[0:10] [Music]
[0:31] Hello. What's going on everybody? It's
[0:32] Patrick Bartley here and today I'm going
[0:34] to be talking about concepts for
[0:36] improvisation. So over the course of my
[0:38] career, I've been very fortunate to have
[0:39] some great students. And in all of these
[0:41] lessons, I get a lot of common questions
[0:43] that I feel like I want to address kind
[0:45] of all in one video. So hopefully this
[0:47] will be helpful to you. And of course,
[0:48] everything that we're talking about in
[0:50] this video today comes from our brand
[0:52] new course that we just launched called
[0:53] Approaches to Improvisation. And in this
[0:55] course, you'll find hours of content
[0:57] ranging from improving your swing field,
[0:59] playing ballads, extending your range,
[1:00] and much more. If all that sounds good
[1:02] to you and you want to check out the
[1:03] full course, go ahead and click the link
[1:04] in the description box below and use
[1:06] code improv25 for $25 off this course.
[1:09] So, let's get into the first concept of
[1:11] today. All right, so improvisation,
[1:14] we're talking improvisation now. You got
[1:16] to have things to play. So, I think one
[1:18] of the things I want to talk about is
[1:20] how to build lines. How do you build
[1:22] nice sounding lines in improvisation?
[1:24] So, in any type of improvisational
[1:26] playing, but specifically jazz
[1:27] improvisation, there's always going to
[1:29] be a mixture of like things that you do
[1:30] on the spot and then what you can call
[1:32] like stock phrases. And when it comes to
[1:34] building your own lines, what I like to
[1:36] do is a good exercise is kind of
[1:38] building off of stock phrases. And one
[1:40] of the things I like to teach people is
[1:42] how to take those existing lines to
[1:43] actually create your own lines. So, this
[1:45] might be also a way to blend in how you
[1:47] can take transcriptions and make your
[1:48] own solos from it as well. So for
[1:50] example, let's talk about this pretty
[1:52] simple 251 phrase. And this can be
[1:54] either over one bar or two bars, however
[1:56] you want to consider it. And this is a
[1:58] 251 in B flat concert. So the two being
[2:01] C minor, the F being the five being F7,
[2:04] and then the one being B flat. So let's
[2:06] take this very simple
[2:10] [Music]
[2:11] line, right? Simple enough. So what I
[2:14] want to do with that line is tell you
[2:16] how this simple as like a stock phrase.
[2:18] It's almost like you're talking about
[2:19] like, you know, making a soup or a salad
[2:22] or a dish or whatever and having like
[2:23] three ingredients and like putting your
[2:25] own ingredients in there, taking stuff
[2:26] out, whatever. What we're going to do is
[2:28] we're going to take this line and we're
[2:30] going to augment it, dim it, whatever.
[2:32] We're going to mess it up, stretch it up
[2:33] to the point you might not even
[2:33] recognize it anymore, and we're going to
[2:35] do it straight from these exact notes.
[2:37] So, the first thing you can do with this
[2:39] is have the exact same notes and don't
[2:41] even change them. You can change the
[2:42] rhythm. So, if I started on the down
[2:45] beat in that phrase, what if we
[2:46] anticipate the
[2:50] phrase? All right. So, everybody knows
[2:52] that one, right? That's that's fine. So,
[2:54] that's with an extension from the
[2:56] beginning of the phrase. But what if I
[2:58] try to extend it from the end of the
[3:03] phrase? All right. So, I extended it
[3:05] from the beginning and I extended it at
[3:07] the end. And now you can combine them
[3:09] together. What if you extend both ends
[3:10] of it?
[3:12] [Music]
[3:15] Sounds just a little more hip, right?
[3:17] Okay, let's do the inverse. Why don't we
[3:19] start the phrase smaller? Start a phrase
[3:21] a little
[3:22] [Music]
[3:24] late. Okay, that was the beginning.
[3:26] Let's do the
[3:28] [Music]
[3:30] end. All right, let's do
[3:35] both. So, with those six examples, I
[3:38] just created six new lines off of one
[3:40] thing, and that was just rhythm. So,
[3:41] what happens if we start changing some
[3:42] notes? All right, let's start changing
[3:44] some notes in here. So, now we're going
[3:45] to mess with the theory a little bit. If
[3:46] you notice the scales that I'm playing
[3:50] here for the most part, except with, you
[3:53] know, maybe like the Bbop scale has a
[3:54] chromatic note in it. It's all dietonic
[3:56] with a natural nine that G. Okay. What
[4:00] happens if we flat the nine going on the
[4:02] way out of the
[4:03] [Music]
[4:06] line? Very simple change. Okay. Now,
[4:09] instead of flatting one nine, let's flat
[4:11] two of the
[4:14] [Music]
[4:16] nines. You know, better or worse, your
[4:19] mileage may vary. But the point is, I'm
[4:21] just taking this one phrase and just by
[4:23] changing a few notes. I'm not even doing
[4:25] anything crazy. I'm able to make some
[4:26] new phrases. So, after doing that same
[4:28] thing a couple of times or add nauseium,
[4:31] however long you want to do it, you
[4:32] might find yourself bored with that one
[4:34] direction. Okay, why don't we go to
[4:36] another direction? I'm going to give you
[4:38] now some examples that you can try on
[4:40] your own of this one line that can go
[4:42] any different direction. I'm going to go
[4:44] up, down, I'm going to extend, I'm going
[4:45] to shorten, whatever. See if you can
[4:47] catch what I'm doing with all these
[4:48] examples.
