For question about spontaneous composing in real time, typically during performance.
Questions tagged [improvisation]
311 questions
21
votes
12 answers
How do you avoid falling into the same patterns every time you improvise?
I think every player that tries to improvise gets to a point where he starts playing things out of memory without focusing too much on the ideas in his head. It happens to me all the time. I just hate it when I play long sequences of sixteenth notes…
Anthony
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14
votes
7 answers
What do you have to do to sound like you're improvising when you're actually reading from sheet music?
There are several reasons I often can't think fast enough to improvise a trumpet solo live over an unfamiliar set of chord changes, things like:
if there are upper extensions on the chord (e.g. #9, 13, and so on)
unfamiliar key
chords given at…
Brian THOMAS
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7
votes
3 answers
What improvisation techniques do players like Doc Watson and Tony Rice employ to transcend cliches of bluegrass improvisation?
The method of transposing riffs to fit the chord changes makes all bluegrass solos sound the same. Bluegrass players such as Doc Watson and Tony Rice appear to transcend this cliche.
What techniques do they employ to do this, and are there other…
empty
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5
votes
1 answer
What are the principles for improvising over an ostinato?
An ostinato or repeating riff is a basis of improvisation for everything from Elizatbethan music (Grounde) to classical music (basso ostinato) to jazz and rock. It's quite different from improvising over chord changes.
Aside from the differences in…
empty
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4
votes
1 answer
Why do i keep forgeting the sections while improvising?
I can do variations of my first section but when i go about developing: or i play the new section, but then i don't remember most of the first one; or keep repeting mentaling the first one while trying to make the new section, but my rhythm goes…
nailahammer
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2
votes
1 answer
interesting 2-3 bar ideas for a beginning improviser
Sadly I won't succeed at the "Music Man" approach to learning to improvise. By that I mean "hear it, fumble around with no coaching, and then play inspired music by the end of the movie".
What I'd greatly appreciate are some strategies for creating…
oldlab
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vote
3 answers
Improvisation Queries
I'm very stuck and quite frustrated at the moment. I have knowledge of scales and chords but when I sit at the keyboard, anything I improvise sounds really bad and I don't know what I can do to be able to improvise a good melody or piano piece. Can…
MJohnson52
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