Jazz
Trombone F.A.Q.
2) What's the best way to learn to improvise on the
trombone?
Jeff Adams: For a beginner, if you have a computer, the
absolute best way to
start is to use Band in a Box. Because you can set the tempo slow enough to
attempt
playing what you hear over the changes.
Start with a Dorian mode tune like "So
What," the first track on Miles Davis'
recording "Kind of Blue" (a must have for
all jazz musicians.) Learn the ins
and outs of the Dorian mode of the major scale. In C major this is the C
major scale but starting on the 2nd degree of the
scale=D. Improvise with
this over the form of the tune trying to make
musical and logical ideas come
out. Most
importantly try to play what you hear.
Graduate from this to improvising over the Blues. Keep the tempos slow so
you can play what you hear.
Next move to working from Aebersold volumes 1 and
54. Once you feel very
comfortable with these, pick up “How to Improvise”
by Hal Crook. It is the most
thorough written material on the topic and will
really get your creative juices
flowing.
Sam Burtis: See above (my answer to the previous question).
Learn your scales;
listen to the great players on EVERY instrument.
Learn THEIR solos, as well as you
can...on the horn, plus be able to sing them and
understand what they're doing
harmonically,
rhythmically and melodically.
Chris Smith: Jazz is an aural tradition. The
music is passed down from player to player
mainly through recordings and live performances. In
recent years there has been a lot of
work done to document jazz music with new fakebooks,
play-along CDs, etc. but I think
the “old-fashioned” (Old-Skool?) way is best.
Spend lots of time listening to jazz music.
Play with recordings, learn solos, watch master
improvisers play in person; ask questions.
I firmly believe that if you internalize the music-
get it inside you, so that you have
strong emotions about the actual music (not about
the tangential aspects of performing,
being “cool”,
being a “star”, etc.), then you will develop into a player who other people
enjoy
listening to.
And that’s what it’s all about, to me. Do people
enjoy the music? If you learn to really enjoy
it yourself, you’ll gain the ability to pass some
joy around yourself.
You might notice I haven’t mentioned the trombone.
That’s because the music comes
before the instrument to me. First you learn what
jazz is, then you apply your instrument
to it.
Alex Iles: There is no one "best" way.
There are as many ways to learn as there are jazz
musicians. The simpler for
you, the better. Play everything you like [or simply
CAN play] by ear. Songs,
jingles, TV show themes, nursery rhymes, anything
you can hum, try to play in
as many keys as you can. Whatever music you listen
to the most is the music you
know best. Start there. Once you have the melody
down, listen for the roots of
the chords [or the bass line of the tune] and play
along. Now you are really
listening!! These skills are part of the
"craft" part of playing jazz. Great
players learn how to connect the "art"
[creativity, spirit, instinct and
sponteneity] with the "craft" [ear
training, harmonic knowledge, instrumental
technique, tune knowledge]
Improvising adds a step to the above; YOU compose
the song and play it by ear
AT THE SAME TIME. Is it TOTALLY spontaneous all the
time? Never. No more so
than a regular conversation has brand new ideas or
words every time you speak.
The spontaneity comes from how we put the material
together in our own
individual way in a given place and time. Practicing jazz is about developing
a vocabulary and learning the conventions of the
language [which has MANY
dialects!]. Instead of words, we have harmony and
rhythm; instead of sentences,
we have musical phrases and scales, instead of grammar,
we have music theory
and the recorded legacy set forth by the great jazz
masters. ACTIVELY listening
to music [that is, not as background sound, but with
your horn in hand, ready
to imitate or playback something you hear!] is the
single best way to develop
this particular skill. Once you start doing this, I
think you can turn to all
the great
jazz materials [Aebersold, Levine, Crook etc] for more ideas.
Studying privately can especially help your harmonic
knowledge and introduce
you to music that you might not find or be
interested in on your own.
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