[4:56] [Music]
[5:23] So, I could play as many of these
[5:24] different examples as I like, but the
[5:26] point is that it's up to you to use your
[5:28] imagination, your creativity, and most
[5:29] importantly, your taste to play this
[5:32] line or any other line that you like
[5:34] from one to two bars, however many bars
[5:36] you like, and make your own phrases and
[5:37] try and experiment with many different
[5:39] directions to see what you can come up
[5:40] with. And now, let's talk about the
[5:42] second concept of today's video. All
[5:44] right, so those of you who know me, and
[5:46] maybe those of you who don't, and just
[5:48] listen to me, understand that for me,
[5:50] rhythm is like at the top of my
[5:51] priorities when it comes to harmony,
[5:53] melody, and rhythm. That's the top of my
[5:55] list. So, today we're going to talk
[5:56] about a very important rhythmic topic.
[5:58] This is degrees of swing. And what I
[6:00] mean by that is not all swing fields are
[6:02] the same. You could take two swing
[6:03] fields from someone who listens to, for
[6:05] example, uh, Lewis Armstrong or someone
[6:07] who listens to Elvin Jones and they're
[6:09] going to sound completely different and
[6:10] those also might be your influences. So,
[6:12] how can you incorporate that knowledge
[6:14] and that understanding of the different
[6:16] swing fields into your playing? Let's
[6:17] explore that today. So, when talking
[6:19] about degrees of swing, one of the
[6:20] examples I love to use the most is
[6:22] actually one of the first solos that
[6:24] many of us as saxophone players learn,
[6:25] which is Charlie Parker's opera. Now, if
[6:27] you spent any time with the Charlie
[6:28] Parker Omni book, or if you spent time
[6:30] in your formative years transcribing a
[6:31] Charlie Parker Blues, you probably had
[6:33] some time with this one. But I'm willing
[6:35] to bet that most of you, or maybe none
[6:37] of you watching this video, who knows,
[6:39] have not transcribed the Miles Davis
[6:41] solo from this song as well. Now, why do
[6:43] I bring up this solo? Well, as saxophone
[6:45] players, first of all, it's really
[6:46] important for us to stay not just stay
[6:49] to our instrument, but actually kind of
[6:50] branch off and understand the musical
[6:52] big picture, the big picture of all the
[6:54] music, but also because it helps us to
[6:56] train our ears to hear the details. The
[6:59] details are what make the music. So,
[7:00] right now, what I want you to do is I
[7:02] want you to pay attention. Listen,
[7:03] listen to the last chorus of Charlie
[7:05] Parker's solo going into the first
[7:07] chorus of Miles Davis's solo and see if
[7:10] you can feel the difference immediately.
[7:11] It's like a switch from the time field
[7:13] that Charlie Parker is playing versus
[7:15] Miles Davis playing on this recording.
[7:16] So, first Charlie
[7:18] [Music]
[7:33] Parker. All right. Now, check out
[7:37] Miles. All
[7:47] right. Now listen to them together.
[7:56] [Music]
[8:17] Okay, now that you've heard both solos
[8:19] back to back, what did you notice? Are
[8:21] there any details that you picked out?
[8:23] If you said Charlie Parker's was swung
[8:25] and Miles was straight, well, you're on
[8:27] the right path, right? That's the
[8:28] general that's like layer one, right?
[8:30] But let's get deeper into the layers. So
[8:33] before I talk about any of those layers,
[8:35] what I want to do is first I'm going to
[8:37] play the solo and show you how I
[8:39] understand the difference between the
[8:40] two solos.
[8:43] [Music]
[9:04] [Music]
[9:06] So, I just played the last chorus of
[9:08] bird solo and the first chorus of mile
[9:10] solo back to back. Did you notice my
[9:12] mind switch? Did you notice anything
[9:14] that changed? See, for me, the reason
[9:15] why I said it goes deeper than just
[9:17] straight or swung is because if there's
[9:19] anything that I want you to take out of
[9:21] this lesson for today is that those
[9:24] terms straight and swung, whatever, if
[9:27] it's a uh what Latin field or whatever,
[9:29] no one talks about a jazz field. So, why
[9:31] are we talking about Latin field? But
[9:32] anyway, those terms are kind of
[9:34] one-sizefits-all terms that are there
[9:36] for efficiency. It's actually your job
[9:38] to do the work of interpreting what
[9:40] those words mean. So if you just say
[9:42] swung, the first thing you should be
[9:44] thinking in your head is swung like
[9:45] what? Swung like who? What's going on?
