Jazz improvisation basics
After many years of helping my students develop improvisation skills, I have found that I address the same set of challenges every time. Therefore, I have decided to begin compiling some of the things I say to students and some of the references and exercises I create for them on this page.
Prerequisites
In my opinion, the most important skills/prerequisites for improvisation are:
- Interest and motivation - Becoming a proficient improvisor is a titanic undertaking, and not something that can happen easily "by accident." The student needs to enjoy listening to the art form and needs to be interested in trying - and not being afraid of failure/sounding bad. One of the challenges of learning to improvise is that we tend to approach it for the first time when we are well out of the "beginning" phase of learning music, and we have forgotten that we sounded terrible when we first started - it's just part of the process!
- Devotion to the instrument - This may seem obvious, but developing a habit of daily time with the instrument is critical. Even if it is only a few minutes, you need to get into a habit of playing the horn daily! Also, find time to enjoy playing the saxophone - this is supposed to be fun and fulfilling!
- Major scales - The entirety of my approach to teaching improvisation is related back to the major scale. Improvisation students need to know major scales in all keys thoroughly by memory. In my opinion, after motivation and devotion to the instrument, there is no more important basic skill related to learning music than a high level of comfort and proficiency with major scales.
intervals, scales, and 7th chords
Intervals are the language we use to describe the relationships between pitches.
Interval Sheet
Scales are horizontal representations of notes, i.e., notes played one after the other.
Major Scale Reference Sheet
Natural Minor Scale Reference Sheet
Harmonic Minor Scale Reference Sheet
Melodic Minor Scale Reference Sheet
Interval Sheet
Scales are horizontal representations of notes, i.e., notes played one after the other.
Major Scale Reference Sheet
Natural Minor Scale Reference Sheet
Harmonic Minor Scale Reference Sheet
Melodic Minor Scale Reference Sheet
Chords are simply notes played at the same time. As a saxophonist, we approximate chords by playing arpeggios, since we can't (practically) play more than one note at a time. In functional harmony there is a relationship between scales and chords - in fact, one could be considered another way of representing the other.
7th chords are the basic building blocks of jazz harmony. A 7th chord has a quality (major, minor, augmented, diminished) and a 7th (major, minor, diminished). The basic functional chords are:
7th Chord Reference Sheet
7th chords are the basic building blocks of jazz harmony. A 7th chord has a quality (major, minor, augmented, diminished) and a 7th (major, minor, diminished). The basic functional chords are:
- tonic
- subdominant
- dominant
7th Chord Reference Sheet