[0:00] the five levels of jazzz
[0:02] improvisation improvisation in music is
[0:05] the act of spontaneously playing
[0:06] something that hasn't been previously
[0:08] planned or composed in fact in many ways
[0:10] it is simply composition sped up some
[0:13] people find the idea of any kind of
[0:14] improvisation to be pretty intimidating
[0:16] but I think that anyone can learn to do
[0:18] it because it's something that you do
[0:19] all the time when you tell a story or
[0:21] have a conversation and you haven't
[0:23] pre-written or memorize what you're
[0:24] saying you're improvising you've
[0:26] probably got some broad ideas in mind
[0:27] that you're trying to convey but it's
[0:29] not worked out ahead of time you're just
[0:32] talking you're able to draw from your
[0:34] massive vocabulary and compose sentences
[0:36] on the spot that make sense and convey
[0:38] meaning conversely in music there are
[0:40] only a few notes to choose from so it
[0:42] should be a lot easier to play something
[0:44] that makes sense and even sounds pretty
[0:45] good but if you're in a band and it's
[0:47] your turn to take a solo and you're just
[0:49] supposed to make something up how do you
[0:51] do
[0:53] that now it should go without saying
[0:55] that anything you play should be in time
[0:58] in tune and with a good sound that's
[1:00] just basic musicality and control of
[1:02] your instrument so you just have to
[1:03] choose what notes to play and what
[1:05] rhythms to play and in my experience
[1:07] working with new improvisers rhythm is
[1:09] not that big a deal while notes tend to
[1:11] be far more mystifying and intimidating
[1:13] so that's what this video is going to
[1:14] focus on and how you do decide what
[1:17] notes to play depends on how far you've
[1:18] progressed in what I think of as the
[1:20] five levels of improvisation in music
[1:23] and while the levels are sequential
[1:24] they're also cumulative and even sort of
[1:26] loop around on each other and while the
[1:28] progression of complexity is probably
[1:30] what you would expect the role of
[1:32] intuition may not
[1:35] be level one is all about playing by ear
[1:38] and it's basically 100% intuition there
[1:41] is a rare species of musician who are
[1:43] natural improvisers they engage with the
[1:45] music fearlessly and seem to
[1:46] effortlessly come up with brilliant
[1:48] musical ideas but maybe don't know much
[1:50] about chords or Theory some people never
[1:52] get out of level one and they don't need
[1:54] to because they sound awesome most of us
[1:56] aren't so lucky and need a bit more
[1:58] study and guidance to improvise well
[2:00] but everyone still needs level one
[2:02] because there's nothing more important
[2:03] in improvisation than using your ears
[2:05] and basically everyone has some
[2:07] intuitive understanding that some
[2:08] choices in music are very consonant
[2:10] While others have a lot of dissonance or
[2:12] [Music]
[2:19] tension but tension and dissonance
[2:21] aren't necessarily bad in fact the
[2:23] balance between tension and release is
[2:24] really important in music
[2:26] [Music]
[2:33] and you may notice how some notes want
[2:34] to go up to
[2:37] resolve While others sound more
[2:39] satisfying when they go
[2:43] down and if you're not sure how to
[2:45] resolve attention you should know you're
[2:47] only ever a semitone away from a
[2:49] resolution to attention
[3:01] with practice and experimentation you'll
[3:03] learn to hear and resolve these tensions
[3:04] quickly but I do think it's important to
[3:06] remember that there really are no
[3:08] objectively right or wrong choices here
[3:10] there's no forbidden or brown note
[3:12] that's going to make something explode
[3:13] if you play it wrong it's a bit like
[3:15] deciding what to have on your sandwich
[3:17] some choices are going to be more
[3:18] traditional While others are going to be
[3:19] more adventurous but you do you sure you
[3:22] could burn the toast and most people
[3:24] won't like that but the analogous
[3:25] situation to that is more like playing
[3:27] out of time with a poor sound rather
[3:29] than an objectively bad note so fill
[3:32] your ears improvising musicians need to
[3:33] listen to bands and soloist from genres
[3:35] that they want to play to try to figure
[3:37] out what kinds of sounds fit and what
[3:39] don't and back to sandwiches it's a bit
[3:41] like learning what kinds of things
[3:42] usually go well together and if you mix
[3:44] it up well it really depends on your own
[3:46] tastes if you find it interesting or
[3:48] just kind of weird so try a note and see
[3:51] if that works and go up or down a
[3:53] semitone if you need to then try another
[3:55] note and before you know it you'll have
[3:56] tried all 12 pitches and probably come
[3:58] up with a pool of notes that sound
[4:00] pretty good and all of the sudden now
[4:02] you're in level two level two use a
[4:05] scale or key most songs are made up of a
[4:08] variety of chords but more often than
