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Improvisational Theory (Page 1)
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| This topic is 2 pages long: 1 2 This topic was originally posted in this forum: Pedal Steel |
| Author | Topic: Improvisational Theory |
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 26 February 2001 01:14 PM
I've just started playing PSG, but have over 30 yrs. on the "regular" guitar. I'm wondering how similar the thought processes are for steel players when they improvise. For example, how much do you think in terms of chord shapes and/or scales? Do you change your conceptualization each time the chord changes, or do you try to find ways of staying with one device through a string of chords? I'm sure that this is like other instruments in that there are a number of different ways of going about it. I'd appreciate anyone's sharing of their personal approach. |
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Earnest Bovine Member Posts: 4687 |
posted 26 February 2001 01:53 PM
First I try to imagine a sound that has never been heard before. Then I try to figure out how to play it before it's too late. |
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Steve Feldman Member Posts: 2983 |
posted 26 February 2001 03:18 PM
Ernest, I think it's too late already, pal.... I'm the last one that should be commenting on this (I can't improvise my way out of a paper bag), but it seems to me that one of the difficulties with your model, Jeff, is that the chord shapes, scales, etc. that you speak of are changing by the second with this critter. The neck is never the same. Unlike the guitar, you bring notes to the bar rather than noting notes on a fixed neck. It must take a pretty quick mind to be able to fluently visualize all these patterns as they change from one to another. MHO. Now, I better get outta here before it's too late.... |
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Earnest Bovine Member Posts: 4687 |
posted 26 February 2001 05:46 PM
Even tho I got a couple of LOL emails, I was trying to give a serious answer. I don't think in terms chord shapes. quote: no quote: yes I strive to be always aware of what key the music is in, and of all the places where I can find all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. Then I try to think of a sound that has never been heard, and if I'm lucky, all these years of ear training will tell me which notes those are, and all that's left is to find them and play them before it's too late. |
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Moon in Alaska Member Posts: 1155 |
posted 26 February 2001 09:13 PM
I admit that a student of mine made this observation of my playing --- He said --- one difference in you and me is that you know what the sound is going to be BEFORE you hit the string, no matter if you are using pedals/knees or not, and I DON'T !! The point being --- If you play pedal steel long enough, you will be able to improvise any combination of notes that you can think of. I see the neck as a road map, with many patterns available, I don't think of the neck changing when I use a pedal/knee, I just think of it's relationship to the key chord. I think in Nashville numbers -- I chord -- IV chord, etc and then don't have the confusion of trying to name chords. If the lead guitar player ask me about what some chord in some song is, I have to stop and figure it out. is this the proper way to think ??? God, don't ask me !!!!!  ------------------ |
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Michael Johnstone Member Posts: 2535 |
posted 27 February 2001 02:41 AM
I think of the neck in layers.No pedals is one layer.A&B pedals down is another layer.The A pedal + "F" lever is a layer.The B pedal + Eb lever is yet another layer.The C6 neck also has 4 or 5 layers.I play a universal so for me,they all blend into one nexus of layers.Next,I picture how the different layers are staggered by a certain number of frets/strings and where the different inversions of each chord and scale are located.Then I just find the jumping off points-the common tones where layers overlap and the "missing links" - the positions BETWEEN the positions and simply connect the dots.I have routines I practice where I'll run thru all the different D chords and make up lines which connect all the possible positions,etc.-always striving to make the moves more and more detailed and interesting.Then I'll go to Bb and do the same thing etc.And so on-thru all the keys-major,minor,diminished,augmented and all the dominant variations.After a while,you get comfortable pedaling around the neck from layer to layer at random without even thinking about it-keeping your bearings at all times.At that point,you're ready to do as Earnest suggests and "Boldly go where no man has gone before" Until then - Good Hunting..... -MJ- |
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 27 February 2001 04:14 PM
