Improvisation

Hey all,

I was wondering if any of you could give me some advice on improvising? I am totally self taught where that is concerned. So if any of you have any advice, techniques, ideas etc. please share them!

Piano, or.....?

Well one thing that's always fun to do is to add a Hemiola into whatever you're doing.

Improvising for me was always easy, I'm not trying to brag, but just coming up with whatever I feel like was always fun and easy for me. I'm no expert but IMO it opens up alot of doors for you if you just break the form and try something new, and if you mess up, use that to your advantage. Maybe the mistake will spawn something new?

Improv to me is just letting loose and having fun

Originally Posted by MusicManJ4

Piano, or.....?

Well, I was talking about violin, but the principles are basically the same, right?

Yes and no. You get the ability to "easily" create harmony with your melodies with piano... and seeing as I've spent maybe a total of 10 minutes of my life around a violin, I'm pretty sure you can't do the same on it.

As far as improvisation itself is concerned, I'm not sure how to explain to start.

Personally, I started with very standard chord progressions (and the melody on top of it), namely Amin, Gmaj, Fmaj, and Emaj. That was... years ago. Then I started messing with what could be done within that same progression, and then started playing with what could be done within the scale of Amaj, and then progressed to using chromaticism to move between chords, and then... I dunno.

Most of it started with experimenting and "discovering" harmony... what works and what doesn't. Plenty of my beginning stuff worked predominantly in the Amin/Cmaj scales, and then later added Cmin/Emaj. And then most of it started sounding too stereotypical "new age" piano, so I worked with some of the Jazz progressions, using chromaticism to select the root note for chords, and then I just started "discovering" stuff on my own, mainly by trying stuff I've never played around with before. Once I got into a familiar pattern, I immediately left it.

Sure, that led to plenty of atonal-like stuff, but once i moved back to tonality, I had a better understanding of what _could_ be done.

Hopefully that helps a bit.

• Listen. (to what you're playing; what others are playing - react/interact appropriately)
  
• Aim. (have a clear direction and know where you're headed)
  
• Don't wank. (nobody likes a charlatan)

Originally Posted by robinjessome

Don't wank. (nobody likes a charlatan)

The most important bit of advice anyone can give you

Originally Posted by Mark

The most important bit of advice anyone can give you

Yes - but didn't people love Liszt?

Originally Posted by Rafn

Yes - but didn't people love Liszt?

uh..

Are you saying Liszt was wanky? Don't push your opinion

But he was. Read any historical record.