5 Things I Wish I Knew When Learning to Improvise

MY SOLOING COURSES:

MY PIANO COURSES

FOLLOW ME:
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0:00 Lesson 1 - Pitches Do Not Matter
2:14 Lesson 2 - Ear Before Theory
5:29 Lesson 3 - Time to Be Responsible
8:24 Lesson 4 - Spontaneous Composition
11:02 Lesson 5 - Express, Don't Impress

[piktormusic]

Number 3: I swear that some drummers seemed to play like they were my enemy testing my grasp of this skill. While agree with you admonition that the time is every individual’s responsibility, I would also say that I try never to work with anyone who needs to “prove” that they can play polyrhythms, etc so tricky that they can make someone else look bad on a gig. I have always tried to consider the audience, the band leader and whatever limitations or gifts the other players have in order to make music sound as good as we can make it, no matter what the context or style is.

Good video Jeff. Thank you.

[SydMaven]

I learned guitar playing with experienced friends (folk/country/reggae). Their sage words (echoed here) were, Stop rushing to meet challenges. Play a simple piece and play it well, then move on.
Never forgot that.

[ziphomokoena]

God bless Jeff Schneider. I mean that sincerely.

I didn't grow up in a musical family...never had formal music training, a teacher, or a mentor. All I had was the internet and a passion for music.

And I'm so glad I stumbled onto this channel; I've been following it for years, trying to hone whatever talent I had.

Thanks to Jeff, I went from rotely learning and playing songs from YouTube tutorials to creating my own. I improved my ear through ear training and singing, learned music theory, and figured out how to harmonize and improvise.

I spent years playing music by myself in my room. Now, I'm part of a band and experience the joy of playing and making music with others (so much better than riding solo).

I thought it was too late for me to start learning music at age 18, but Jeff helped me grow in ways that made me think otherwise.

Honestly, Jeff, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. Thank you for helping me make the most of this love and talent for music. If this were a paper letter, it would be stained with tears of gratitude and joy. You are a godsend.

Sincerely,
Zipho, South Africa

[Chesterton]

This is some of the best advice on improvising I've heard. Yes, oddly there is little thinking involved, but lots of boldness purposely creating mistakes, then repeating the ones that sound cool. Thanks, Jeff!

[toddbrown]

yes, yes, and yes.. excellent. thank you. inside of all of this (what comes to mind for me) is that your advice points towards the deep and intimate, and ironically simple, path of finding one's voice. the irony is that each of us actually have (when we speak) a distinct and original voice. That's how our friends identify us easily when they can't see us! yet, we get all mixed up when we try to be someone or do something "special" . Jeff, I really love the insight (wisdom) here. It may sound corny, but the deep path of music is truly a mystic path, which doesn't require paying music. To sink (sync?) into being present in oneself, with all the perceived imperfections and then allow yourself to speak in a way that is the particular tone and cadence that life birthed in you. It's your already, even before you study. It was yours at age 5. And yes, music theory (this is what i'm now trying to catch up on)... seemingly essential or unavoidable (though this is not true across different cultures), it is more easily explained. Perhaps it's like our skeleton, helping to hold us up (and we're amoebas without it), but it is not the "life force" that makes a life come together. It is so easy to feel insufficient, as a musician/artist, not good enough... because we compare so much. We overlook the most obvious gift, which is that no other soul has our particular voice (again, just consider the speaking voice). We all know there are famous singers that, if you really consider, don't have great voices. But we love them because it is "their" voice, like no other. And it is because they have somehow allowed themselves (their life force) to shine through it, to be free. And i think this is what we feel, a sense of total freedom to be. And if we feel this, it doesn't matter what the voice sounds like. Like playing the wrong notes that are out of key, as in your video. It is the intersection of the rhythm, the phrasing, the cadence, the tone (embodying a particular way of being in the world), that we respond to... and all of this is ultimately coming out of, arising out of, a person trying to be no one else but him or herself, and not even trying to be that.. rather its just pure being, at least for a moment, some minutes if lucky. I think i first began to understand this in my early twenties when a Coltrane song came on the radio and, with just three notes, I knew it was him. Like how we recognize a voice recording of a friend with the first hello. Any other competent musician could play those same notes, intending the same effect, but it wouldn't be the same. Ok, please excuse this long sermon! ha ha. But the moral of the story is that the uniqueness of each of us, what would be our "stamp" (as an artist), is actually already present, even before we develop a practice. But no one tells us this, and so we fail to trust it... and sometimes it can take 20-30 years to discover it, only to realize it was right under our nose the whole time. It makes me think of a Miles Davis quote, something to the effect of, "Sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself.".

