Improvisation Problem
my problem is playing ballads. it seem that i can only hear the melody in my head and my improvisation sounds boaring just like i'm playing a little variation of the melody over and over.
do you have any advice or comments that can help me change that and create more interesting solos..??
thanks..
this is an excelent site !!!
There are 2 comments, leave a comment.
tap your foot 8 to the bar on the eighth notes
solo your right hand in swing 16ths
other tips could include listening to the song without the melody to get used to the sound of the chord progression rather than allowing your ear to be pulled to the tune all the time. play just the chord progression on the piano, use band-in-a-box if you have it and mute the melody or listen to an aebersold of the tune you are working on.
once you are more familiar with the chord progression, practice singing phrases that are in direct contrast with the melody. for example, if the melody has an ascending scale passage, sing a descending phrase.
if you have the harmonic facility, make some chord substitutions or play more altered dominants to give you different sound options on the same tune.
transcribe some solos on a tune you are working on and analyse what the soloist was doing. learning to sing your transcriptions will prove useful in this case.
the goal is to train your mind to hear other options than the melody. it's great to be able to hear the melody as it gives you a relationship to the actual song (as opposed to a chord progression) and it stops you from getting lost while you're playing. however, you need to get used to seeing and hearing the piece as a whole (melody and harmony) rather than just a tune to help you come up with other things to play in your solos.
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