What are you thinking about when you play / improvise ?

[NRJay]

I talked with a trumpet player who told me he thinks of the notes. I said he plays too fast to do so, and he said he thinks of the notes on the staff (kind of "writes the music" on the staff in his head, and he then plays it as if seeing it like sight reading).

I'm tempted to believe that the guitar, more than other instruments, lends itself to more variation in what people think when they play...?

Are you thinking about...

Note names?
Chord names?
Intervals?
Chord types?
Shapes?
Patterns?
Pitches?
Harmonies?
Something else?

Do you feel it with your fingers?
Do you see it on the fingerboard?
Do you hear it in your mind?

[princeplanet]

This question comes up a lot, and frankly I don't mind, because it causes me to evaluate (re-evaluate?) my own processes. One thing is for certain, I definitely do not think "notes on the staff" as I'm improvising! Infact, I'd be surprised if any one on this forum thinks that way.

Another thing I'm becoming more certain about is that I'm not pre hearing every single note I play, only the slower parts. The faster pre-learned musical sentences are coming from muscle memory which I'm kind of hearing as I play, at least well enough to resolve these lines any number of ways I choose at the very moment I arrive there.

So it's not just the fingers, nor just the ears guiding me but instead a symbiosis of the two. One influences the other in a circular, complimentary way. I now say that I use my "Fingears"

Of course, others may come from more of one camp than the other, although I've always been very suspicious of the claim that people are "playing what they hear". As I've often said, it's probably more a case of them "hearing what they know", which I think most of us do to some extent. Otherwise if you can play anything (at any tempo) the things you randomly might compose in your head, then you should also be able to instantly play what you hear coming from outside of your head. The latter ability is exceptionally rare and I feel fairly certain that no-one on this forum would claim such ability.

[pamosmusic]

Thinking about all that stuff when I practice ... none of it when I play (ideally).

When I play with people I'm thinking about what they're doing much much more than what I'm doing. When I don't know a tune quite as well as I should (which is too often) then I'm usually thinking about the changes. I rarely find myself thinking more micro than that except if I'm developing a sequence or something like that. In that case though, I'm usually thinking about that instead of the changes for a time.

[pamosmusic]

Another thing I'm becoming more certain about is that I'm not pre hearing every single note I play, only the slower parts. The faster pre-learned musical sentences are coming from muscle memory which I'm kind of hearing as I play, at least well enough to resolve these lines any number of ways I choose at the very moment I arrive there.

So it's not just the fingers, nor just the ears guiding me but instead a symbiosis of the two. One influences the other in a circular, complimentary way. I now say that I use my "Fingears"

I identify with both of those statements ... I think if it's something that breaks out of my comfort zone tempo then It's probably muscle memory. When I'm more comfortable I hear shapes and rhythms in real time but not pitches. I doubt my ear will ever be that good. With that said it's still much more of an auto pilot thing ... it's not a chess game where I'm thinking three measures ahead. I've heard people talk about it like that but that feels weird to me. Like you'd be more focused on where your solo was going than where the other musicians were. Maybe I'm doing wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

I definitely 100% agree with the second thing. It's hard to hear something that your fingers have never been anywhere near (I thin that's just a practical statement ... unless you just have stupid monster chops and shed ideas at the piano all the time? most of us do our ear expanding at the guitar I would guess) --- and it's hard to play something in a tune if you can't hear it "in the wild" so to speak.

[destinytot]

Perhaps shapes - order out of chaos - as soft-loud-soft linear waves. Thought becomes about staying upright and balanced while riding that sonic wave.

[destinytot]

I now say that I use my "Fingears"

[Boston Joe]

I TRY not to think about any of the technical aspects of the music. Sometimes it's unavoidable, and sometimes I get slack about it, but when I'm on my game, I'm not thinking about any of that stuff. When it's going REALLY well, I believe that I'm not thinking about anything. Very Zen. That doesn't happen very often. When it's going well, but not THAT well, I'm thinking about the sort of mood I'm trying to convey, whether it's exuberant, or melancholy, or whatever. I try to get myself to feel that mood (like an actor, maybe - emotional memories and stuff).

When it's going okay - which I guess would be most of the time - I'm thinking about a combination of that stuff, plus some technical stuff. Maybe thinking about a scale I want to use to target a particular note or something. I'm not thinking of note names or anything like that. Mostly visualizing shapes.

When it's going badly, I'm thinking about how badly it's going.

[kris]

I am thinking about...to be together with the band and about expression.

[lammie200]

Great topic. When warming up I tend to think about technical things such as progressions and the like. Once I am stretched out I go mostly on feel and I tend to think about conversations with someone that I love. It sounds sappy, but they take on many forms. Some happy, some sad, some confrontational, etc.

[princeplanet]

....
When it's going badly, I'm thinking about how badly it's going.

Haha! Yeah, who can't relate to that? And you're right that it's akin to Zen, or how destinytot put it " Staying balanced while riding the sonic wave". Or downhill skiing, where you deal with every obstacle as they arrive, you don't really "plan" to turn left here, or right there, your trust your reflexes to do that in the instant a choice appears.