Thanks for the replies. Let's see if I can recapitulate without opening any big can of worms. Earnest thinks more in terms of a given key center rather than the individual chords in a progression. Then he uses his awareness of of all the different ways to get every note of the chromatic scale that he may desire to play, in that particular key. That is really some kind of grand overview! That ability obviously didn't come overnight. Moon is aware of how each pedal or knee changes the key chord, and tends to think more in the number system than the individual note names. That's extremely helpful, because I've been wondering how much somebody can focus primarily on the number system, which is what I tend to do on regular guitar. Maybe a big part of my question is whether or not I can still do that, given what Steve above mentions as the big difference between the PSG and regular guitar (the continually changing scenery). Michael kind of reinforces the direction I've started on, which is based on three basic major forms. (I just have an S-10 E9, by the way). He adds what would be the V7 chord in the no pedal position. I can certainly see the utility of assigning that chord it's own layer also. Maybe following that, I would fill in scale tones for each layer, and have an idea of how those scales could be harmonized to produce the other basic chords for each key. I like the idea of systematically practcing working back and forth between the layers. Maybe if I did that long enough I could make the jump to Earnest's grand overview! Thanks again. |
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Earnest Bovine Member Posts: 4687 |
posted 27 February 2001 04:25 PM
Yeah, I figure it will take me about 80 years of playing to get halfway there. |
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Al Marcus Member Posts: 7471 |
posted 27 February 2001 05:45 PM
Good question. Good answers..Grand overview- Know the sound BEFORE you play it-Nashville Number system- I am afraid that I am from the OLd,Old school and can't change. I think of chord names, a lot when playing. For instance, say a song in the key of G. Numbers 1-4-5.(G-C-D), the singer says a half tone higher, so we start on G# or Ab, that's ok, number system still 1-4-5. I think Ab-Db-Eb, the names of the chords, and I know the names of the notes in those chords. And where they are on the fretboard. |
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Doug Beaumier Member Posts: 2346 |
posted 27 February 2001 08:28 PM
As I see it, there are 2 ways to approach improvisation... chord positions or scales. Riffs and licks may be created from the various chord positions, or you can simply play the appropriate scale over the chord changes. I think that most steel players who improvise use the major scale, the harmonized major scale, and the minor scale. Six-string guitarists think more in terms of pentatonics (as well as majors and minors), and modes it seems. Are there any steel players out there who think Pentatonic scales when they play? I was recently asked by a recording session producer to play only "major pentatonic" notes on my steel for a certain solo, and that drove me nuts! I know the pentatonics inside and out on guitar, but on steel I tend to play the entire major or minor scale in my solos. ------------------ [This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 27 February 2001 at 08:31 PM.] |
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Moon in Alaska Member Posts: 1155 |
posted 27 February 2001 09:25 PM
Doug, you probably just need to run across a blues band and play a while with them. When I first played steel Lap steel -- 6 string, I played about 6 months with a all black blues band and boy did they straight me out !!!!! I had been playing a E-major tuning, quickly changed it to an E-7th. None of that country stuff here !! Anyway, it was an experience I will never forget !! ------------------ |
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 28 February 2001 11:45 AM
When I started playing lead guitar, all I played for quite awhile was pentatonic stuff plus a few passing tones. In the 70's that's pretty much what everybody in blues and rock did, and not many actually knew anything about scales. When I became interested in jazz in the early 80's, I got into the major, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales and those three modal systems. It was easier at first to pick which of the three above parent scales would work over the whole string of chords. Then I started to match individual modes with each chord more often. In the last 4 or 5 years I've actually gone back to using the pentatonic scales & passing tones in a more enlightened "jazz" kind of way. For example, it's often possible to play over a whole progression of jazz chords using only the minor pentatonics for the 2min.7 and the 6min.7. Although I know all the 7-note modes, often that pentatonic sound seems more appropriate. The jazz guitarist Pat Martino converts everything to a minor pent. or dorian mode w/ passing tones. His instructional stuff goes into that in depth, and his recordings are really infectious. I think most 6-string guitarists tend to think more in single-lines, and steel players, because of the difference in the strengths of the two instruments, are more in touch with chords. Country guitarists think more around chords than guitarists in other idioms, and the older jazz guys often didn't know anything about modes, put could play everything they ever needed around one or two chord forms and the scale notes around them. |
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Jeff Lampert Member Posts: 2636 |
posted 28 February 2001 12:33 PM
Can you suggest a couple of these "infectious" Pat Martino songs? Thanks |
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 28 February 2001 01:00 PM
