and Anita Baker almost daily. All I knew in my preteens was that something in the harmonies was intriguing and irresistible. After studying a bit of
Jazz music theory, I learned that it was
the 9s, #11s and Sus13s that made the harmonies delicious.

[carialam]

Fantastic video I’ve been watching it for years 🥰

[tiablasangoriti]

Aimee your videos are very insightful. Thank you for making them. I also love that your children are named after
Jazz Greats of the past. BRAVO! 😍

[LukeSkywalker-X]

This is VERY helpful. I've been taking jazz trumpet lessons with a very good teacher but watching this video has really helped me set a mindset for improvisation

[dfaria]

Fascinating video. Loved your attitude and style. You are truly a great musician. Thank you!!

[Victor]

I LOVE your videos. You are so productive utilizing your time in the car or even wait time for an oil change making videos. Thanks for making them.

[danielceline]

that was KILLER ! i think i'll ear this phrase over this type of chords for all my life now!

[nellyd]

10:17 gave me life!!!!
Thank you so much!

[saxed]

I teach improvisation to high school students just getting started and tend to lose them early on with too much theory talk. Most of them just don't come to me with enough knowledge of even the basic 1, 3, 5, 7 chord tones and don't seem to want to take the time to learn them. I always feel that if I can get them to have some success first and get that fire started maybe they will be motivated to put the time in to learn more so they can DO more. I tell them the value of scat singing without really worrying about real scat syllables...heck even if they just hum at first. Anything to start exercising the ear. When in a lesson I do a lot of call and response...short half -measure to measure long rhythms first on just tonic, then tonic and the two, the first 3 notes, etc. I also like what you limited yourself to in this video, the 7 and 1. Your lines are really good and the advice about pocket focus is EXCELLENT! I get some kids that come in with a bit of technique and understanding of basic chord tones but no discipline to create a simple line and line it up with the beat. I am going to have them watch your video! (I also need to take that advice more often). Thanks for taking the time to do what you do! I'm going to catch some more of your videos!

[svensvensson]

I just love your sing solo videos. I have never encountered someone in real life that "sing solo". U are my only scatt pall. This is what music is all about. I just have a feeling that this is how McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon (just to mention a few) sat when they created their songs.

[aleksstarostka]

After years, I never knew you could change the instruments in iReal flat, Thanks Aimee! Great information here, apps and music alike

[RM-gmlu]

Came across your videos and I think they are so good. Thanks for making them..We are your audience!

[robertmayhew]

Thank you so much Aimee for this very interesting of suggestions in improvising. Soooo excellent 🤗

[PabloVestory]

When i saw the 21 minutes with 42 secs count, at first i thought mm maybe this is gonna be a bit too long... Now i'm certain that i could be listen to your scat lines and your insights Aimee for many hours without stop. Thank you very much for sharing your outstanding fresh honest and really inspiring work

[jacquelinewinter]

Just what I'm looking to find! Enjoying your teaching! Thanx

[edward]

20:45 The Lick! Haha, I learned the lick from your jazz phrases video. I'm an amatuer guitar player just learning jazz recently, and find your videos incredibly enlightening! you have great articulation and pocket!

[SteveGouldinSpain]

Wardrobe and lighting effects my foot - you were hiding the UFO in the sky outside your window! Keep watching the skies! Great lesson BTW - thanks for posting!

[jimmrvos]

Thanks for the terrific insight into your thought process.

When you are preparing a song for a performance, do you plan ahead of time how you are going to approach the solo or does it all happen on the spot for you?

[jdlrockford]

Aww, man! Were you living in your car at this point? Such is the life of a musician!

I came from blues-based-rock, but I learned a lot of theory from a high school harmony class (theory—not vocal) and this great little book that expounded on jazz and popular harmony. I am throwing myself into piano, about to turn 64, and I can state with some assurance that my mind is pretty much a blank when I am playing my best improvisations...I think. Don't we do all the thinking during practise, and throw caution to the wind when playing live? Or, I think some people have set solos that were worked out beforehand. And, when things aren't quite as flowing, you just sorta think scales and avoiding the not-so-good notes, or sliding the not-so-good note that you accidentally landed on up-or-down a half-step to get out of trouble...or shoot the bass player a dirty look. When soloing, it's cruise-control, autopilot, the payoff to practise, and checking out all of the naked people in the audience.

[lukavabin]

Hey. I don't understand how someone's able to hear a melody inside his head and know what notes that melody is made of. How do you learn it ?