pakiboy949
Well-known member
Anybody know anything about it, to memorize scales and learn to improvise?
A whole tone scale is just made up of tones, no semitones.
C,D,E,F#,G#,A#,C
I tend to use a Dorian scale which is made up of t s t t s t (there are lots of different jazz scales) oh t = tone, s = semitone
A-----------0-1-3---------
E-------1-3---------------
C-0-2-3------------------
G----------------------
Any note in a C blues scale should sound 'right' against a c chord. A blues scale will sound weird when played up and down. Players will pick notes from the blues scale, to make a small melody that can be played over the top of a chord
The whole purpose of a blues/jazz scales is to give players a framework to build melodies on. Learning the scales trains your fingers how to move between the notes, and your ears what to expect.
I found a great reply to a post from a trombone player asking how to improvise over on yahoo answers. A lot of what he says applies to any sort of improvisation, particularly he mentions how specific scales are used in different types of jazz. So check out the post: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/frontend.php/question?qid=20080104163101AAGfV5r&show=7
In reality, I think I learnt how to improvise (on trumpet at least) by playing little counter melodies to accompany the main melody in a song.
Hope that helps you out (sort of)
One school of thought says, "play what you hear", "just flow", or in the infamous phrase of Hawaiian guitarist Ledward Kaapana, "jus' press".
I am willing to bet that guys like Dom and Aldrine are so good because they digested a lot of music first through their ears and took time to try and copy what they heard as opposed to only reading tabs.
0-- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 - 3 4
o|| o - o - o - o o - o - o | o -...
o|| o - o - o o - o - o - o | o -...
o|| - o - o o - o - o o - o | - o...
o|| - o o - o - o - o o - o | - o...
/ 2 \/ 2 \/ 1 \/ 2 \/ 2 \/ 1 \/ 2 \
A|----------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------|
C|-0----2----4----5----7----9----10----12-|
G|----------------------------------------|
/ 2 \/ 2 \/ 1 \/ 2 \/ 2 \/ 1 \/ 2 \
A|----------------------------------------|
E|-1----3----5----6----8----10---12----13-|
C|----------------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------------|