Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I last posted here!
I’ve made quite a bit of progress on my own, and now I’m playing with jazz musicians (some fairly easy standards like Summertime or St. James Infirmary). I’d really like to learn how to improvise solo, without a backing track or other musicians. I came across a video by Jason Ricci on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_PhPC8eV3c.
But I feel like it doesn’t go into enough detail… Do you have any advice on how to learn this style of playing? (For context, I can already improvise in the first six positions, plus the twelfth, and I know my scales well).
I’m not sure how to improvise a rhythm or even short motifs interspersed with rhythmic parts (if that’s even what I’m supposed to do?). Also, should I be playing over a blues progression?
Anyway, lots of questions! I hope some more experienced players will come across this post and help me out
Thanks for the answer ! Call and response is something I have to work on anyway so that’s great ! I would definitely love getter a sample when you have time
Find somewhere no one will hear you, so you can have total freedom. Traditionally this might literally be a woodshed! Set up some means of recording yourself. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Hit record. Play a note. Then another. And another. And try to continue till the timer goes off. No pauses for thought (‘musical’ pauses are allowed - silence is part of music). If you hear a sequence you like, maybe repeat it, but mostly just keep going.
Listen to the recording either straight away or after a few hours (preferably both). Think about what you did & how you might learn from it.
Gradually you’ll find it easier to sound ‘musical’.
I can’t claim to do this on harmonica (harmonica is a sideline for me), but I do do it every day with my main instrument & it’s become my favourite bit of the practice session.
Just a thought. Maybe it will work for you? Maybe it won’t? Each to their own.
Hey! So, I tried to follow your advice, and here’s the recording: Soundcorset.
I played around the riff from Mannish Boy, thinking it would give me a good foundation so I wouldn’t get too lost. I’m using an A harmonica and mainly playing in second position.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and advice! It can be about improvisation or my technique. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for the feedback! This is the first time I’m posting an audio here, and it makes me happy that you like it. Regarding your audio, I’m not sure I’m the best person to give you advice since I’m the one trying to learn solo improvisation in the first place, but I think that: it seems like you place a lot of importance on theory, on strictly following the chord progression and staying within the scales, which makes you play rather slowly and not take a lot of liberties. Personally, when I improvise over backing tracks, I find that I sound best when I stop trying to follow the measure changes and allow myself the freedom to occasionally step out of the scales.
I tend to divide my jam sessions into two parts: most of the time, I try to follow the theory very strictly (changes in measures, scales, etc.), and sometimes, when I just want to enjoy myself or simply sound good, I let myself go with the flow. This is mainly how I come up with new lick ideas, and I also realize that I gradually “internalize” the theory some elements naturally stay in my playing even when I’m not paying attention to them.
For example, in the clip I sent, I wasn’t thinking about theory at all I was vaguely playing in the second position and sometimes in the third when I felt like it.
That’s my philosophy when it comes to practicing improvisation; I don’t know what you all think about it, but I find that it works well. As for more direct advice on your recording, I’d say you could try to vamp a bit less, play a little faster, and also explore different techniques (tongue slip, octave split, and double stop, for example), but again, I’m no master !
For the top-end licks, I completely agree! But right now, I’m in the process of learning blow bends (I can hit all of them, but I’m not yet comfortable enough to use them in my playing. I have five different harmonicas, and the technique is slightly different for each one, which doesn’t make things any easier). Since I play exclusively in tongue block, it’s quite challenging.
I think it’s really cool to share audio clips and give each other feedback like this. I’ll probably try to record another one tomorrow while following your advice to vamp more. If you want to post another one so I can give you more feedback, I’d be happy to!
Also, if other users—whether more experienced or not—could share similar audio clips here, that would be awesome! I have a hard time finding recordings of great players playing in this style, and I think we could learn a lot from the more experienced players on the forum (I’m talking about you @Luke ahah).
@mauraulucien Blow bends are strange. I don’t really tongue block except for octave work and flutters. I find bending to be far easier if you lip purse.
I think we need more player feedback on this forum. I know I do - I came from just playing sheet music, and my theory knowledge was nill- your feedback that my playing sounds to theory heavy is really helpful! Thank you!
I would like to keep comparing tracks with you, but out of gratitude to God, I am giving up this forum for lent. Yes…I am a day late…
@mauraulucien Great to hear from you again! And BIG CONGRATS on getting out there and playing, and playing with JAZZ musicians to boot! BRAVO!!
Regarding Improvisation:
1.) Practicing at home with backing tracks is the #1 thing that’s gonna help ya. Summertime and St. James Infirmary are both bluesy songs, so you can experiment with playing the blues scale over them. Experiment with different rhythms and changing the order of the notes.