Jeff- Pat has recently released a CD of new material called "All Sides Now", which has guest appearances by some very notable players. This disc contains the Joni Mitchell song "Both Sides Now", with a female vocalist. It highlights Pat's very unique chordal approach and would be my recommendation for a powerful single song. I can't think of anyone's chord playing that affects me more, emotionally. He also has released one with his group Joyous Lake. It wouldn't be my choice for catchy songs, but perhaps the most highly charged example of his improvisational genius is a recent re-issue "Consciousness/Live!", of some of his earlier work. Pat's newer stuff is very soulful, but isn't as technically brilliant. Tragically, he suffered a brain aneurism and had to "relearn" most of what he knew. With reference to the above "minor conversion" approach to improvisation, I've found it tremendously useful, he's the best exponent I know of it, but if you listen to it long enough, even with all his brilliance it can start to sound repetitive. I see his way as ONE way,but not the ONLY way. [This message was edited by Jeff A. Smith on 28 February 2001 at 03:28 PM.] |
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Bengt Erlandsen Member Posts: 554 |
posted 28 February 2001 02:06 PM
Harmonizing a scale into chords is a tool I use a lot when improvising. Harmonizing the major-scale gives: Major-minor-minor-Major-Major-minor-diminished In A+F position Root-note is on 10th string followed by 3-5-root-3-5 on strings 8,6,5,4,3 In open position the whole thing shifts strings. 5th is on 10th string followed by root-3-5-root-3 on strings 8,6,5,4,3. In A+B position the whole thing shifts again. 3rd is on 10th string followed by 5-root-3-5-root on strings 8,6,5,4,3. Now to the improvisation: This gives me a 5fret span that will overlap if I change to another position. [This message was edited by Bengt Erlandsen on 28 February 2001 at 02:08 PM.] |
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 28 February 2001 03:40 PM
Bengt- That's great. I like the idea of using major or minor chords over roots other than their own. |
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Bill Tauson Member Posts: 156 |
posted 28 February 2001 07:11 PM
I'm probably not as experienced as many of you, but I'm trying to learn to play the cord or progressions in a position where a can also keep the melody line. For example, I might play the G cord in the 10th fret so that I can use a pedal to drop a single note and maintain the melody line. This is what I noticed about my teacher when I started and why his playing seemed so full and interesting. Ernest, I heard you do that at the Burbank gigs when it was just you, a bass player, drummer and vocals and it sounded great. I have learned steel parts to a particular song and go to a gig thinking that I'm prepared. Then I find out that there's no fiddle player and I have to come up with something different to fill the song. I quickly learned that I was not prepared and changed my direction in learning. As that part of my playing got better, learning a specific lead came faster anyway and I enjoyed playing more because I was able to play it my way, (well, at least try!). I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts or imput on this. |
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John Paul Jones Member Posts: 305 |
posted 28 February 2001 09:31 PM
quote: Don't know what jazz players you've been around. It was jazz players who taught me scales, modes, chord forms, intervals, the number system and most all the technical things that made a musician out of this old country boy. Every jazz player I've ever met was very proficient on all aspects of music theory. John Paul Jones |
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Dan Tyack Member Posts: 3552 |
posted 28 February 2001 10:16 PM
Improvisation has nothing whatsoever to do with scales or chords or intervals or the mechanics of the pedal steel or any other instrument. These are simply tools that you use to wire what you hear in your mind to your hands. The key to improvisation is being able to sing the line. All the other stuff is plumbing. I know many jazz musicians who work all the time who have an amazing knowledge about theory, as well as incredible technique on their instrument, and who can quote Charlie Parker, Coltrane, Joe Pass, or John McGlaughlin all night long. But who can't improvise originally, because there is nothing there. GIT and Berkley churn out hundreds of these players every year. The key to improvising is being able to come up with a line, and sing it. Translating that to the steel guitar is just hard work. ------------------ |
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Moon in Alaska Member Posts: 1155 |
posted 28 February 2001 10:32 PM
I never thought much about improvising being very technical !! I agree with Dan, when a player can play what he hears in his mind, he can improvise. How good ?? Probably depends on his life's experience !! ------------------ |
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Larry Bell Member Posts: 4116 |
posted 01 March 2001 08:29 AM
Dan and Moon hit the nail on the head. Put another way, there are two steps to being able to improvise AND BE YOURSELF -- in the context of any chord progression. 1. Listen to the chords and hum a melody -- ANY MELODY -- can be the melody of the song itself, a counter-melody, or something out in left field 2. Play what you hummed WARNING: it's not as easy as it sounds The better you get at 1, the more advanced and interesting your solos will get. If you want to improvise jazz, listen to jazz players. You will begin humming jazz parts. If you can't play what you hear (i.e., hum) you can't really improvise, you're just playing little number games, IMHO. LTB |
