How To Improvise

[00:00:00]Hello everybody. Today I'm going to help you learn to improvise. I'm not going to be doing that just by myself. I'm going to be doing it with Lucy who is the queen of improvisation. She improvises in her sleep better than most of us can do it when we're wide awake. So this is also to celebrate the fact that we're launching a brand new course today called how to improvise led by Lucy. So what we're going to be doing in this video is taking you through the essential steps from square one through to more complicated stuff so you can make it look completely effortless. Here is a little excerpt from the course. So we'll do some improvisation then.

[00:00:33]>> Yeah.

[00:00:34]>> I'm very out of practice compared to Lucy.

[00:00:36]>> Mistakes. Nice to see you, mate.

[00:00:37]>> I'm I'm likely to make questionable decisions.

[00:00:39]>> [laughter] >> I think all improvisation and solos have to be like virtuosic and [music] really impressive and really busy and all of these sorts of things, but actually some of the best solos are the most simple.

[00:00:50]>> Very true.

[00:00:50]>> Yeah. [music] One note played just at the right moment is the most beautiful.

[00:00:54]We're we're we're talking. We're having a dialogue when we're improvising.

[00:00:57][music] >> You don't need to be playing all the time. I think the thing you should keep in mind is what does the music need?

[00:01:04]>> You want to have as many different options at your disposal when you're put on the spot and go, "What am I going [music] to do next?" Whether you're composing or whether you're playing live, you have to feel it in the moment and make a split second decision about what you want to do next. [music] Like the music doesn't stop for you.

[00:01:15]>> Like one of the biggest pieces of advice I have is if I like something, I'll transcribe the course and transcribe the solo. And then you take little passages like I really like that lick. And then I just have a bank of licks I like and I kind of, [music] you know, and you know the course it's going to be underneath it and then you don't need the bank of licks anymore.

[00:01:30]>> once you built up enough experience with it.

[00:01:32]>> It's basically just real-time music creation.

[00:01:35]>> When I'm writing a score for a film, the first thing I do is have the film in my door and just improvise through the entire film. And in that improvisation is the DNA of what the entire score will be.

[00:01:46]>> Yeah.

[00:01:47]>> Like with most of Thinkspace courses, [music] it's quite interactive. We've got some ear training applications as well, which are really fun. Play along exercises after almost every tutorial.

[00:01:56]We give you an audio loop that you can download. Members of the Thinkspace staff have had a go at these same tracks and we're giving you their solos, so you can hear different versions of different approaches.

[00:02:03]>> That's fun.

[00:02:04]>> Help you develop. Yes, it's pretty cool.

[00:02:05]>> was saying, have a look at this.

[00:02:06]>> Yeah.

[00:02:07]>> The more you learn about music, the less you [music] have to rely on it. If you learn how chords are built and how they sound, the more you learn, I think the better.

[00:02:16]Okay, Lucy.

[00:02:18]Um improvisation. What I mean, a lot of some people just do it, you know, effortlessly. Some people it's a major barrier and they just have no idea where to start.

[00:02:28]Where When you're helping people learn to improvise, what's the first step?

[00:02:32]What do they need to know?

[00:02:33]>> Yeah, I mean, so for me I always lead with harmony first. Um very very you know, having a basic foundational knowledge of harmony is absolutely fine.

[00:02:41]But you need that kind of grounding um knowledge so that you can know where to start building your >> So we're talking about chords and scales, basically.

[00:02:49]>> Chords, yeah, and some scales, not many scales at all. Like if you've got your chords, you know, you can you can build really great solo from core tones alone.

[00:02:57]>> Okay.

[00:02:58]>> You kind of build your your patterns and and things just from the notes that are are basically in the chords in your progression.

[00:03:04]>> Right. So we start with um getting our head around exactly what um chords are available to us. How do we know, you know, obviously, you know, it's all very well playing chords, but how do we know what notes are available to us to when we're trying to improvise?

[00:03:16]>> Yeah, so if you I mean, there are lots of ways that you can work out what notes are in your chords. Um slightly out of the scope of what we're talking about here, I think, but you can figure out your intervals for different chords. So core tones are literally just the notes in the chords. If you're looking at your C major [music] triad, you've got your C, your E, and your G.

[00:03:33]>> So those are all available to us, obviously. [music] >> Anytime you have C major.

[00:03:35]>> Yeah. Brilliant.

[00:03:36]>> But you know, that's going to get pretty boring very quickly. [laughter] Um just focusing on core tones can make your solos sound a little bit clunky.