Which is a curious thing to consider, that we leave so much to non conscious reflexes the way that you might if you ran over hurdles - you shorten or lengthen your strides just before the hurdle so the leap happens in the right spot. You don't really think about it as much as "feel" your way there. In improv, maybe the target notes are like the hurdles, and the "filler" is like the strides in between- you try to arrive at your targets smoothly without stopping or falling over. But the curious bit is that spontaneous music composing is not just a physical challenge, but an artistic one. Things like artistic taste and expression have to be addressed in the same microsecond your technical demands are addressed.

So what goes on in the noggin? Do artistic choices emanate from the brain's frontal regions? Or can they also be reflexive in the way that the nervous system and the brains cerebellum (rear region) control autonomic or "auto pilot" processes?

It's hard enough to know what goes on in the mind of, say, a classical pianist playing from memory. There are still artistic and expressive choices being made that make each performance unique. But a Jazz performance places greater demands on spontaneity, obviously. Someone might post an article showing how the brain is activated during Jazz improv, but we can't know for sure what goes on, besides, it's bound to be different for each of us. My own thinking about it all has led me to have faith in my non conscious or non cognitive state. That part of us we loosely define as our "intuition", or our "feel". If we have prepared our skill set well enough for the band stand, then, as all the greats attest, we can "just fprget that shit and just wail"...


Maybe the question should be: What do you think about when you practice, so that you don't have to when you perform? (still workin' on that one...)

[Hep To The Jive]

I'm thinking about chicks.

[NoReply]

Which woman here isn't 23, a receptionist in a auto parts store, divorced, and have to have hot chocolate with their kid when we get back to her place???


Oh you mean while playing... First the tune I one of those who has issue with memorizing tunes, during solo then melodic shape of the solo not specific notes more where I want to go and dynamics I like to take advantage of dynamics in a solo. Then there's the shock of a bad note(s) and the "how the hell am I going to make this work???"

[TH]

A very astute and insightful interview that touches upon this very question (about the 2 minute mark)

David

[TH]

I'm thinking about chicks.

Wow! I thought I was the only one!

And sometimes, during a ballad, I find myself dreaming of ducklings.
David

[vintagelove]

I sing a melody that comes from my brain, through my finger, onto my instrument.

[targuit]

"Otherwise if you can play anything (at any tempo) the things you randomly might compose in your head, then you should also be able to instantly play what you hear coming from outside of your head. The latter ability is exceptionally rare and I feel fairly certain that no-one on this forum would claim such ability." Prince

What exactly do you mean by instantly playing "what you hear coming from outside your head"? Do you mean call and response?

[christianm77]

Ducklings.

[pubylakeg]

I think ahead.

[neatomic]

I'm thinking about chicks.

exactly!!! for better or worse!!

the worse the better..ie. the blues!!


haha

cheers

[targuit]

I can't say what I think about - there may be young kids on the forum.

[Blerpitybloop]

Alone? Nothing, just making music. Part muscle memory, exploration, familiar intervals and patterns, sounds, phrases. Complete creative freedom.

In front of anyone else? A crippling tritone of self-doubt and clams.

[princeplanet]

"Otherwise if you can play anything (at any tempo) the things you randomly might compose in your head, then you should also be able to instantly play what you hear coming from outside of your head. The latter ability is exceptionally rare and I feel fairly certain that no-one on this forum would claim such ability." Prince

What exactly do you mean by instantly playing "what you hear coming from outside your head"? Do you mean call and response?

Yeah, like if you heard Parker's Tunisia break for the first time, could you play it back straight away? Don't know about you guys, but I tend to hear stuff that's just as complex when I'm improvising in my mind, but there's no way I can play it without spending hours working it out. So when I'm improvising with the instrument in my hands, I try not to hear things I can't replicate...

[Hep To The Jive]

Wow! I thought I was the only one!

And sometimes, during a ballad, I find myself dreaming of ducklings.
David

Well, those chicks too young to fry

[bobby d]

Depends on how well I know the song and how complex the progression is. If I know the song real well, I may think of what I can play that's different - reaching for different intervals, going to different positions on the neck, etc. Or I may just get in the zone and follow what I'm hearing.

If it's a song I don't know at all, I go with chord scale theory - thinking about what scales shold be used for each chord.

If it's a fast bebop song that I don't know, I just try to keep up!

[targuit]

Yeah, like if you heard Parker's Tunisia break for the first time, could you play it back straight away? Don't know about you guys, but I tend to hear stuff that's just as complex when I'm improvising in my mind, but there's no way I can play it without spending hours working it out. So when I'm improvising with the instrument in my hands, I try not to hear things I can't replicate...

In regard to your question, I would suggest that CP knew this tune inside out in terms of the head. It is clearly composed and set. As for the solo, CP was playing what was in his head and what he anticipated melodically.
And very likely not his first go round with the tune.

But to respond directly, I did "play along" to the tune and believe it or not it is the first time I heard his version. Could I replicate in real time exactly what he played at tempo? Of course not. But apart from the tempo, the actual melodic content is not unplayable on guitar. If Charlie were playing it two measures for me at a time, yes I could replicate it. Perhaps not at the same tempo the first time around, but then again, it was not Charlie's first go round either. Simply put the solo is not unplayable by ear, but it is not a ballad tempo either and it is a horn not a guitar. There is a difference that is inherent in the technical demands of each instrument. And lastly, not all horn players even at a high level could do what you are asking. That goes for guitarists as well.

But I play what I hear, and it is not limited by technique so much as by intention. That is important. It is hard to replicate your thoughts before you utter them as they are in your head not mine.