3 Ways to Start Improvising Musically

Improvisation is an important part of jazz, Indian classical music, the blues, and more. Continue reading to learn 3 techniques to make your improvisation more musical.

Making your Improvisation More Musical

Many musicians have the basics of music theory down, or can play by ear to a modest extent. However, there is a plateau familiar to many.

This plateau is insidious and can keep an improvisor trapped in repeated patterns and ideas. Whether learning by ear or improvising on specific scales and chords, eventually a player will settle into a groove where they are good enough to play with friends or even perform, but feel frustrated with repetition or inability to get through specific chord changes, maintain a consistent tempo, etc.

Below, I present 3 music improvisation teaching methods I use with my music improvisation students. What I really like about them is that they apply to all musical styles and instruments equally well. I have seen them work for a shakuhachi/bansuri player just as well they do for as a jazz bass player.

Try them for yourself!

Practice 1: Playing What You Sing

Playing what you sing is a great way to stay honest about what you’re hearing in your head, as opposed to falling into familiar finger patterns and licks.

For instrumentalists that do not need their mouths to make sound on your instrument, you can sing right along while you play, like George Benson or Esperanza Spalding. Please note that you do not have to sing as good as they do, just good enough to keep yourself honest. Whenever you disconnect from your voice, stop playing and wait until a new musical phrase comes to mind, then continue. You can do this freely, with a metronome while imagining the song behind you, or with a backing track.

For instrumentalists that need their mouths to make sound on their instrument, it can be a bit trickier. Try looping a chord progression, singing a phrase over it and then playing it when the progression repeats. You can also do this with a metronome, silently imagining the chord progression while using the metronome to keep time. Finally, you can simply use a backing track and play call-and-response with yourself. While it’s not copying your singing exactly, your initial singing of a phrase will keep you in a more musical mindset on the instrumental response.

Practice 2: Playing What You Hear

This is a simplification of Practice 1. Rather than singing a part aloud, you listen to what is playing in your head, then very intentionally try to play that music.

It is important to note that not singing the line physically can allow for a sort of cheating, so this is to be paired with Practice 1. I advise against skipping straight to this practice because it is much easier to slip back into habits with this exercise. However, it is closer to what you will do when performing, and therein lies its value.

For instrumentalists that need their mouths to make sound on their instrument, this exercise is important to spend more time on because it allows for continuity that isn’t able to be explored in Practice 1.

As with Practice 1, try this freely, with a metronome while imagining the backing music, or with a backing track.

Practice 3: Writing a Solo

In Herbie Hancock’s memoir entitled Reflections, he recounts the challenges he faced trying to improvise over fast songs. A mentor advised him to write a solo because, to paraphrase, “The reason you can’t play fast is that you haven’t heard yourself do it before.”

That passage stuck with me, and in the months following, I thought to myself, “What if I expanded this idea beyond playing fast tunes to playing any tune? Wouldn’t that guarantee that I would play something different than what I normally would, in context of other phrases within my reach, and be new music for me to learn slowly and then gradually bring up to speed?” Plus, it’s an exercise one of my teachers, Joe Carter of Connecticut, had me do years back.

Writing a solo is a perfect way to achieve the ends mentioned above. Sit with a pencil and some manuscript paper and begin writing it down, bit by bit. You can also use music notation software on a tablet or desktop.

For musicians that do not read music, you can record yourself progressively developing the solo. It is important to play this solo with a metronome or backing track to keep yourself honest about the length and articulation of the notes, as well as overall timing.

Take the solo slow at first and isolate problem parts, working them up to the same speed as easier parts. Get the music perfect at a slow tempo and eventually you will play these parts perfectly at full tempo. You can even try playing a little faster than you need to in order to make sure you’ve really got it, but do not sacrifice accuracy.

Final Reflection

All of these methods truly home in on one thing: feeling comfortable and relaxed while improvising.

For beginning and even intermediate improvisors, improvisation can feel liberating in some moments but unnerving in others. Often this is because of a disconnect between what the ear hears and what the hands have the ability to play. These exercises are specifically dedicated to improvisors with confidence in their taste but find it difficult to keep up with what they would like to play.

It has been a joy to work with budding improvisors and guide them on a path that feels grounded and secure, while still evoking feelings of liberation and passion.

I would love to work with you too! To talk to me about lessons, simply click the button below and get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you!