Using Melodies in Improvisation

[m78w]

Hey Everyone,

Just posted a new lesson on my site and wanted to pass it along. Deals with using melodic and rhythmic content from melodies as sources of inspiration in our soloing.

Play the Tune Not the Changes | MattWarnockGuitar.com

Check it out, thanks!

[guitarplayer007]

Matt your site in becoming very comprehensive!
Ken

[m78w]

Thanks Ken, hope you dig the lesson!

[guitarplayer007]

I dig all of them, problem with learning jazz is info overload and not staying on one thing long enough to make it part of you.
ken

[m78w]

For sure, i always prefer to pick one or two things to work on for a while, usually a month or more before moving on to the next approach.

[guitarplayer007]

I agree, but the i always see stuff online that i say, oh really want to learn that now...it can make you crazy, sometimes i think it must have been easier to learn jazz before the internet with a just a teacher. That way you stay more focused on the things that are important to becoming a jazz player.

[guitarplayer007]

While your here, do you have any picking exercises, my pick always tends to get stuck for some reason. i always feel like i should be a much quicker player. I have Conti's Precicision technique but not sure if that is really the way to improve speed and technique.I always always consider fast in rock n blues playing, but obviously you do alot less picking in that style.
Thx
ken

[m78w]

Hey,
Yeah the internet is great, but sometimes I miss the days when I had to save up and take a bus down to the music shop to buy a Joe Pass chord book, or whatever they had in stock.

Also for picking, you could try picking with the rhythms. So up pick the up beats, between the beats, and down pick on the beats. It's not really alternate picking since you play all ups if you are playing a syncopated line that's all up beats. Might be worth trying out. Or, something Jake Langley showed me was alternate picking, except when you change strings you do a mini sweep. so if you go from the 5th to the 4th string you do two down strokes, like a sweep, and if you go from the 4th to the 5th you sweep up, otherwise you alternate pick. Just a couple of ideas.

[markf]

thanks

[m78w]

No problem Mark, hope you dig it.

[Helgo]

Hi Matt.

Great article, thanks. I joined this forum two weeks ago and through this forum I found your website. I enjoy reading it very much and became a newsletter subscriber right away. Thanks for your effort and may your efforts lead to success for you.

Also, Ken, I really feel the same way about this:

problem with learning jazz is info overload and not staying on one thing long enough to make it part of you.

As a hobby guitarist with lots of "construction sites" and "unfinished areas" in my guitar playing and with little time to fix them it is always very tempting to jump from one thing to another (too) quickly (because I think: Hey man, I gotta know this, I gotta be abled to do that andsoforth...)

For me it is almost never a question what to practice but what not to practice...

Maybe this would be a good idea for an article, Matt?


Cheers,
H.

[m78w]

Hey Man,
Thanks, glad you dig the site! Yeah that's a good topic for an article, maybe I can just talk about how i sift through everything to figure out what I need to practice.

What I like doing, and what I have a lot of my students do, is spend 10 minutes a day recording myself playing over a tune. Then, I sit down, listen to my playing and analyze it to see what is cool and what needs work. Then, the next day I start my practice time with the stuff that needs work and I leave the cool stuff alone for a bit. I find this approach works well when figuring out what is important to work on and what can sit on the back burner for a while.

[phdmerrill]

Great stuff Matt. You really show how to do it but still leave a lot to the creativity of the reader. Honestly, I didn't consider melodies like Oleo or Straight, No Chaser likely source material for improvisation, but its definitely something I should work on. Very inspiring.

[m78w]

Thanks man, glad you dug it. Yeah, sometimes looking in unlikely places can send us off in cool directions when improvising.

[Jzzr]

Yes....thank you very much for another great article. I was able to use it today at a small jam with good results. I also agree with the others on the problem of information overload. It is difficult to keep practice sessions organized and focused. Maybe that would be a good topic for a separate thread.

[Franklin52]

Great article as always, thanks Matt.

[m78w]

Thanks guys, yeah Jzzr it is a tough thing that we all face, no matter where we are in our development. Should be a good thread if it gets started.

[jazzuki]

Matt-another good article-you know not enough young guitartist's know the melody to tunes they try and improvise over as you point out especially in chord/melody where the lyrics are so important and really guide you to how the song should be presented.I know you a great Joe Pass fan and he always "Learn Tunes"

[guitarplayer007]

Hey Helgo,

Glad i'm not alone in this information overload jazz world. I get so dam frustrated sometimes.... Thats why i decided to take lessons from an actual person and really get focused on what areas i need to work on. I think if i do that i can get at least 50% better in the next 12 months.
You can check me on youtube under kidpoker007 and tel me what you think. I do some Jazz, jazzrock, blues
ken

[dmorash]

Great idea for an article and a good way to connect to the tune more. Loved the quote about being able to identify the tune by hearing some reference or sense of the melody in the improvisation (paraphrased loosely).

Great point about info overload in this thread. I like these articles because they are in digestable chunks. Great stuff.

[Helgo]

Hi Ken.

Yeah, it´s good to know we´re not alone

I did the same thing, got a teacher. I agreed with him on working on the following basis:
"This is where I stand right now.
This is where I want to go.
This is the amount of time I can spend per day, realistically.
How do we proceed?"

He really helped me to organize my practicing. Organizing practicing really is the essential thing for me at this point of my musical development.

Finding a teacher who is willing to help me to achieve my goals with the limited resources I have took me a while, too...

I will check your youtube channel later, if you want to hear my playing, I posted something on this board a few days ago, right over here:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/showc...-forum-me.html

Cheers,
H.

[guitarplayer007]

Hi Helgo,

Sounds like we are in the same boat about getting more focused, i ususally can practcie between 2-3 hrs a night. I will check your song out later as well, i'm at work currently.
Ken

[brwnhornet59]

Great article Matt. I picked up a few very useful ideas. I look forward to pursuing them soon. You have a great knack for pointing out the obvious, that most people miss or never think of.

[akubra]

Matt, that's great article. Some very good points there, that are usually missed and overlooked.

Yes, internet is so crowded with information that probably biggest challenge, especially for beginners, is to avoid wasting time on wrong things. Your articles are definitely worth reading.

[m78w]

Thanks man, glad you dug it!

[jdaguitar2]

Very cool, thank you!

[m78w]

No problem, thanks for checking it out!