[9:47] And if it says straight, your first
[9:48] thought should be, well, is it like kind
[9:50] of funk rhythm? Is it kind of more chaa?
[9:52] Is it kind of what? What's going on with
[9:54] it? And the reason why this is important
[9:55] is because it helps you get into the
[9:56] details that make the music sound and
[9:58] feel right. All right, now let's get
[10:00] into the third concept. So now I want to
[10:02] talk about another thing that I really
[10:04] love, which is a very important part of
[10:06] learning the solo, building a solo. And
[10:08] so we got another question that talks
[10:10] about how do you build or create
[10:12] momentum in a solo or tell a story. So
[10:15] I'm really happy that today I'm going to
[10:16] be actually unveiling what I call my
[10:18] three-step or three chorus solo
[10:20] template. Basically if you use this
[10:22] template you're not going to be you know
[10:25] it's not exactly the perfect guide as in
[10:27] you're always going to follow this. But
[10:28] if you're feeling lost in creating a
[10:30] solo and you got three or four courses
[10:32] try to use this template and it might be
[10:34] able to help you guide your way through
[10:35] a solo. So the reason why I came up with
[10:38] something like this is because I
[10:39] thought, okay, every solo that I like to
[10:41] listen to or every solo that really
[10:42] impresses us, whether it's in the blues,
[10:44] jazz, or even even in classical music, a
[10:47] cadenza, there's always a certain type
[10:49] of flow that it has between all the
[10:51] great solos in history. So what exactly
[10:53] is that flow? So usually when I listen
[10:55] to a really impactful solo, I notice
[10:56] that there are three main phases that
[10:58] the solo can take in order to build. So
[11:00] the first phase is a phase I like to
[11:02] call the motivic phase. And basically in
[11:04] this phase, you're going to take like
[11:05] maybe two or three notes or maybe one
[11:07] note with a bunch of rhythms or maybe
[11:10] like a bunch of notes with one rhythm.
[11:12] Whatever it is, you're going to find
[11:13] your motif and that's you're going to
[11:15] use to guide where your solo is going to
[11:17] go in your first course. Now, the second
[11:19] phase is interesting because this is
[11:20] going to be where you really get to show
[11:22] how much you've practiced. I call it the
[11:23] virtuosic phase. And in the virtuosic
[11:25] phase, you're basically going to take
[11:26] something. Okay, we're going to really
[11:28] expand. This is what I know about the
[11:29] harmony. This is what I know about this.
[11:30] It's not really, you're not really there
[11:32] to impress with dynamics or anything
[11:34] like that. You're just there to show
[11:36] this is the maximum I can go with this.
[11:39] I'm going to develop and show you what I
[11:40] can do on these chord changes. And then
[11:42] the third phase, this is the dynamic
[11:43] phase. Now, in this phase, you're
[11:45] basically going to go wild. And it
[11:46] doesn't mean that you're going to be off
[11:48] on guard. It just means you're going to
[11:49] do what is the thing that you do that
[11:50] makes you unique? What is your standout
[11:52] thing? If you're a trumpet player, can
[11:54] you play really high? If you're a
[11:56] saxophone player, can you honk really
[11:58] low or can you can you do altisimo
[12:00] really crazy? Or, you know, if you're a
[12:02] bass player, can you play really fast?
[12:03] Can you play a nice groove? Or can you
[12:05] play really loud? Whatever it is, that
[12:07] last chorus is your chance to really
[12:09] deliver your message of who you are.
[12:11] Now, if you're a fan of the blues or
[12:12] rhythm in blues or even like swing
[12:14] tenner players like Illinois Jacket, you
[12:16] might have noticed this pattern actually
[12:18] already. And so what I want to do is now
[12:20] I'm going to demonstrate to you how I
[12:21] can conceive of this as an example over
[12:24] rhythm changes. I'm going to play three
[12:25] courses of rhythm changes where I'm
[12:26] going to demonstrate the motivic phase,
[12:28] the virtuosic phase, and the dynamic
[12:29] phase. And see if you can notice the
[12:31] types of devices that I use to get me
[12:33] through each chorus to kind of develop
[12:34] and make some type of actual cohesion.
[12:37] So as you're listening to me play these
[12:38] three courses, make sure you pay
[12:40] attention to the way I'm transitioning
[12:41] in between each chorus as well. Not only
[12:43] am I making use of motifs and virtuosity
[12:45] and dynamics, but I'm also making use of
[12:48] range. Range is also very important. So,
[12:49] just try to keep track of that when
[12:50] you're
[12:55] [Music]
[13:16] listening. Yep. All
[13:19] [Music]
[13:38] right, everybody. That concludes this
[13:39] video, and I hope you found today's
[13:41] video helpful. And once again, if you
[13:43] want to get deeper into these concepts
[13:44] on your own time, be sure to click the
[13:46] link in the description box below and
[13:47] make sure to use code improv25 for $25
[13:51] off your course. All right, thank you
[13:53] all for watching and I'll see y'all next
[13:54] time.