How Improvisers Improvise

[00:00] the five levels of jazzz

[00:02] improvisation improvisation in music is

[00:05] the act of spontaneously playing

[00:06] something that hasn't been previously

[00:08] planned or composed in fact in many ways

[00:10] it is simply composition sped up some

[00:13] people find the idea of any kind of

[00:14] improvisation to be pretty intimidating

[00:16] but I think that anyone can learn to do

[00:18] it because it's something that you do

[00:19] all the time when you tell a story or

[00:21] have a conversation and you haven't

[00:23] pre-written or memorize what you're

[00:24] saying you're improvising you've

[00:26] probably got some broad ideas in mind

[00:27] that you're trying to convey but it's

[00:29] not worked out ahead of time you're just

[00:32] talking you're able to draw from your

[00:34] massive vocabulary and compose sentences

[00:36] on the spot that make sense and convey

[00:38] meaning conversely in music there are

[00:40] only a few notes to choose from so it

[00:42] should be a lot easier to play something

[00:44] that makes sense and even sounds pretty

[00:45] good but if you're in a band and it's

[00:47] your turn to take a solo and you're just

[00:49] supposed to make something up how do you

[00:51] do

[00:53] that now it should go without saying

[00:55] that anything you play should be in time

[00:58] in tune and with a good sound that's

[01:00] just basic musicality and control of

[01:02] your instrument so you just have to

[01:03] choose what notes to play and what

[01:05] rhythms to play and in my experience

[01:07] working with new improvisers rhythm is

[01:09] not that big a deal while notes tend to

[01:11] be far more mystifying and intimidating

[01:13] so that's what this video is going to

[01:14] focus on and how you do decide what

[01:17] notes to play depends on how far you've

[01:18] progressed in what I think of as the

[01:20] five levels of improvisation in music

[01:23] and while the levels are sequential

[01:24] they're also cumulative and even sort of

[01:26] loop around on each other and while the

[01:28] progression of complexity is probably

[01:30] what you would expect the role of

[01:32] intuition may not

[01:35] be level one is all about playing by ear

[01:38] and it's basically 100% intuition there

[01:41] is a rare species of musician who are

[01:43] natural improvisers they engage with the

[01:45] music fearlessly and seem to

[01:46] effortlessly come up with brilliant

[01:48] musical ideas but maybe don't know much

[01:50] about chords or Theory some people never

[01:52] get out of level one and they don't need

[01:54] to because they sound awesome most of us

[01:56] aren't so lucky and need a bit more

[01:58] study and guidance to improvise well

[02:00] but everyone still needs level one

[02:02] because there's nothing more important

[02:03] in improvisation than using your ears

[02:05] and basically everyone has some

[02:07] intuitive understanding that some

[02:08] choices in music are very consonant

[02:10] While others have a lot of dissonance or

[02:12] [Music]

[02:19] tension but tension and dissonance

[02:21] aren't necessarily bad in fact the

[02:23] balance between tension and release is

[02:24] really important in music

[02:26] [Music]

