Introduction to Improvisation

‍ ‍DISCLAIMER: This is geared towards those who are brand new to improv; if you’ve already been improvising for a few years, I hope you can learn something from this, but there’s a good chance that you’ve already heard of what I’m going to write about here. Also, I would not consider myself an expert on improv. I think I’m okay at it, but there are plenty of people out there that I would consider better improvisers than me. Conversely, there are things out there that I would consider myself to be an “expert” in (single and double tonguing, pedal tones, finger dexterity, to name a few), so keep that in mind when reading this. I’m well aware that I have a lot more to learn when it comes to improv, so I wouldn’t be surprised if my thoughts/opinions on this change significantly in the next several years.

I like to separate practicing improv into 3 different categories:

1. Scale Exercises

2. Transcribing

3. Composition

There’s significant overlap between all three of these categories, but I consider them distinct enough to warrant separation. I have yet to hear a good argument for a 4th category, so I’m keeping it at 3. I believe that virtually everyone will really like one of these categories, they’ll absolutely hate one of them, and the 3rd will fall somewhere in the middle, but where exactly it falls can vary wildly.

All three of these methods of practicing improv are important to partake in, but in order to keep your motivation at a healthy level, you’re going to want to find out which of these three categories is your favorite. I have been a fan of practicing scale exercises, and that’s generally how I’ll first teach it to students, but I know of musicians who will first introduce it to students in a very different manner. To give a brief definition of these categories:

1. Scale Exercises - Anything that involves using a scale would be in this category. Whether it’s something like playing through a scale, doing arpeggios, or mixing perfect intervals with a scale, I would fit all that material into this group.

2. Transcribing - This is figuring out how to play something by ear (as in you’re not using sheet music to learn a solo, melody, etc.). Some people will advise you to learn chord progressions by ear. People tend to argue over whether or not you should write down your transcription or force yourself to not write anything down.

   People who are against writing down what you’re transcribing will generally tell you that it’ll help you remember better. This group will emphasize that this is important for learning jazz standards (tunes that you’ll regularly play as part of a jazz combo).

   People who are for writing stuff down will argue that transcribing can become like a game of telephone, where melodies and chord progressions throughout time will change slightly, so you might as well write it down to have a record of it.

   I’m sure there are other arguments, but I can’t remember them off the top of my head. I personally am a fence-sitter on this debate; I think it’s ideal to partake in both (especially if you are serious about getting better), but I’m not dogmatic about it.

3. Composition - This is writing out your own solos. If you’re someone who enjoys learning a lot about music theory, you’ll probably gravitate towards this. People tend to be quite condescending towards those who write out their own solos, but that’s never made sense to me. There are plenty of licks (musical figures/ideas) that people had to write and then practice before putting it into a solo; if you’re transcribing that material, you’re just copying what someone else wrote down at one point. There’s no reason why you can’t write down your own stuff.

Biases in the General Consensus

To continue the thought that I started on the composition category: there are a few opinions that are held either by the majority or a vocal minority of improvisers that I really don’t agree with. When musicians ask for advice about improvising, the most common response that people give is “Transcribe a ton.” I’m not against transcribing, but I think it’s given too much credit. If you don’t like transcribing, you should definitely still force yourself to do it, but that’s probably not going to make you like it. Practicing scales and writing out your own solos is a perfectly legitimate thing to do to get better at improv, but for some reason, there are a decent amount of people that speak out against those things.

My best guess as to why people do this is because they’re coping for the fact that they don’t like doing those things. It’s no secret that a lot of musicians don’t like learning a bunch of different scales, and writing your own material is incredibly tedious - especially if you don’t know how to use notation software - and for one reason or another, some people view transcribing as this sacred cow that can’t be replaced (or even supplemented) by anything else.

Something else that many people will say is “You don’t need to learn much theory to be a good improviser”. I’m not saying I disagree with this statement, but the implication that many people make, and some will even say this sentiment outright, is that learning a lot of theory can “hold you back”. I’m not even going to say that statement is false, but if you’re a big fan of learning theory, I firmly believe that the more you learn will have a net positive benefit on your improvising. Some will argue that learning a lot of theory will limit your creativity, and while I don’t think that statement is completely incorrect, I would just tell you theory fanatics that it’s something you should do your best not to worry about. All that being said, if you’re not into learning theory, don’t let me or anyone else stop you from starting to improvise.

Final Thoughts

As mentioned above, I’m a fan of practicing scale exercises more than anything else, and that’s how I teach it to students looking for somewhere to start. I’m a big fan of this piece of advice: start with a 12 bar blues. Get comfortable with that form, then go from there. Find a backing track (or buy iRealPro; it’s expensive, but worth it), look stuff up regarding the 12 bar blues, and rep it way more than you think you need to. Here’s something that might help you get started.