JAZZ: Anyone Can Improvise!
Jamey Aebersold
I get more questions about improvising on my blog, web site, and in teaching than about all other things combined. Almost no one feels comfortable improvising, and few even dare to try. And yet ... most guitarists wish they could! What's going on here?
First, few of us are ever taught how to improvise. I finished an honours undergraduate degree, a masters degree, and even doctoral courses in music theory and the topic never came up, except in history where a footnote would mention that the practice died out with Liszt's generation (no one apparently told Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery ...). Somewhat fortunately for me, I played in a rock band where the leader would often look at me and just say "solo" and off I'd go, playing the pentatonic scale, bending notes, and thinking what a lousy improviser I was! I picked up a scale idea here, an arpeggio riff there, but my improvising was typically haphazard.
Second, how many of us practise improvising? Even if I thought I should have, I would not have had a clue what to practise. The few times I did practise I would get more dissatisfied with the difference between what I heard in my head and what came out of my fingers.
This seems to be a common situation that I became more and more aware of in my friends, colleagues, and students. I finally began to search for some good instructional materials for improvising, and after a while I came up Jamey Aebersold's book:
This book changed my life!
It is so full of information, instruction, and just brilliant advice that after more than a decade of working with it, I still learn new things virtually every time I open it! I'm sorry if this sounds like hype because it is absolutely true. I could take this book to a desert island with only my guitar and come back in a decade without having outgrown it - but I'd be a pretty smokin' improviser!
What does the book give you?
In part, this:
1) A well-paced, step-by-step guide to improvising over any chord progression in any key. Assuming that you know nothing about improvising, Jamey Aebersold shows you how to start, and continue logically until improvising seems like the most natural way to make music. A lot of books claim to do this, but this one does.
2) A method for learning any song, while at the same time knowing how to improvise over it. Having trouble memorizing melodies or chord progressions? This is a low-stress approach to doing just that, and having fun doing it! (Yes, FUN is highly encouraged in Mr. Aebersold's methods!)
3) Practical exercises to get you improvising right away. These include the important basic progressions that you will run into in real situations, the actual scales used by jazz and blues greats, a wide variety of keys, and a killer play-along CD with some of the best jazz musicians around. Lead sheets are provided in all of the appropriate transpositions for all instruments. And don't be fooled by the word "exercises" - this is real music for you to play along with, and these guys really get cookin' so that you can be inspired to play your best.
4) Tips on coming up with new ideas and playing what you hear. Think of George Benson scatting along with his playing; that's what you are going to learn to do. Really. In a rut and playing the same old thing? Jamey Aebersold will show you how to put your head in charge, not your fingers.
5) Useful advice on being a musician. There is no doubt that Jamey Aebersold is a great teacher, but beyond that he has a wisdom that few people possess. His advice is truly wise, and will serve you well in life as well as in music.
But this is the book. What about the DVD?
The DVD is a supercharged experience of the book, or if you like "the book on steroids" (although legal). On the DVD, Mr. Aebersold takes you through the entire content of the book, although obviously not in quite so much detail. But ... you will find that even after your first viewing, you will be able to improvise. You will!
Now, you will not be an expert. Yet. And you will have to practise, just like you did to get proficient on your instrument. But let me repeat: this practice is FUN. It is also incredibly rewarding to hear yourself improving each day. For me, the first time I was able to scat along with a solo I was playing, I nearly cried. I never thought that I would be able to do that, because I did not have the "talent". As Chet Atkins was fond of saying, "It is amazing how those who work the hardest tend to be the most talented."
The DVD and book are perfect companions. The DVD is a fantastic introduction to the Aebersold approach, and itself is so full of information that you will need years to fully digest it - and yet you will be able to use the principles in it to improvise in your very next practice session (and you will want to)! If you find yourself stuck in a section of the book, go to that chapter of the DVD and watch Jamey Aebersold demonstrate it. If you find something on the DVD that you want more information on, dive into the book and find it.
Just to be clear, the book I am referencing is Volume 1. Jamey Aebersold produces well over a hundred book / CD sets (I recently bought number 124 - Brazilian Jazz to keep up on advances in one of my favourite jazz styles). Mr. Aebersold recommends also using Volume 24 - Major and Minor along with the DVD and Volume 1, and I hope to review this volume shortly.
In summary, if you take one piece of advice from me, if you buy one product I recommend, buy the DVD and Volume 1. Do yourself a favour and change your life!
Check out the incredible selection of learning resources at jazzbooks.com!