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1. Listen to Jazz Recordings |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| Spend as much time as you can listening repeatedly to classic solos, absorbing sound, feel, rhythms, articulation and memorising song forms. Remember, the answers to all your questions are in the recordings! |
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2. Train your Ear |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| Eartraining is an important skill to develop for all musicians who want to play jazz and improvise. |
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3. Start with the Blues |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| The Blues is an excellent place to start improvising. The music is generally easier than typical jazz standards, and there is a rich heritage of vocal and guitar blues music to enjoy online and on CD. For those new to learning tunes, this is the place to start. |
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4. Imitate Your Heroes |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| You can learn alot about music by copying your musical heroes, their ideas, inflections and performance style. To better study your heroes, there are a number of tools that you can use to improve your chance of successfully getting the music down. |
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5. Memorise 10 Tunes |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| Memorising tunes is a key step in performing music well. This includes learning the melody, the chords, the rhythms and if possible the lyrics. You gain a lot of confidence from successfully memorising tunes, which makes it welll worth doing. |
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6. Top 10 Practice Tips |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| Practice without a plan is like cycling up on blocks. A lot of peddling without any scenery changes, and no real progress. Here are some tips to get ‘the rubber back on the road.’ |
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7. Learn the Music Theory |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| Music theory helps you make generalisations about what you're hearing (and seeing on the page). It's useful to have some knowledge of music theory as it will allow you to practice more effectively and get more out of music. |
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8. Build Your Vocabulary |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| To improvise fluently, you need to spend time assimilating stock phrases and real world language into your musical vocabulary. Practise each phrase through the cycle of fourths and then play over your favourite chord progressions. |
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9. The Most Useful Skill You Can Have in Music |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| All jazz players and vocalists benefit from learning basic keyboard skills. The piano keyboard is an essential visual aid for understanding scales, intervals and chords. Practising chords and voice leading on piano will also help you to internalise the sound of chord progressions as you learn songs.... |
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10. All The Things You Can Do |
Topic: Improviser's Roadmap |
| Musicians looking for new challenges can focus on applying their practice routines to intermediate and advanced song forms such as I Got Rhythm; All The Things You Are; Giant Steps; Stella By Starlight; Out Of Nowehere, and many more. |
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