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Well, it's time for another practice project.
I enjoy spending a few minutes each day free improvising. I don't usually record them, but I'm thinking about maybe doing so...
Anyway, a lot of times I just go for it, but sometimes it's fun to have a little inspiration...or even a self imposed restriction--to this freedom.
I've been writing down a list of concepts to think about/try when doing my little meditative improvs...if this interests you at all, add more of your own ideas below.
I'm thinking maybe I'll even record some of these and see how they turn out...
1. Silence equals sound (so whatever I play, once the phrase is done, try to leave the same amount of space after)
2. Play along with a sound in your environment
3. Slowly deconstruct an actual melody
4. Have a conversation between registers on the guitar
5. Score the scene (watch a video of something, create the soundtrack)
6. Play the weather
7. Tuning roulette
8. Only 6th, 4th, and 2nd string
9. Only 5th, 3rd, and 1st string
10. All chords, no single notes
11. Guitar as a percussion instrument
12. Echo chamber Play a phrase, make it repeat and fade out like an echo)
13. Be a little out of tune, use your hands to bring the notes to where they "should" be
14. Choose 3 random words and use those as inspiration
15. Ghost in the room (play like you are accompanying another instrument that only you can hear)
Add more!
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04-21-2026 09:58 AM
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4 notes, 2 beats of silence.
3 notes, three beats.
2, 4.
1, 5.
nothingness.
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All these are external stimuli. They’ll work, but to get deep, go inward.
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I like to use free improvisation to train my ear.
There is a certain kind of playing that turns the focus to the "note" and not the "sound". Often when I'm listening to players playing, especially chordal and chord solo, I can hear them thinking... thinking about their fingers, or thinking about the next chord, or thinking about getting to or forming a chord. Sometimes this results in choppy phrasing, notes that aren't held long enough to avoid a break the flow of the line.
Free improvisation is a great way of moving focus back to the sounding hand, dynamics, space, in coordination with the fretting hand to make a beautiful sound. It's remarkable how much a good vocal sound can be lost when we think like a guitarist only.
When I play free, I can discover and reenforce the things my hands to when getting a GOOD SOUND. Classical players, I'll note, pay a lot of attention to this when the cross the line from student to performer. Jazz players not so much. Playing free where you can take control of all elements via the ear is a great exercise.
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16. Sing then play?
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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This focusing on sound thing is huge for me. It's not about chasing tone...it's about learning to adapt with your hands to always make a good sound. Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
It's actually one of the few things about my playing that I think I do really well
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Don't take this the wrong way but living up to the task of playing tunes really well, getting the changes right can be SUCH a distraction! Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
This focusing on sound thing is huge for me. It's not about chasing tone...it's about learning to adapt with your hands to always make a good sound.
It's actually one of the few things about my playing that I think I do really well
We used to play free improvisation in a small group setting. The things we'd have to open our ears up to, and when we'd ease our way into tunes with changes, our playing was SO much better, and yes, we were listening to the sound with such a more informed ear.
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You know, when a band takes a song into an interlude of deconstruction they are essentially playing free off of each other, and the captivating aspect is how they recover the song back from deconstruction. Some are suspicious that deconstruction was invented as a way to plausibly disguise and recover from a train wreck.
An interesting alternative is to treat the deconstruction as a musical transformation from one song to another - recovering the song into another song; that next song likely in a different key, different tempo, different mood and style. This gives the deconstruction a different sense of motivation and an emerging surprise.
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You haven't mentioned colors yet. Play this. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Or, if that's too 'functional', try
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I'd add these three Captain Beefheart commandments.... from this thread: Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing
1. Listen to the birds. - Have a musical conversation with them.
2. Your guitar is not really a guitar. - Play it like it is some other instrument, say a wind instrument.
5. If you’re guilty of thinking, you’re out. - Be a sound painter.
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The fundamental denominator in all this is... the ear. Always the ear.
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Aures Uber Alles
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You're either composing what you play or using a random prompt of some sort. For the latter you could use a random number generator: 12 numbers = 12 different pitches.
How do you define "deconstruct"? - play the notes in a different order, backwards, upside down, etc.? And why just slowly? Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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I'll share a story that I appreciate more deeply as I advance as a guitarist.
Guitarist friend of mine was performing at a concert in a school in Boston. It was a small group situation and he was sharing the stage with Hal Crook, trombonist who lived very comfortably in both worlds of free improv and standards.
At one point, Hal meandered into a free improvisational foray of atonal and short phrase rhythmic collage. Mick listened and found a way, knowing the shifting harmonic implications added what was needed to accentuate, complement, nudge and redefine the original statement. Phrase after phrase they created a composition that was free in its language yet very focused in a feeling of direction. There was always a feeling of interplay between Hal and Mick but also something else they were both aware of but stayed unspoken and innocuous.
After about 10 or 12 minutes, Mick became aware that that subtle presence was in fact All The Things You Are, and at that point they both took the head out.
Both Hal and Mick said they didn't know at what point the song form "announced" itself, but both agreed that not knowing that they needed to pay deference to "the tune" allowed them to listen to All The Other Things. When you play like that, you're playing free with the tune as being just another player.
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I did a picture, which I won't bore you with, and played this. Worked out the sounds as I went, copied from nothing. Not even my style, I don't do CM. Turned out quite nice. I suppose technically it's background music but it holds up pretty well by itself.
So the trigger was the picture in this case as that seems to be the point of the thread. I think!
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I've put some notes on that backing.
Probably Mark K could contribute to your thread although it seems to have disappeared from view. Have you given up on it?
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Most often, those who don't know how to play take it for free.
I know the opinions of outstanding musicians who believed that Free jazz does not develop the ability to play real jazz.
But there are probably also those who think otherwise.
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Listen to Frisell‘s trio and the way they segue from one tune into another. Originally Posted by Mick-7
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It‘s a different set of skills for sure. OTOH, someone like Archie Shepp can play jazz beautifully and then go into free attacks, all in one solo. Originally Posted by kris
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It is often the case that those who can play real jazz have the ability to move towards Free jazz. Originally Posted by docsteve
And those who play only Free have a problem with playing real jazz.
I played jazz in the 70s and I know this problem exactly.
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I don't know what free actually means. Everything we do is limited by knowledge, capacity, and so on.
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It means no pre-arranged chord changes. Originally Posted by ragman1
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You can not know the chords at all and look at the moon instead of the notes. Originally Posted by James W
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Kris, you've made me smile! Originally Posted by kris
You can not know the chords at all and look at the moon instead of the notes.
Well, if free means no chord changes then I haven't played free. Except private noodling, of course.
We're obviously not talking about classical pieces that don't have chord changes as we know them. But I have done strange pieces just to break the mould occasionally. If there's any point to them.
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