[02:33] and you may notice how some notes want

[02:34] to go up to

[02:37] resolve While others sound more

[02:39] satisfying when they go

[02:43] down and if you're not sure how to

[02:45] resolve attention you should know you're

[02:47] only ever a semitone away from a

[02:49] resolution to attention

[03:01] with practice and experimentation you'll

[03:03] learn to hear and resolve these tensions

[03:04] quickly but I do think it's important to

[03:06] remember that there really are no

[03:08] objectively right or wrong choices here

[03:10] there's no forbidden or brown note

[03:12] that's going to make something explode

[03:13] if you play it wrong it's a bit like

[03:15] deciding what to have on your sandwich

[03:17] some choices are going to be more

[03:18] traditional While others are going to be

[03:19] more adventurous but you do you sure you

[03:22] could burn the toast and most people

[03:24] won't like that but the analogous

[03:25] situation to that is more like playing

[03:27] out of time with a poor sound rather

[03:29] than an objectively bad note so fill

[03:32] your ears improvising musicians need to

[03:33] listen to bands and soloist from genres

[03:35] that they want to play to try to figure

[03:37] out what kinds of sounds fit and what

[03:39] don't and back to sandwiches it's a bit

[03:41] like learning what kinds of things

[03:42] usually go well together and if you mix

[03:44] it up well it really depends on your own

[03:46] tastes if you find it interesting or

[03:48] just kind of weird so try a note and see

[03:51] if that works and go up or down a

[03:53] semitone if you need to then try another

[03:55] note and before you know it you'll have

[03:56] tried all 12 pitches and probably come

[03:58] up with a pool of notes that sound

[04:00] pretty good and all of the sudden now

[04:02] you're in level two level two use a

[04:05] scale or key most songs are made up of a

[04:08] variety of chords but more often than

[04:10] not these chords are going to be related

[04:12] to each other because they all tend to

[04:14] come from one key or scale for instance

[04:16] all these songs all have chords that

[04:18] come from the key of G major so you can

[04:21] just use the notes of the G Major scale

[04:22] to improvise and whatever you play is

[04:24] going to sound probably pretty good

[04:27] depending on the type of song you're

[04:28] playing you might find another type of

[04:30] scale works well but level two is

[04:32] basically about having an awareness that

[04:34] you can often just use one scale to

[04:36] guide your note choices for

[04:37] improvisation and it's going to sound

[04:38] pretty good now since this is level two

[04:41] it really helps to know a little bit of

[04:43] music theory like knowing the basic

[04:45] pattern of major scales and how that

[04:47] pattern relates to different kinds of

[04:48] minor scales and to other kinds of

[04:50] scales check my channel for videos about

[04:53] these scales if you need to brush up on

[04:54] anything and I even did one on how to

[04:56] learn all your scales in all 12 keys in

[04:58] just 24 hours with a really powerful

[05:01] practice technique and method to track

[05:02] your progress check the description for

[05:04] links but in the meantime don't panic

[05:07] because you don't need to know all these

[05:08] scales to get started you only need to

[05:10] know the scale you need to know to

[05:12] improvise on a specific tune so how do

[05:15] you know what scale to use first your

[05:16] teacher or someone else in the band who

[05:18] knows all the chords might be able to

[05:19] tell you what scale to use or use those

[05:22] ears that you developed in level one

[05:24] just listen to the song and experiment

[05:26] until you figure out what notes and

[05:27] scales work best by process of

[05:28] elimination there are only 12 notes to

[05:31] try and 12 possible major scales they

[05:33] can fit into and you can probably figure

[05:34] out what scale works if you just try and

[05:36] actually if you've put the time in to

[05:38] learn all your scales really well you

[05:40] can figure out what key you're in really

[05:42] really quickly because certain notes

[05:43] only fit in certain scales like if C

[05:46] doesn't work but C does you can rule out

[05:48] a whole bunch of scales and then you

[05:50] only have to check a couple more notes

[05:52] to quickly narrow down your options to

[05:54] just one scale this might seem a bit

[05:56] mystifying if you don't know your scales

[05:58] well but this is just one of the many

[05:59] superpowers you gain by learning all

[06:01] your major scales more info on that in

[06:03] the description as

[06:04] well some songs will modulate to

[06:06] different keys but it's the same idea

[06:08] figure out what scale works in what

[06:10] section and you'll have a pool of notes

[06:11] to choose from at any time that are

[06:13] going to sound pretty good and even Jazz

[06:16] which tends to be really harmonically

[06:17] complicated with lots of different

[06:19] chords can even be thought of in terms

[06:20] of level two that is different groupings

[06:22] of notes that combine to create various

[06:24] key centers and when you're comfortable

[06:26] with that and ready to move to a greater

[06:28] level of detail that brings us to level

[06:30] three chord Theory now instead of just

[06:33] thinking of a key that a piece or

[06:34] section is in and using an appropriate

[06:36] scale to improvise you're actually

[06:38] paying attention to what chord is being

[06:39] played at any given moment and what

[06:41] scales and arpeggios work best over that

[06:43] specific chord if you're playing the

[06:45] blues rather than just using the blue

[06:47] scale level three would require knowing

[06:49] the arpeggios and scales of all the

[06:51] specific chords used in the Blues and

[06:53] trying to incorporate those notes into

[06:55] your improvisations during those

[06:56] specific bars the blues generally only

[06:58] has three chord to worry about but this

[07:00] is fundamentally a much more detailed

[07:02] higher resolution understanding of how

[07:04] to navigate improvising over a piece of

[07:06] music and depending on the tune you

[07:08] might have quite a few different chord

[07:09] changes to consider this is a big

[07:11] project because every chord type and

[07:13] this is just a few transposes into 15

[07:16] keys and has its own arpeggio and scale

[07:18] type as well as notes that we tend to

[07:20] classify as tensions which sound pretty

[07:22] good but you know have tension and avoid

[07:24] notes which sound dissonant and should

[07:26] generally only be used as passing tones

[07:29] level three improvisers also consider

[07:30] voice leading and guide tones as they

[07:32] move between subsequent chords and often

[07:34] try to highlight those harmonic changes

[07:36] when improvising such as in the Blues to

[07:38] give you a sense of the difference

[07:39] between level two and three here's two

[07:41] choruses of me improvising on the blues

[07:43] first and level two then level three

[07:52] [Music]

[08:21] level three is a big jump in detail and

[08:23] we're going to do a deep dive on all

[08:25] these topics and More in subsequent

[08:27] videos so be sure to subscribe so you

[08:28] don't miss them but for now just

[08:30] remember that you don't have to learn

[08:31] every chord and every key to get started

[08:33] in level three improvisation you just

[08:35] have to learn the chords and the song

[08:37] you're learning and if you'd like to

[08:38] have a conversation about these or other

[08:40] musical topics I teach lessons online I

[08:42] play trumpet but I've coached musicians

[08:43] who play all kinds of instruments about

[08:45] all kinds of musical topics we can work

[08:47] on improvisation rhythms site reading

[08:50] repertoire or whatever you like visit my

[08:51] website bradh

[08:56] harrison.com a member of my Channel or

[08:58] joining my P patreon one of the perks is

[09:00] access to a huge scale syllabus and a

[09:03] set of playalong practice tracks

[09:04] designed to help you learn all your

[09:06] scales in no time a bunch of different

[09:07] scales have already been published and

[09:09] more are on the way check the

[09:10] description for links to become a member

[09:12] level four substitutions at this level

[09:15] in addition to being aware of what chord

[09:17] is being played and what arpeggio and

[09:18] chord scale is indicated you're also

[09:20] considering substitutions and

[09:21] alterations to add even more color to

[09:23] your improvisations if you're looking at

[09:25] a major seven chord there are a few

[09:27] options each with their own interesting

[09:28] sound but dominant chords surely have

[09:30] the highest number of common

[09:32] substitutions and there are probably

[09:33] even a few more that I forgotten here

[09:35] we'll get into the details in other

[09:36] videos but here's an idea of what some

[09:38] of these sound like

[09:40] [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