[4:10] not these chords are going to be related
[4:12] to each other because they all tend to
[4:14] come from one key or scale for instance
[4:16] all these songs all have chords that
[4:18] come from the key of G major so you can
[4:21] just use the notes of the G Major scale
[4:22] to improvise and whatever you play is
[4:24] going to sound probably pretty good
[4:27] depending on the type of song you're
[4:28] playing you might find another type of
[4:30] scale works well but level two is
[4:32] basically about having an awareness that
[4:34] you can often just use one scale to
[4:36] guide your note choices for
[4:37] improvisation and it's going to sound
[4:38] pretty good now since this is level two
[4:41] it really helps to know a little bit of
[4:43] music theory like knowing the basic
[4:45] pattern of major scales and how that
[4:47] pattern relates to different kinds of
[4:48] minor scales and to other kinds of
[4:50] scales check my channel for videos about
[4:53] these scales if you need to brush up on
[4:54] anything and I even did one on how to
[4:56] learn all your scales in all 12 keys in
[4:58] just 24 hours with a really powerful
[5:01] practice technique and method to track
[5:02] your progress check the description for
[5:04] links but in the meantime don't panic
[5:07] because you don't need to know all these
[5:08] scales to get started you only need to
[5:10] know the scale you need to know to
[5:12] improvise on a specific tune so how do
[5:15] you know what scale to use first your
[5:16] teacher or someone else in the band who
[5:18] knows all the chords might be able to
[5:19] tell you what scale to use or use those
[5:22] ears that you developed in level one
[5:24] just listen to the song and experiment
[5:26] until you figure out what notes and
[5:27] scales work best by process of
[5:28] elimination there are only 12 notes to
[5:31] try and 12 possible major scales they
[5:33] can fit into and you can probably figure
[5:34] out what scale works if you just try and
[5:36] actually if you've put the time in to
[5:38] learn all your scales really well you
[5:40] can figure out what key you're in really
[5:42] really quickly because certain notes
[5:43] only fit in certain scales like if C
[5:46] doesn't work but C does you can rule out
[5:48] a whole bunch of scales and then you
[5:50] only have to check a couple more notes
[5:52] to quickly narrow down your options to
[5:54] just one scale this might seem a bit
[5:56] mystifying if you don't know your scales
[5:58] well but this is just one of the many
[5:59] superpowers you gain by learning all
[6:01] your major scales more info on that in
[6:03] the description as
[6:04] well some songs will modulate to
[6:06] different keys but it's the same idea
[6:08] figure out what scale works in what
[6:10] section and you'll have a pool of notes
[6:11] to choose from at any time that are
[6:13] going to sound pretty good and even Jazz
[6:16] which tends to be really harmonically
[6:17] complicated with lots of different
[6:19] chords can even be thought of in terms
[6:20] of level two that is different groupings
[6:22] of notes that combine to create various
[6:24] key centers and when you're comfortable
[6:26] with that and ready to move to a greater
[6:28] level of detail that brings us to level
[6:30] three chord Theory now instead of just
[6:33] thinking of a key that a piece or
[6:34] section is in and using an appropriate
[6:36] scale to improvise you're actually
[6:38] paying attention to what chord is being
[6:39] played at any given moment and what
[6:41] scales and arpeggios work best over that
[6:43] specific chord if you're playing the
[6:45] blues rather than just using the blue
[6:47] scale level three would require knowing
[6:49] the arpeggios and scales of all the
[6:51] specific chords used in the Blues and
[6:53] trying to incorporate those notes into
[6:55] your improvisations during those
[6:56] specific bars the blues generally only
[6:58] has three chord to worry about but this
[7:00] is fundamentally a much more detailed
[7:02] higher resolution understanding of how
[7:04] to navigate improvising over a piece of
[7:06] music and depending on the tune you
[7:08] might have quite a few different chord
[7:09] changes to consider this is a big
[7:11] project because every chord type and
[7:13] this is just a few transposes into 15
[7:16] keys and has its own arpeggio and scale
[7:18] type as well as notes that we tend to
[7:20] classify as tensions which sound pretty
[7:22] good but you know have tension and avoid
[7:24] notes which sound dissonant and should
[7:26] generally only be used as passing tones
[7:29] level three improvisers also consider
[7:30] voice leading and guide tones as they
[7:32] move between subsequent chords and often
[7:34] try to highlight those harmonic changes
[7:36] when improvising such as in the Blues to
[7:38] give you a sense of the difference
[7:39] between level two and three here's two
[7:41] choruses of me improvising on the blues
[7:43] first and level two then level three
[7:52] [Music]
[8:21] level three is a big jump in detail and