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Donny Hinson Member Posts: 9192 |
posted 01 March 2001 08:49 AM
Good advice, Larry. For me, when I first hear a song, I "hear" two variations in my own mind. One is straight...sort of a commercial sound. Then, I also "hear" a "jazzed-up", or more technical version. I can't explain the process exactly, but it might help if I tell you that I think "What would Buddy Emmons or Lloyd Green do on this song?". And then I think "What would Curley Chalker or Julian Tharpe do on this song?". I hear these two approaches in most every song, but when I'm in the studio...Buddy and Lloyd are usually what they want! |
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BobG Member Posts: 788 |
posted 01 March 2001 09:15 AM
Great thread!! |
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fraser Member Posts: 53 |
posted 01 March 2001 11:33 AM
Re:Jazz improv - If you ONLY focus on scales, modes, chords, etc, then your solos will sound the same from tune to tune. I believe it's crucial to orient your improvisation to the actual tune you're playing. Your improv ought to have some relationship to the head/melody. If you are just running the chords, it will sound like it. When studying to improv on a song, memorize the head, play it backwards, forwards. Study the unique characteristics of the tune - does it use triplets, does it use alot of intervals of a major 4rth, does it have alot of silence between phrases, is there chromatic portions, what is the mood of the tune. Transpose the melody into a different key. But know the head backwards and forwards. Your ideas should always be informed by the tune - the mechanical cranking out of, "play this mode whenever you see this chord" is boring sounding - playing essentially the same solo over any tune. You should eliminate from your playing elements that don't relate specifically to that tune. Also, too often improv theory/discussions neglect to touch on emotion - isn't emotion why we listen to music? Why don't jazz players talk more about how to incorporate emotion in your playing? The discussion and the music get so dry without it [This message was edited by fraser on 01 March 2001 at 11:37 AM.] |
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Dan Tyack Member Posts: 3552 |
posted 01 March 2001 10:20 PM
I think I should explain myself further. I am not putting down learning scales or chords or intervals or music theory of any kind. These are very useful in many, many ways. But they are tools you use to achieve an end, not the result. Here's an analogy. Can you play country music if you can play major scales really fast in the common keys? Or play all of the two or three note chord inversions for the chords on those keys? Well, no. But if you could do that, you would have the tools required to learn to improvise in that idiom. Would you need to learn a boat load of 'licks' in order to sound convincing, then use your creativity to create your own version of how to play country steel guitar? Well, I think it's no different for jazz. The tools are a lot more complicated, and the standard idioms are harder to master, but it all comes down to this fact: If you can't sing it, it's not really there. You are just learning a pattern and trying to cram it into a song. The corolary is that if you can sing it and can't play it, learn how to play it, you will learn more than any course you will buy. Here's some truth in advertising: when I play jazz, does the music come directly from my creative soul to my fingers, producing truly innovative and world class playing? Naw.... Mostly I put stuff I have learned from Buddy and Paul and Reece and Pat Martino and George Benson and Roy Buchannan and Coltrane and Bird and Frisell in a blender and string it together to make something that gets by. But sometimes that muse does happen by, and that is what improvisation is all about. ------------------ |
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 02 March 2001 09:57 AM
I agree with everything in both of Dan's posts. Actually, although I've studied all the theory discussed above, I personally haven't had the opportunity to play much actual "jazz" with other people. I really DO use all the above information, but my role at present seems to be to allow this stuff to trickle down into so-called "simpler" forms. Right now I'm in kind of a country-rock band, and even though we play a lot of 3-chord songs, I never get tired of finding weird devices with which to approach that stuff, and yet not sound at odds with the value system of the music I'm playing. These "Older Jazz Guys" (guitarists only) that I referred to earlier, grew up at a time when jazz music was more prevalent and so they naturally lived and breathed it, the same way something deep in my playing will never fully leave Billy Gibbons of Z.Z.Top. Herb Ellis is one of these great "older jazz guys" (said with respect, by the way). He has a little course based around the tune "All The Things You Are", and everything he plays is built around just a few chord shapes and surrounding scale and passing tones, for each of three chord types: major,minor, and Dom.7th. The ammount of music he gets out of just these few positions is incredible. He actually advises against wasting too much time on learning scales. What a "modal guy" would call "ionian, dorian, and mixolydian", the "old school" often refers to as just "major, minor7th, and Dom.7th". From what I've seen, heard, and learned from esteemed players far more knowledgeable in the history of jazz guitar than