[00:03:43]There's not much um transitionary >> Yep. Okay.

[00:03:46]>> sort of material between them, so we can start to use things called passing notes.

[00:03:49]>> Okay.

[00:03:49]>> So you can move between [music] your core tones literally with the notes in between.

[00:03:54]Yeah, sure. You can connect them.

[00:03:56]>> But some of those passing tones sound better than others. So, there are other little things that we can learn um when you're starting out uh very simple scales um that basically get rid of the more awkward notes like so um a major pentatonic scale >> Okay.

[00:04:11]>> is a great example of this. So, if we're in the key of C >> Yeah.

[00:04:13]>> um our major pentatonic scale is only five notes.

[00:04:16]>> Yeah.

[00:04:16]>> Pent, that's the pent gives gives you the clue.

[00:04:18]>> Um it's the one, two, three, >> [music] >> five, and six.

[00:04:27]>> And then >> [laughter] >> Indeed. And we're away.

[00:04:30]>> Okay.

[00:04:30]>> But the reason that this works so beautifully and is like a really nice flexible open scale to start improvising with is because we've eliminated the four and the seven [music] >> Right.

[00:04:39]>> which is the tritone. I don't know >> Yeah.

[00:04:41]>> heard of that, have you? It's the two notes that bring the most like dissonant or tension >> Okay.

[00:04:46]>> to your C major chord or a diatonic chord progression in the key of C.

[00:04:50]>> Okay. So, for those of you who are just Okay, this is day one and you're just Okay, I'm now getting my >> Yeah.

[00:04:56]>> Follow us through this, okay? So, you play C C major >> [music] >> Yeah.

[00:05:00]Play those five notes.

[00:05:02]And actually, we could play a If I played a chord progression in the key of C, you could use most of those notes.

[00:05:11]>> [music] >> I've just written [music] a preschool fee.

[00:05:19]>> [laughter] >> One nil. Jolly good. Thank you very much. Ker-ching.

[00:05:23]>> I used four different chords there, but the C major pentatonic worked beautifully.

[00:05:28]>> really nicely over the top, doesn't it?

[00:05:29]>> Yeah.

[00:05:30]>> Okay.

[00:05:30]>> Yeah. So, that is like the gateway, if you like, into uh basic improvisation.

[00:05:36]>> And so, so people will go away and play play around with this. Okay, got this, got this. That's That's not exactly Herbie Hancock.

[00:05:45]>> [laughter] >> Who is?

[00:05:46]>> I know. I know. You know, all snarky and all that.

[00:05:49]>> I know. I know. Chick Corea and all the rest of it. Okay, so where what's if that's sort of level one, what's level two?

[00:05:56]>> Um so, level two for me is starting to use more um elements that kind of bring more musicality to it. So, let's say, you know, you are a beginner and you want to stick with these five notes.

[00:06:09]>> Yeah.

[00:06:10]>> There's so much more you can do with notes than just choose what ones to play, if that makes sense.

[00:06:15]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:15]>> Um when you're thinking about phrasing, you want to be thinking about sort of constructing a natural flow of notes that kind of feel connected to each other. So, if you're if you're >> Okay. You know, I've got to Come on, then.

[00:06:27]>> going to go on, then.

[00:06:27]>> [laughter] >> Uh you can use uh devices like rhythm, you know, thinking about uh dynamics, articulation, phrasing, all of these sorts of um things that can take five notes to a >> [music] >> little grace notes and all that kind of thing. Yeah.

[00:06:48]Okay, we can see where you're coming from.

[00:06:51]>> [laughter] >> You know, >> Yeah.

[00:06:53]>> you It's It's quite hard soloing without any other thematic material around it, you know. And you know, playing along to backing tracks or even just to a drum track is such a nice way to kind of give yourself some other musical content to work from other than just like what notes am I going to play?

[00:07:10]>> So, how do how in in the course, how do we help people do that?

[00:07:14]>> the course, through through every step um after a video tutorial, we give you an audio loop. So, especially written for the course, backing track that basically runs through uh everything that we've looked at in the previous video. So, then you can go away and play along to it.

[00:07:28]>> Right. So, we've started out sort of with a a major pentatonic scale and and simple chords and all the rest of it.

[00:07:34]So, that's sort of level one. How much more advanced does it get by the time, you know, when we work through towards the end of the course?

