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Topic: help improvising |
Stephen Kuester
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2014 6:51 am |
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I'm looking for some new challenges. I'm kinda burned out on learning tunes from tab, especially ballads. When I improvise, I feel like I'm playing the same things over and over. Right now I really want to sharpen my single string attack and avoid bouncing through the same scale patterns time after time.
Does anyone have any advice or materials they'd like to share? |
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Pete Burak
From:
Portland, OR USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2014 7:07 am
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Here's one idea...
Hunt and peck until you can play the Melody of songs you like (Tab it out for yourself if you need to).
Work at it until you can play these melodies fluently as a Solo.
When you play the melody, you are no longer just playing the same old pedal/lever licks over the chord changes of the songs you play.
Each solo will sound unique, and if you lift just your steel solo out of each song and listen to it, folks should be able to tell what song you are playing based on your steel solo alone.
As you get better at it jazz up the melody solo to be an embellishment of the melody.
Before long you will be able to play the Melody of any song you hear, incorporate chords with single note runs, and Improvise a solo over common Melodies.
Match the Melody up with Scales to see the relationships.
Get used to matching the songs chords up with the Nashville number system.
Always plan to break away from the Tab as soon as possible. |
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Christopher Woitach
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2014 7:40 am
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I've re posted this a couple times, so I apologize for the repeat, but it's part of how I improvise.
All of Pete's excellent reply applies.....
Scales, arpeggios, etc, are important, as materials - but what to do them? How do you make melodies "on the fly" that aren't just hand habits, or licks out of context?
The simplest, and non-genre-specific way to use all the material you've practiced is motivic development, in my opinion.
What is a motif? Quick-n-dirty: a short musical phrase that serves as a basis for melodic development
Here are some basic approaches (start with a 3 or 4 note phrase, one with some rhythmic interest - easier to manipulate than a longer one):
1. Silence - without holes, anything you play has no rhythmic or melodic context
2. Repetition - repeat your motif exactly, with space between repetitions, a few times
3. Sequence - Quick-n-dirty: same motif, different pitches, played as a pattern using the prevailing scale. Ex - if your motif is C E G A, and the prevailing scale is C Major, you could play the following sequence - C E G A, D F A B, E G B C using the same rhythm as your basic motif. This is just an example, and what you choose will depend on the specific harmonic situation. This doesn't have to be in scalar order, it could move around much more
3. Augmentation - motif with longer rhythmic values, motif slower
4. Diminuation - motif with shorter rhythmic values, motif faster
5. Retrograde - motif backwards
6. Q & A or Call/Response - play motif, answer it, play motif answer it differently... Blues uses lots of this technique
7. Fragments - use part of your motif, perhaps as a sequence
8. Rhythmic displacement - WHERE you play your idea - move it to a different part of the measure
9. Articulation - HOW you play your idea - slides, harmonics, damped...
This all might sound like a lot to think about - it's stuff to practice until it becomes natural to you. Nobody says "now I think I'll play some retrograde diminuation over my motif" during their solos, it's just something you play around with until it's part of your arsenal of concepts..
There are plenty of great players who play this way - in the jazz world Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall are good examples of motivic players. I'm sure, if you listen with this in mind, you'll hear lots of this stuff in whatever music you listen to, during the improvisations.
_________________
Christopher Woitach
cw@affmusic.com
www.affmusic.com |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Posted 1 Mar 2014 7:51 am
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How's your ear training? If you CAN figure out melodies from hearing them, you're getting closer to breaking out of the rut. I believe there's a book called "Ear Training For Dummies," it might help.
While I know I didn't pose a direct answer to your question, but it WILL help. If you have a bit of theory background, it would also help to analyze the stuff you already know.
If you already HAVE a decent ear training going, listen to non-steel players: I like turning Sonny Stitt, Stanley Turrentine and Jimmy McGriff lines into steel parts.
Try quoting lines from one song against another.
When you start kicking yourself for reusing licks over and over, I recommend listening carefully to Buddy E. or Lloyd. They do/did it too. What makes YOU so freaking special that you can't do it too?
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects |
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Larry Behm
From:
Mt Angel, Or 97362
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Posted 1 Mar 2014 8:21 am
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Pete, now you tell me!
Larry Behm
_________________
'70 D10 Black fatback Emmons PP, Hilton VP, BJS bars, Boss GE-7 for Dobro effect, Zoom MS50G, Stereo Steel amp, Telonics 15” speaker.
Phone: 971-219-8533 |
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Jack Aldrich
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2014 11:47 am
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As Jeff Newman told me long ago, go out and get a gig playing 5 nights a week in a country band. You'll be playing a lot of tunes that the other guys want to do. It'll stretch you.
_________________
Jack Aldrich
Carter & ShoBud D10's
D8 & T8 Stringmaster
Rickenbacher B6
3 Resonator guitars
Asher Alan Akaka Special SN 6
Canopus D8 |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 1 Mar 2014 4:49 pm Re: help improvising
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| Stephen Kuester wrote: |
| I'm looking for some new challenges. I'm kinda burned out on learning tunes from tab, especially ballads. |
Then STOP using tab! After you've been playing 6 months to a year (it varies with each player) you should be starting to figure out simple songs on your own. Find songs that you like, and start playing along with them. Find some old songs with simple steel parts and try to figure out what the player is doing. Chris's list of things to do is also very good. Remember, you can play the sme thing in different ways, and it will sound different. Lastly, get out and see other players; talk to them, and have them show you something...any one simple thing can rekindle your zeal. (It's really hard to learn and maintain interest when you're sitting in the same old surroundings, and listening to the same old things.)  |
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Dr. Hugh Jeffreys
From:
Southaven, MS, USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2014 12:10 pm Recording You!
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| I think one of the best activities for a soloist is to record his playing over a good background rhythm section; pick a category song and tempo that you are comfortable with--not too fast at the start. pick asong that has SUBSTANCE sufficient to hold your attention. Make this a part of your musical hour. Good Luck. |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Posted 3 Mar 2014 12:23 pm
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I like what Hugh has to say. If you like country, I recommend buying Mike Headrick's backing tracks.
If you like blues, www.probluesjamtracks.com has several good ones, but each one is too long. I don't suck, I've been playing for 30 years, and I still run out of ideas before a 5 minute track runs out of bars.
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects |
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