2.) Since you know your theory, practicing the arpeggios of each chord throughout the tune is a great exercise that will help you find constant notes throughout the tune
3.) EMBELLISH THE MELODY. Try playing the melody over and over but adding little flourishes and detours, switch a note here or there. You can never go wrong using the melody as your muse for a solo
What kind of blow bend licks are you wanting to hear? 2nd position?
Hi! First of all, thank you so much for your response and for the attention you’re giving to my topic. I think there was a misunderstanding, though—I’m not asking for advice on how to improvise using backing tracks (since I already do that quite well; I’ve practiced a lot), but rather how to improvise without them. I’d like to be able to improvise alone, for example, in a park. That being said, I really appreciate the advice you gave me, and I’ll definitely keep it in mind next time I jam with my friends—thank you so much!
Regarding blow bends, I think there was another misunderstanding. I only mentioned them to let @Dk360 know that I’m still in the process of learning them before fully incorporating them into my playing, since he had pointed out after listening to my audio that I could explore more of the “top end”. So I wasn’t actually looking for inspiration or licks using them.
I’d really like to learn how to improvise on my own and possibly share recordings to get different opinions and advice. It also occurred to me that I’d love to hear an example of how an experienced player like you (or someone else—I’m not playing favorites, haha!) improvises when playing solo.
But already, thank you so much for the advice you’ve given me! It helps a lot to get feedback from more experienced players.
By the way, I recorded a new audio track in 2nd position with my harmonica in G. I tried to follow a 12-bar blues structure, but I struggle to count the measures in my head! Is that important even when improvising solo, or do blues players generally allow themselves more freedom?
Here’s the recording: Soundcorset
I’m open to all feedback, good or bad, haha! If anyone wants to use this topic to share their own recordings, that would be great for improving together!
That, i.e. unaccompanied ‘in the moment’ improvisation, is what appeals to me too and is what I was trying to describe in my post above.
It seems to me that the way to learn to do that is to do it! If just setting off with no plan at all seems too much, an idea that a lot of people use when starting free form improv is to come up with a guide line or rule for the session that you can use as limited ‘playground’ within which to work. For example you might decide to use only one note & concentrate on rhythm & dynamics, or just two, or three notes - maybe chord tones, or maybe some other combination. The choice is yours. The important thing is to listen to yourself, then respond to what you hear with something else.
I’m not saying it’s easy to instantly produce beautiful music, but if the aim is to find ‘your sound’ then pretty much the only way is by exploration.
A quote I came across:
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s (Joseph Campbell)
Looking that up to check my memory I found another from the same guy, that makes for a nice pair with the above.
If you are on the right path you will find that invisible hands are helping
@mauraulucien If I were to recommend a single ‘paid for’ resource it would be the Improvise for Real book by David Reed. The book totally transformed the way I perceive music, and their ear training materials have done wonders for my ear (I was starting from a point of havig believed I was tone deaf for nearly 60 years…).
The courses that IFR run make a lot of use of backing tracks, but they aren’t essential to the concept & I rarely use the tracks except for ear training & sometimes if I’m actually following a course. The courses are not essential (but they are fun & I’ve enjoyed them all). All the core ideas used by the courses are in the book,
I have no commercial connection with IFR, except that I’ve bought & used pretty much everything they offer & have been please with it all.
I first came across David Reed & Improvise for Real over 5 years ago when I happened to come across this podcast. Maybe it would be a good starting point for you too?
Hey @mauraulucien I think this sounds wonderful. I really enjoyed it. You’re playing cool stuff. I’m hearing some tongue articulations and a split - that’s nice!
As far as constructive criticism, what could you do to make it more interesting?
Break the glass ceiling on the 6. Venture up into holes 7-10. That’d be nice way to open up some more different colors.
Also, you played a -14 split at one point, so you know how to play splits. Explore that world more!! You’re off to a great start because you’re using chords and double-stops which is key to making the harmonica sound BIG, and splits help with that too as well in the solo context.
If you’re wanting to add more different “songs” or “feels” that you can jam as solo unaccompanied, then I’d recommend pulling out a metronome and working on some grooves. A Fox Chase kind of thing is fun, or just a simple in an out train kinda of chugging with breaks doing solo stuff. The song you do here is kind of mellow and loose, so working on more rhythmic stuff with a metronome will provide a good challenge for ya I think. Maybe Dr. Ross’ tune would be good muse? You can check it out here, and slow down the vid and play along:
Here’s the basic fox chase if you don’t already know it
Filisko’s study songs Deford’s Dream and Chasin’ Lost Sonny are great resources to go deep in these styles.