[00:07:41]>> Yeah, so by the end of the course, we we're sort of going from uh a a one chord loop, literally on C major, just a single chord loop to start you off. And by the end of module three, we hopefully have given you enough to work with to get through a 32-bar chord progression.

[00:07:56]>> Right.

[00:07:56]>> Still all in the key of C, but kind of it's got a few borrowed chords in there to add a bit of harmonic color. We've introduced the chord scale approach, which is a slightly different way of connecting scales to specific types of chords.

[00:08:10]>> Okay.

[00:08:10]>> We've got two little modes in there.

[00:08:11]We're looking at the Dorian and the Mixolydian because they're great scales to put over a minor seventh chord and a dominant seventh chord.

[00:08:19]>> Okay.

[00:08:20]>> So we're we're we're taking the foundational ideas and and building upon them.

[00:08:25]>> Right. So this is very much for um people who know know something and want to learn more.

[00:08:31]>> Know something, yeah.

[00:08:32]>> a target audience for this kind of course. You know, there's lots of people who you know, they can just they can get started.

[00:08:40]>> Yeah.

[00:08:40]>> And then they go bang and they hit a brick wall and go, "How am I going to get over that?" Lucy is the answer to that. Okay.

[00:08:46]>> Um and we talk a lot about mindset as well.

[00:08:49]>> Oh my lord, that's so important.

[00:08:51]Um >> Yeah, it makes a huge difference.

[00:08:53]>> You've heard that there's a a they did um some experiments with a MRI scanner or something and they put the jazz um in the improv. And the interesting thing was not which bits of the brain lit up, but which bits of the brain switched off, which was self-control.

[00:09:07]>> Yes, so interesting, yeah. And there's this great sort of phrase of that you can't create and critique at the same time. So you you need to be able to I mean, we're we're talking a bit further down the line when you kind of got some of these patterns and scales and notes under your fingers.

[00:09:22]>> Yeah.

[00:09:23]>> You need to kind of detach from that a little bit and and be a little bit more free with it. Um you need to not be like self too self-analytical whilst you're improvising.

[00:09:32]>> You just need to be in the flow state.

[00:09:34]>> Well, yeah, you instantly kind of lose any kind of momentum or freedom or creativity or you know, so we talked about that quite a lot through the course. This idea of like >> cuz there is a concept there's context to this where improvisation and composition sort of meet. Cuz obviously I mean the type of a sort of jazz soloing you're talking about is different to composition, but the process of of doing the two >> Yeah.

[00:09:59]>> is very similar.

[00:10:00]>> Yeah, everything I compose starts at a I compose as well and everything I write starts with improvisation. It's not necessarily jazz improvisation. It's just sort of working around ideas and trying things out. But again, I need to be in that kind of relaxed state cuz as soon as I'm like trying too hard >> I know.

[00:10:14]>> it all goes out the window and I do it still. You know, sometimes if I'm at a gig and I've had a busy day and I'm not there then then it just all falls apart.

[00:10:22]>> Yeah, yeah, no, 100% and I mean I find I can write music much better first thing in the morning >> Oh, that's interesting.

[00:10:29]>> before my brain has got too filled with oh, you need to sort this out and you need to sort that. I just kind of >> Yeah.

[00:10:36]You're open, aren't you to the to the kind of creative process. There we go.

[00:10:40]>> Yeah, that's it. Nice and laid back.

[00:10:42]Okay, look, we've got a little loop here. What's going on here?

[00:10:46]>> Yes, so this is the one of the loops that you'll build up to using in course.

[00:10:51]>> [music] >> Bass and drums.

[00:10:54]>> Yes.

[00:10:56]Nice and open, [music] lots of room for us there, but it's two chords essentially. Moving between an E minor and an A7. [music] >> Okay.

[00:11:03]>> Okay.

[00:11:04]But all we need to know is either the core tones from those >> Okay.

[00:11:07]>> which we can [music] have a look at.

[00:11:08]>> Yeah.

[00:11:09]>> Or the fact that you can use an E minor pentatonic over the top of both chords and it's amazing.

[00:11:14]>> Show us how it works.

[00:11:15]>> Okay, so >> [music] >> we've got that E chord, so E minor chord, sorry, so we've got E, G, B and D.

[00:11:20]>> Yep.

[00:11:21]>> That's our seventh chord and then our A7, A, C [music] sharp, E and G.

[00:11:25]>> Yep.

