My very first jazz improvisation...ideas? how to improve?

[stelle]

Hello 

Ive been listening to a lot of jazz lately because Im wanting to be able to play in that style. Im self taught so i don't have a teacher(duh ) so any advice, ideas, tips, criticisms would be really helpful!

This is just a one shot improvisation by ear...ive also learned (off sheet music) a song that was jazzy, and from there, i took the techniques i learnt, and the patterns that i observed, plus just by ear, a few of the things ive liked from other songs and made up my own:)

So to cut the long story short...HERE it is

Oh and by the way, if there is a particular book or website that isnt too hard to understand, teaching the basics of jazz, please do let me know!

At the moment, i have no jazz theory under my belt, well i understand the concept so i guess it is a kind of theory, but......i would like to learn more

Thanks for taking the time!

Estelle

[ted]

I am not a jazz pianist but my music is strongly influenced by many aspects of jazz. The piano recording shows you already have a strong intuitive feeling for rhythm and phrase. That, to my mind, is indispensible. Accumulating a huge harmonic knowledge and vocabulary cannot compensate for the lack of rhythmic invention, or so it seems to me. Most jazz pianists talk often about harmony but seldom about rhythm. This has always been a mystery to me, as I would have thought rhythm much more important.

I cannot advise you about becoming a "jazz pianist" because I am not one, but I hear the same rhythmic and phrasal grasp in your playing that I hear in "jazz pianists". I think therefore, that you already have the hard part, and it's just a question of listening to and absorbing heaps of the sort of music which moves you. If you can find a teacher who plays jazz, then so much the better, but they have to be able to actually do it and not just talk about it. You could also try to persuade a jazz pianist to spare you a couple of hours of private observation of his or her playing. Live observation boosts confidence and imparts copious amounts of information which all too often dry, verbal lessons cannot.  

You have rhythm in you though, and that's the main thing.

[stelle]

Thanks Ted for your reply! Its encouraging!

I agree with you, Active listening plays a very important part in piano playing. More than once ive found that i havent been able to consolidate a piece from sheet music, but after listening to the song a few times, it just works (that may also be due to my lack of sight reading skills too=P). But the listening actually makes sense because i think, we play from our brain, not from our fingers-fingers are our way of expressing what is UP there. Our fingers cant play what is not up there. correct me if im wrong

I have actually had the opportunity to find a teacher who improvised in the style that i really liked and i had them to just sit and play on the piano improvising and playing pieces that i liked for an hour and half whilst i observed and asked questions. I had around 10 lessons like this and it has made SUCH an enormous difference in my playing. Just to listen and observe things like dynamics and expression, rhythm, patterns, chord progressions and everything else! Books and 'dry, verbal lessons' as you put it dont really work for me Ive yet to find a good book.....

I dont want to be a "hard core" jazz pianist so to speak, but i definitely would like to learn how to incorporate a lot more Jazz elements into my playing!

Thanks again Ted,

Ill go and find a good jazz pianist and start listening!

Estelle.

[keyofc]

Stelle,

This was beautiful - Isn't this "There's Something About That Name"?


Chuck Marohnic is a really good jazz educator in AZ.
He has a lot of books that I  think are good.  I have a couple.

[jonalexher]

That was beautiful!

don't really know much about playing jazz, although I'm really interested in it, so can't really give any advice :/