Thread: Improvisation
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Old 12-21-2012, 11:25 AM   #45
joefloyd27
mx newbie
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 10
improvisation

I'm a decent guitar player myself Azure. I also try to improvise whereever the chance arises. Truthfully with time there isn't much I can't play, it's just a matter of whether I want to or not. Improv. is not just a matter of disjointed ideas thrown out there with the only requirement being different. That's not really improv. and sometimes is really just busy noise. Improv is about a feel, especially in blues. Sometimes its important to repeat lines to drive a point home. Sometimes its good to give a small taste of something different. Sometimes it's important to just grab that one note and bend the crap out of it over and over to create an emotion.
I've got news for you though. Improvisation has been around since before JS Bach. His brother CPE Bach was renown through Europe as one of the best of his time. Paganini the violinist was extremely accomplished at it. Odds are good no matter what notes or rhythm you play they have been played before. So its not so much what you play but how you play it. All this thinking that you have re-invented the wheel is mostly bragging.
Miles Davis thought he would re-invent the wheel and truthfully, with the exception of the hardcore jazzers, it was pretty much noise for the sake of being original.
The truth about improvisation is that it is a balance between on the spot originality and entertainment.
The average ear, of the human being, hear's and responds to certain progressions, scales, and arpegios(spelling I know, I know, lol). By using these long standing tools of the trade you can somewhat be original. Get out of these boundries and very quickly you'll find noone wants to hear it. Music is a language. It has structured lines from the beginning of the melody to the cadence ending the line.
Perhaps more education and less just deciding you're right because you say so, would bring you some insight into what music really is rather than just a concept you created. There are physics involved that explain why some things sound great to humans and some things don't. I mean really, go educate yourself before you manage to convince everyone you're musically Illiterate.

just my 2 cents

Last edited by joefloyd27; 12-21-2012 at 11:56 AM.
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