[TheElectricfishmusic]

I love the clarity of your second point. I've been frustrated many times with musician putting theory before ear.

[johndownes]

The Autumn Leaves example had me singing the theme from MASH to the chord progression. I had never made that connection before. Thanks for all your lesson points. Great stuff!

[squirelova]

I've been touting this excu...er, Logic for years and NOW, finally I will be Vindicated! I am Handi- Capable.

[LorneOstrov-gmtq]

Thanks Jeff. Love the way you teach. I’ve been playing piano for 60 years, but I suck at phrasing and syncopation. I think, mire than feel.

[johnmackenzie]

This is all excellent advice. Worth every second listening to it.

[robertshuruncle]

very nice approach and you explained it beautifully. When I was learning to improvise I had the great advantage of studying with Don Cherry (I'm 73). I switched from guitar to cornet and the first thing I learned was that when learning a new song, especially something complex and rather tricky like an Ornette Coleman composition, the most important thing to get was the flow and especially the attack of the notes and the breathing. I would play along to a recording completely ignoring the pitches of the notes I was playing while working on the attack of the note and the flow of the phrases. After getting that aspect settled and comfortable, getting the notes right even without having it written out became pretty easy.

[AnthonyCollierMusic]

Numbers 1 & 5 were the biggest realizations for me and I wish I knew them 14 years ago lol. But great topic Jeff!

[russellalfonso]

Rhythm, phrasing, articulation and dynamics, feel and groove

[jpsilverplaylists]

Yeah man, I like how you explained that, its the first video of yours I've seen but certainly will be watching more.

[pickinstone]

Jeff, thank you for putting rhythm in its proper place within our music continuum. I would call phrasing the ability to control the length of a melodic statement within a given space of time. Phrase lengths are usually defined within the framework of measures: 1 bar, 2 bar, 4 bar, 8 bar are all common.

Everything we practice, I mean EVERYTHING, should be placed within the context of pulse and rhythm. Music happens in time, and many of us (myself included) practice too much out of time because we prioritize other things. Scales, licks, song forms, melodic development should all be practiced in time. Learn how jazz operates in three dimensional time: layers of polyrhythms and poly meter that can only be approximated on manuscript paper (Mike Longo, RIP). Be your own drummer and drum everyday, even if you don't have a drum set--drum on your body or the table.

Harmony and scales are the raw materials, but rhythm is the synthesis and execution of our music--the final delivery to the listener. So live a life ripe of rhythm.

[josephdebri]

Cheers Jeff, great ideas. I'll give them a try. Hoping you are well. Best wishes, Joe

[Benjaminthegrey]

Your simple melody to autumn leaves reminds me of Gary Moore’s Still Got the Blues. Good tips here, thanks!

[TheCompleteGuitarist]

Transcribe by ear. Music is a language, if you want to develop your output, such as improvisation, performance skills and composition, you need some input. Transcribing gives you that. People learn (their native) languages by listening to examples of it spoken and they transcribe it, repeat it, often (as babies and young children) without knowing what they are saying. Over time ... meaning emerges. I am a language teacher. This is also the best (scientifically proven) method for learning a second/third/fourth language .

[stevewalker]

Thank you. I think maybe the best lesson video I've ever viewed

[jacks-and-queens]

Great stuff, so obvious that it is often underestimated or simply forgotten!
❤