[00:11:26]>> Okay, so we can use any of those as the core progression is going along. It starts we've got two bars on each, so two bars on E minor. Uh Oh, no, it's one bar on each cuz it's half a bar Sorry, my bad.

[00:11:35]Um so, you can be you know, out and about >> to us for this little epic which we're >> So, either these bunch of chord changes when the chord changes >> Okay, yeah, then the C sharp becomes available to you as well.

[00:11:50]>> Yeah, that that can add different color and flavor, but let's just make it really simple. The E minor pentatonic is a five-note scale. It's the E, G, A, >> [music] >> E, and D.

[00:12:01]Those five notes over both of those chords work beautifully.

[00:12:07]Anything.

[00:12:07]>> Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever for a spider pig does. I'm sorry, this earworm has been going round and round ever since I whistled it to myself waking up this morning. I've just got spider pig stuck in my head.

[00:12:21]>> All good melodies start with a minor pentatonic.

[00:12:24]>> [laughter] >> It's Okay, right, come on then. Let's Let's have a go at this.

[00:12:27]>> Okay, so what I'm keen to look for us to do here, sorry to interrupt you getting going, is kind of have a back and forth, won't we? Cuz something we talk about in the course is like [music] building your solos and listening is like a key thing within improv, right?

[00:12:39]>> Okay.

[00:12:39]>> So, listening to each other. So, if I play a little two-bar phrase >> Okay.

[00:12:43]>> and [laughter] you try and respond to it, whether that's like rhythmically or with notes or whatever, but we're kind of building a solo together.

[00:12:49]>> Okay.

[00:12:50]>> have a go?

[00:12:50]>> Yeah, let's see how [laughter] this goes. Okay, go on then.

[00:12:53]>> Right, I'll come in. Two, three, four.

[00:12:58]>> [music] [laughter] [music] >> Oh, nice.

[00:13:17]>> [music] [music] >> This is so not >> We could do this we could do this all day.

[00:13:34]>> I know. This is so not my world as well, but it I don't know. It's so I know.

[00:13:39]This This is ex- This is exactly what every musician needs. And you know, cuz we all have a world and we all need to be dragged out of it sometimes into somebody else's world. Cuz this is very much your world.

[00:13:50]>> Yes, it is. Yeah.

[00:13:50]>> Yeah, as I can tell. Wow. Okay.

[00:13:54]I can see how this could be extremely good fun and also educational at the same time. So, you come up with a new way of uh creating music, which uh you know, is going to enrich your vocabulary, whatever type of music you write.

[00:14:06]>> Hopefully, yeah. I mean, that that's the idea that you you apply these type of improvisational skills to any style, any genre, any kind of musical making activity, anything where you're creating something.

[00:14:16]>> are jazz girl.

[00:14:17]>> Well, I am, but that doesn't mean that that's all this is good for. And I'm really keen to discourage the idea that improvisation is only for jazz musicians, because actually it's incredible Oh, hello.

[00:14:27]>> [laughter] >> Sunglasses and that. No, no, no, no, no, not at all. No.

[00:14:31]>> Um it's actually incredibly freeing and uh creative like addition to your musical skill set, whatever you play.

[00:14:38]>> fun. It is just fun and it's exciting.

[00:14:40]And when it works, cuz it doesn't always work. Sometimes you just crash and burn.

[00:14:44]>> Yeah.

[00:14:44]>> Who cares? But then it works and suddenly you do something which you feel really pleased with.

[00:14:48]>> this is part of the mindset thing. And we talk about this in quite like the course like the idea of right notes versus wrong notes. Like in my opinion, no wrong notes. No. But like Because dissonance can be magical, you know, and then it's how it's resolved and all those sorts of things.

[00:15:01]>> speak to some of my clients. They hear that that's a No, no, that is a wrong note.

[00:15:05]You're the client, of course it's a wrong note.

[00:15:07]>> It's all about context, though.

[00:15:09]>> Thank you so much indeed for your company doing this video. Thank you so much indeed to Lucy for sharing her expertise. Remember, if you want even more expertise shared, if you want to dive in and do this for yourself, go and check out the course. It's called How to Improvise. Just Google Thinkspace courses Thinkspace courses. It's amazing value. You get loads of stuff to do cuz all our courses is so much more than just you know, watching videos. We don't do that anymore. There are lots of videos in it, but there's tons of other stuff as well. So, this is very much an activity, not a sit back and watch. So, thank you for your company. Go and check out the course. Thank you to Lucy. See you again very soon. Bye-bye.