20 drills for
improvisation—
a few suggestions
- Learn a new tune by ear—use no written music.
- Take a cell from the melody and use it sequentially
for an entire chorus, all the time adjusting to
the sound of new chord changes.
- Reduce the melody of a song to its primary melodic
information and edit all ornamentation.
- Take the reduced melody and add the following
ornamentations: diatonic down; chromatic up; combine
the previous two to form a rotation; double chromatic;
reverses of all the above.
- Practice playing the melody in different tempos
and allow for some adjustment in style.
- Play the song in several different keys and learn
to transpose by the function of the chord changes
and melodic intervals.
- Play the "Move or Stay" game. Take one
note for each chord and either stay on the same
note as you move into the next chord change, or
if the note doesn't work, move by half step to
another note and repeat the process through the
entire song.
- Study the chords and determine the scale for each.
Play the scale in quarter notes and move into
the new scale that is determined by the next chord
change, all the time not changing the direction
of the line. When you run out of room, change
direction.
- Using the process mentioned above, determine the
length of a phrase (ex. 3 chords). Change direction
of the line when the phrase is complete.
- Using the above two processes, change the rhythmic
value of the solo to 8th notes, then 1/4 note
triplets, then 8th note triplets, then onto 16th
notes.
- Play a solo based strictly on common tones.
- Play a solo based strictly on voice leading (half-step
movement).
- Play a solo based strictly on vertical or intervallic
improvisation.
- Play a solo based strictly on horizontal or scaler
improvisation.
- Play a solo alternating between scaler and intervallic
ideas.
- Improvise a solo based on rhythmic displacement,
taking a simple idea and starting on beat 1, 2,
3, etc. Then try starting the idea on the "and"
of the beats.
- Try creating new phrases beginning and ending
on different places. For example, begin on the
2nd chord and finish the phrase on an odd numbered
chord such as the 5th. This will help to create
a variety of phrase lengths.
- Try to create a solo based on the shapes of the
melody without trying to play the correct notes.
- Try improvising using space and try to be creative
in the selection of space. Remember that space
can be both horizontal and vertical.
- Try practicing any of the above ideas for one
hour of playing without stopping to rest.
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