Not new to improv, new to jazz

[tc622]

I've been playing violin for about ten years, and my favorite thing to do has always been improv. Genres include blues, folk and some rock. So my experience with improv is over simple progressions. Almost all of the chords are diatonic, and chords generally last at least two bars. In jazz I see entire passages where I don't even know what key to play in. Plus, there are a lot of times where a chord only lasts one or two beats. How does one emphasize a chord that goes by so quickly?

My question is how to apply what I know about soloing over simple progressions to jazz. I'm sure it's something that will take a lot of work, but any advice on how to go about working on it would be much appreciated!

[engelbach]

Originally Posted by tc622

I've been playing violin for about ten years, and my favorite thing to do has always been improv. Genres include blues, folk and some rock. So my experience with improv is over simple progressions. Almost all of the chords are diatonic, and chords generally last at least two bars. In jazz I see entire passages where I don't even know what key to play in. Plus, there are a lot of times where a chord only lasts one or two beats. How does one emphasize a chord that goes by so quickly?

My question is how to apply what I know about soloing over simple progressions to jazz. I'm sure it's something that will take a lot of work, but any advice on how to go about working on it would be much appreciated!

Welcome to the AAJ Forum.

Your question is too big in scope to answer in a post; you need to do some serious studying by reading the literature about improvising, studying transcriptions, and doing a lot of listening.

But there is a basic answer for beginning to deal with chord changes. Play the guide tone line.

Guide tones are the notes that move in half and sometimes whole steps down from one chord to another. They are usually one of the two defining notes in a chord, the third and the seventh.

In a IIm7-V7-IΔ progression, for example, play the seventh of the IIm7, then move down a half step to the third of the V7. The third of the V7 then becomes the major seventh of the I chord, which can move down a whole step to the major sixth.

So, for example, over | Am7 - D7 - | GΔ - - - |

you might play ...

| G - F# - | F# - E - |

This is especially effective over fast chord changes, as a way to "emphasize a chord that goes by so quickly."

This is very rudimentary, but musicians do it all the time, and it's just a start.

Cheers,
Jer

[jazz oud]

Building on Jerry's suggestion, the typical guide tone line is descending but you can also construct lines with ascending motion.

The same progression
|| Am7 D7 | G ||
could have the line: E (5) F# (3) | G (1)
or: G (7) A (5) | B (3)

Any way that you target strong chord tones (basically 1 3 5, sometimes 7) will give a good sense of the chord movement. Another way of doing this is to pick a chord degree and approach that degree of each chord. For example, the third of each chord:

E  A  D
C  F# B
A  D  G

You can approach each third from one note above:
DC GF# | AB

or use two notes from each chord (for ex., 5 3)
EC AF# | DB

see where this is going?

DCE GF#A | ABD

etc. . .

There are lots of targeting exercises if you look for them.

[tc622]

Thanks for the responses. The main theme I'm getting from all of the responses to this question is that there is no shortcut.

[jazz oud]

Originally Posted by tc622

there is no shortcut.

You got that right!

As my grandfather used to say: "the hard way is the easy way, and the easy way is the hard way."

[duane massey]

Most important thing is to listen. Don't try to jump right in to the fast, complicated stuff, start with basic standards (Bye Bye Blackbird, Softly, No Greater Love, etc), and learn to hear the changes. You'll find that the written changes sound a lot easier than they read.

[engelbach]

Originally Posted by jazz oud

You got that right!

As my grandfather used to say: "the hard way is the easy way, and the easy way is the hard way."

Rodgers and Hart's tune for Pal Joey: Do It the Hard Way, a la Chet Baker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pi_e4ZK3m4