Improvising over a Chord Sequence

Improvising over a chord sequence: that’s a bit vague isn’t it? Surely its the sixty-four thousand dollar question?

Well, there has to be a version somewhere of looking at this, so here is a demo of improvising over the tune “Swing 42”, by Django Reinhardt. The irony here is that M. Reinhardt couldn’t read or write his own language, let alone music or music theory. Many people have however analyzed his solos and chords, presenting them in a format for other musicians to study...

Swing 42 is a classic tune, using the often heard I - vi - ii - V sequence, but this tune goes to a new key (modulation) in the middle, using the same I - vi - ii - V, but there’s also the aspect of anticipating shifts of key, or indeed chords if they are not in the key.

Also here included in the demo is some tips on phrasing. The last thing you want to do is to go up and down scales in a performance - that’s for practice only really...

Enjoy and Share!

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[edzielinski]

Great. I really enjoy these short videos, jam packed with just the key pieces of info that you need to progress, and always entertaining too. 👍

[algarvemike]

Beautifully explained at a good pace that I could keep up with! Thank you.

[JohnLynagh]

Great stuff Dan. Your recent content is fantastic. I'm learning lots.

[iancivil]

Brilliant as always Dan. Just deserve more viewings?

[royor]

Nice phrasing Dan + some tasty tones from the Tele.. good overall advice.. 👍
As a guitarist, I find that singing a phrase first, helps me to play the notes that I wish to play.. keeps me from playing automatic patterns that I may already know.. sing/play it first.. analyze it later..

[simoneveronese]

Great work Dan. You say improvising is all about phrasing. I wonder what you think when improvise: Sentences? abstract messages? feelings? I feel so hard to think out of the notes, scales and chords...

[VoxRox]

Stravinsky is way out! As far as I am concerned, you can be as way out and weird as you want to be; as long as your rhythm and phrasing is strong.