Hey

I am in a Jazz Band at my school and am most likely being moved to 1st this year. Part of being first requires improvisation which I have never done before and am somewhat nervous about. Does anyone have any helpful tips on practicing this skill? I am not nervous about performing, I just don`t want to make a jerk out of myself during rehearsals and such. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

Great for beggining would be any blues scale. The most common one owuld be G, B Flat, C, C Sharp, D, F, And G. Use these notes and mix them around, use some licks, and it will work on most songs. Then you can try getting a jazz book that helps with improve and gives you all the scales of all kinds, I would suggest getting the jazz ensemble method, the purple one. Good Luck!

I couldn`t disagree more, The blues scale will only sound good in it`s appropriate key. You will need to learn how to read chords, not hard, and then play the triad, root, 3rd, 5th. You`ll get a good sound after practicing. You will need to buy play along books, aebersolds being the most common, they just provide a background to improvise over.

You know I could go on for years saying everything I could about tips on improv man, but I have used that one blues scale on about 4 solos and had people that know stuff about music tell me it sounds good, but I will admit those were about my first 4 solos. You need to get the book I said and it has most, if not all the scales you will ever need. There are some others that aren`t in there but you will never use in a school band. It is just the easiest way to start because in a lot of keys you cannot make that scale sound bad, it is just not possible. I know it can`t be used all the time(said in my first post) but it works tons, so just get off my back, I know what I am talking about.

Well................................to be honest, one blues scale will sound good over one key, MAYBE two, if you play the G blues over an F#7 change, that isn`t going to sound so great. There is a bit more to improv(like you said) than a simple Blues scale and a book. Improvisation is an art that is impossible to master, and many work for years just to sound truly good. I would NOT advise ANYONE to labor under the backward delusion that you can successfully improvise using one scale. Read the chords, try the appropriate blues scale(like if the blues is in F, PLAY F BLUES!), or don`t use a blues scale if it`s not appropriate(like latin or bossa nova). Accent the arpeggio and triad. Don`t try to cram an entire solo into 4 measures, give yourself some space. Sometimes simpler is cooler.