Perry, I disagree...that's at least .04, and a good .04 at that. Good, useful info. Tatuh
On Jan 15, 9:14 am, 14strings <[email protected]> wrote: > True improvisation requires complete mastery of your instrument and > the ability to play anything in your head at will. > > Charlatan improvisation (the kind I perform) is simpler. I play by the > seat of my pants all the time. Other then a fiddle tune or the 'head' > to a jazz tune I hardly ever play the same thing twice. Even those I > can't nail consistently. I don't claim it's good but it's different > every time. What I personally try and do is play everything (mistakes > and all) with a good groove and hope people like it. A metronome is > essential. I spent years jamming electric guitar in jam bands where we > would jam on a static chord like let's say a G7th for ten minutes. You > need to to start inventing some stuff on the fly pretty quick in that > situation. The last ten years I've done this with mando. So my form of > improv (and many others out there) is really just having a vast > collection of licks, tricks and flavors in the tool belt that can be > applied to the task at hand. Mix matching and mutating these tools all > the time attempting to play it with a big time GROOVE. i.e. Listen to > the band. > > So the short answer is to just do it. Sit with a metronome in your > kitchen and play to it. Noodle away in the key and flavor (minor, > major or 7th (dominant) of your choice. It's taken me years and > thousands of dollars of books videos and DVD's to know that nothing > beats just sitting down and playing your instrument. Just make > something good happen with it. Start collecting licks and ideas you > like. Learn how to notate them for future reference and then use them. > > The longer answer: > > You need an understanding of scales and arpeggios (the notes that make > up a chord) on your instrument. You also need to play scales not in an > "up and down" fashion but practice them in intervals i.e. playing > scales in thirds are very musical sounding. Or play your scales > starting at different degrees. Start your G major scale not on G but > try starting it on B the third. Do this with a metronome at as much as > possible. > > You need to know the chord sequence at hand and of course the melody. > Pentatonic scales are great tools to get started. Major pentatonic > scales avoid the 4th and 7th notes (very decisive color tones) so by > avoiding those notes pentatonic scales become kind of foolproof. But > you can also take pentatonics to the "nth" degree. There are dozens of > books on just the application of pentatonic scales. I know I have > several of them. > > In bluegrass most tunes are made of a I IV and V chord. In the key of > G that would be a G C and D. You can noodle over all three chords > using the G major pentatonic scale. It's a start. Make it interesting > is harder. There's rhythmic improvisation too much like that Twinkle > Twinkle Little star video. Where you place the emphasis; push pull or > drag. I heard jazz mandolinist Don Stiernberg once say at a workshop > that you can improvise a solo with just one note by varying it > rhythmically. There is a lot of wisdom right there. Listen to Duke > Ellington's "C Jam Blues" for an example. > > Bluegrass improvisation from what I've heard is usually variations on > a melody or guys just playing some hot licks > over the same chord sequence. The harmony (or chords) behind bluegrass > is just not that sophisticated (why we like it) to allow tremendous > flexibility in improv. Jazz is a whole different ball game. Learning > how to read music is a tremendous help. There is so much free info out > there but it's not all mando-centric. > > Spend the rest of your life learning theory and mastering your > instrument and listening to the masters improvise > then transcribe them. Write your own solos out on paper. > > My .02 > Perry > > n Jan 14, 12:59 pm, "diptanshu roy" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > i have a version of jingle bells by duke ellington... its quite a version! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