[8:23] we're going to do a deep dive on all
[8:25] these topics and More in subsequent
[8:27] videos so be sure to subscribe so you
[8:28] don't miss them but for now just
[8:30] remember that you don't have to learn
[8:31] every chord and every key to get started
[8:33] in level three improvisation you just
[8:35] have to learn the chords and the song
[8:37] you're learning and if you'd like to
[8:38] have a conversation about these or other
[8:40] musical topics I teach lessons online I
[8:42] play trumpet but I've coached musicians
[8:43] who play all kinds of instruments about
[8:45] all kinds of musical topics we can work
[8:47] on improvisation rhythms site reading
[8:50] repertoire or whatever you like visit my
[8:51] website bradh
[8:56] harrison.com a member of my Channel or
[8:58] joining my P patreon one of the perks is
[9:00] access to a huge scale syllabus and a
[9:03] set of playalong practice tracks
[9:04] designed to help you learn all your
[9:06] scales in no time a bunch of different
[9:07] scales have already been published and
[9:09] more are on the way check the
[9:10] description for links to become a member
[9:12] level four substitutions at this level
[9:15] in addition to being aware of what chord
[9:17] is being played and what arpeggio and
[9:18] chord scale is indicated you're also
[9:20] considering substitutions and
[9:21] alterations to add even more color to
[9:23] your improvisations if you're looking at
[9:25] a major seven chord there are a few
[9:27] options each with their own interesting
[9:28] sound but dominant chords surely have
[9:30] the highest number of common
[9:32] substitutions and there are probably
[9:33] even a few more that I forgotten here
[9:35] we'll get into the details in other
[9:36] videos but here's an idea of what some
[9:38] of these sound like
[9:40] [Music]
[10:08] and you can even get into what is known
[10:10] as Sid stepping or playing outside the
[10:12] key which is basically what it sounds
[10:13] like playing notes that aren't in the
[10:15] key there's a lot to explore in this
[10:17] topic but a good way to think of it is
[10:18] playing something in a key just not the
[10:20] key that's being played at the time
[10:23] [Music]
[10:31] [Laughter]
[10:32] [Music]
[10:42] the options for cord and scale
[10:44] substitutions are nearly Limitless and
[10:46] it really does bring us back to the idea
[10:48] that there are no right or wrong notes
[10:50] only Bolder or more conservative choices
[10:52] and you get to choose what kind of
[10:53] sounds you think are appropriate for the
[10:54] music you want to play and finally that
[10:56] idea brings us right into level five if
[10:59] you've gotten here you've been on a
[11:00] journey you've learned how to listen and
[11:02] how to play by ear how to improvise in a
[11:04] key how to choose scales and arpeggios
[11:06] that fit the core to the moment and how
[11:08] to add substitutions to add more
[11:10] harmonic color to your improvisations
[11:11] level five is the combination of all of
[11:13] these applied in a new way that is
[11:15] primarily concerned with tension and
[11:17] release and as we alluded to earlier
[11:19] this level is highly intuitive and it
[11:21] can be because of all the work you've
[11:23] done to get here if you were to ask an
[11:25] improviser on another level what they
[11:26] were thinking while they're playing they
[11:27] can usually offer a reasonably clear
[11:29] explanation appropriate to their level
[11:31] of progress but in my experience truly
[11:33] Advanced improvisers sometimes struggle
[11:35] to answer such a question with any level
[11:36] of specificity because they're wielding
[11:38] so many different improvisational tools
[11:41] they're so free from their instrument
[11:42] that the ideas just sort of come out
[11:44] they're just trying to get from one
[11:45] harmonic point to another tension and
[11:48] release is really Paramount in music and
[11:50] really in most art in general and going
[11:51] on this journey of learning through
[11:53] these different levels is going to
[11:54] inform your choices in ways that are
[11:56] difficult to describe now I'm not going
[11:58] to demonstrate level level five because
[11:59] that sort of feels like the height of
[12:01] hubris But be sure to listen to all the
[12:03] great improvising musicians and you'll
[12:05] find plenty of examples please let me
[12:07] know in the comments what you think
[12:08] about improvisation and any questions
[12:10] you might have and get in touch with me
[12:11] if You' like to work on any of these
[12:12] things in a lesson I'll be releasing
[12:14] videos digging into the details of jazz
[12:16] Theory later this year so be sure to
[12:17] subscribe too thanks to all my
[12:19] supporters on patreon and all the
[12:20] members of my channel here on YouTube I
[12:22] truly appreciate the support please
[12:24] consider becoming a member if you'd like
[12:26] to support the channel and help me make
[12:27] these videos more frequently thanks for
[12:29] watching