myself, ALL the modes were not CONSCIOUSLY used by jazz guitarists of an earlier day, much if at all. Still, it may be that they were more adept at crafting personal statements with chromaticism, based on fewer theoretical tools than most of us today. My favorite example above, Pat Martino, just found rather early on that he liked the sound of playing notes around a minor seventh chord, and that by analyzing shared tones in other types of chords he could rethink most of these other chords to fit with one or another minor seventh. Later, after people started to become interested in how he did things, he started hearing terms like "dorian mode", and sought ways to communicate with students. He describes spending time with Wes Montgomery as a youth, and the way that Wes waved aside all technical questions. In no way do I intend to dismiss "Older Jazz Guys" or say their general knowledge of music was lacking. In fact I couldn't discuss any of what Dan calls very aptly "the plumbing", without what they have laid down. ALL I intended to say was that this thing of guitarists (include me) learning every MODE all over the neck, really is a more modern development. It's also helpful to remember that if you go back far enough, horn players and piano players did most of the solos, so their theory in improvisation was way ahead of the guitarists. Also, try flying around all over the neck on a guitar from that era, or get a sound as powerful as a horn. Difficult, if not altogether impossible. I've very much enjoyed ALL the feedback on this thread. Thanks alot! [This message was edited by Jeff A. Smith on 02 March 2001 at 01:09 PM.] |
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basilh Member Posts: 3417 |
posted 02 March 2001 04:08 PM
This is getting DEEP. Lighten up a bit lads !!  I think a good knowledge of related chords is part of the key to improvisation.
quote: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~basilhenriques/ [This message was edited by basilh on 02 March 2001 at 04:11 PM.] |
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Bengt Erlandsen Member Posts: 554 |
posted 02 March 2001 05:25 PM
One element of improvising is (I believe) a understanding of common notes or chromatic moving lines between chords. Maybe it is something you just hear or feel or you just know that this works for whatever reason. Anybody know where I can find information about that, because that is something I really would like to learn more about. Bengt |
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John Russell Member Posts: 455 |
posted 02 March 2001 06:03 PM
Jeff: I would answer to your original question by saying, "Yes, both." I think in terms of chord shapes and scales. I change conceptualization each time the chord changes, and I do you try to find ways of "staying with one device through a string of chords." I've played guitar for nearly 40 years, pedal steel for about 25 years. I relate to both instruments as chord shapes or patterns for improvising. For example, on guitar, if you know a set of runs based out of the open A chord and know where it moves up into the first inversion, the barre chord at fret 5, the next inversion (D chord shape up the neck) you will probably do the same with steel guitar. The fact that you use a bar instead of fingering the shapes with your left hand is incidental to me. On PSG, you're thinking of the pedal and knee lever combinations in place of the left hand fingerings. The right hand is doing much the same on both instruments. It takes longer to relax and get the feel of placing the bar with precision, years (decades?). My main point is you'll find the inversions the same as you do with guitar and, especially on the E9 neck, you'll have this concept in a few days. Depends on your setup. The fun starts when you're going for melodies and find yourself moving from inversion to inversion to follow the notes. Pretty soon you're doing it with invervals (2 notes) and this is where the essence of this wonderful instrument starts to grab hold. Beware! This is powerful stuff! Lifestyle changes can occur in no time, much like a drug habit! Go with it! JR |
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Bengt Erlandsen Member Posts: 554 |
posted 03 March 2001 03:07 AM
Ok, maybe all of you will disagree when I say that improvisation is NOT when your (1)hear a melody line and then (2)play it. Here is why. If you hear it first you have already composed the line and that is not improvisation (but it is close, because it is a new melody) True improvisation happens on those rare occations when the timegap between the two closes to zero and a little further, so only after you played it you become aware of the melody. If the band was to stop the music and ask you to play that again you will not be able to do it. It was something beautiful that was just there a moment and now it is gone, unless someone recorded you at that moment. I have experienced a couple of those moments. The longest of those lasted for maybe 5 seconds or so. That is what I believe is true improvisation. Holding on to that feeling when you are totally gone and you become part of the music itself is the hardest thing I can imagine. When I say totally gone I mean so completly into the music that even if the building fell down around you, you would not notice it. If the band suddenly stopped playing, (or even worse, the amplifier blows a fuse, happened to me) it would feel like somebody just grabbed you and throwed you across the the whole room and back in this normal world.
