Jazz Improvisation Tips

All set to enhance your jazz improvisation abilities for the piano? A lot more simply, if you're playing a song that remains in swing time, then you're currently playing to a triplet feel (you're thinking of that each beat is divided into three 8th note triplets - and every off-beat you play is postponed and used the 3rd triplet note (so you're not also playing two uniformly spaced eighth notes to start with).

So as opposed to playing two 8 notes in a row, which would last one quarter note ('one' - 'and'), you can separate that quarter note into 3 '8th note triplet' notes - where each note of the triplet is the same size. The first improvisation technique is 'chord tone soloing', which means to make up melodies using the 4 chord tones of the chord (1 3 5 7).

I usually play all-natural 9ths above most chords - including all 3 chords of the major ii-V-I. This 'chordal structure' sounds ideal if you play your right-hand man noisally, and left hand (chord) a bit more quiet - so that the listener hears the melody note ahead.

It's fine for these units to find out of range, as long as they wind up solving to the 'target note' - which will typically be one of the chord tones. The 'chord range above' method - come before any chord tone (1 3 5 7) with the note over. In music, a 'triplet' is when you play 3 uniformly spaced notes in the room of 2.

Now you could play this 5 note scale (the wrong notes) over the same C small 7 chord in your left hand. With this method you simply play the same notes that you're already playing in the chord. Chord scale above - half-step listed below - target note (e.g. E - C# - D).

Most jazz piano improvisation rhythms piano solos include an area where the tune quits, and the pianist plays a series of chord enunciations, to an intriguing rhythm. These include chord tone soloing, technique patterns, triplet rhythms, 'chordal textures', 'playing out' and more.