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 03 March 2001 12:06 PM
John- You've been where I am, in terms of my original question (maybe the head of this tune?). From your clear explanation and those of everyone else, I am seeing that there really isn't any difference in the way 6-string and pedal steel guitarists conceive of improvising, and even the ways of seeing the neck aren't all that far apart. As you allude to, my life does seem to have taken a DRASTIC turn, once I actually got my MSA. I'm still getting my bearings... Bengt- It may be a difference between musicians in what has become second nature and what is still a discipline, but I feel a separation when I am asked to play a melody back to someone, or deliberately think of one that has nothing to do with my collection of favorite ideas, and THEN play it. The best I can do when improvising is to sense when something feels a little dull, and wait it out. It seems like guys that are in certain types of positions have to do the kind of thing you're questioning a lot, and I guess I've not ran into that much as of yet. I admire the ability to hear a line and reproduce it, and would like to get better at it, but for me at this time, I see it like you do. The best stuff is conceived as you're doing it. [This message was edited by Jeff A. Smith on 03 March 2001 at 05:05 PM.] |
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Dan Tyack Member Posts: 3552 |
posted 04 March 2001 02:23 AM
I don't think this discussion is too heavy, personally.... To even further explain: I don't thing that improvisation is thinking a solo or a line full out before you play. I guess some players might do that, but it doesn't seem realistic to me. The purpose of all the practising is not to think out the lines, but instead to train your fingers (and brain) to know where all the potential sounds are. That's why you learn the scales/modes/intervals, so that you will have been there before when it comes time to play with the some. |
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Bengt Erlandsen Member Posts: 554 |
posted 04 March 2001 08:18 AM
There is one thing not mentioned yet among all the modes/scales/chord theory here. I am thinking of rhytmic ideas (where your solo might consist of only one or 2 different notes, ) Or playing note-groups of 3 over 4, 5 over 4, 4 over 3. Ask the drummer in the band if you run out of ideas. The different things: rhythm,scale,mode,chord are still just tools to take you somewhere when you are improvising. |
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Jeff A. Smith Member Posts: 807 |
posted 04 March 2001 04:01 PM
Drummers.....How much our playing is influenced by what the drummer (and other band members) feed us. When I first started out, I used to wonder why I didn't play the same with every group of musicians. Now I find the interplay between musicians maybe the most interesting thing. I have a hard time explaining that strictly in terms of brain chemistry. |
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Dan Tyack Member Posts: 3552 |
posted 04 March 2001 06:49 PM
Bengt, you are absolutely right. Rhythm is an integral part of jazz improvisation. I am currently studying with one of the greatest jazz teachers anywhere, and we often work on 'drumming' on 2 or 3 notes. ------------------ |
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Sage Member Posts: 525 |
posted 04 March 2001 07:27 PM
Thanks guys, this is great. One of the first things my late teacher Joe told me to do was to learn to "sing" lines, either with voice or in my head. He got me off to a great start. My question for you Dan, is how would you reccomend dividing up practice time between playing what you feel and learning the "plumbing"? I am a low-end intermediate player and want to build chops but not get into licks. How do you practice without becoming a technician? (thanks also for touching on the rhythmic aspect of playing). |
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Dan Tyack Member Posts: 3552 |
posted 05 March 2001 08:11 AM
Sage, one way to look at it is that you practice the plumbing at home, so you can play what you feel on the gig. In terms of singing as practice, I am totally serious. Take a song you want to improvise on, sing some line, then play it on the steel. You will be amazed how hard it is. |
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Larry Bell Member Posts: 4116 |
posted 05 March 2001 08:41 AM
Another way to accomplish what Dan's getting at is 'scat singing'. Start by playing a Do-Re-Mi . . . major scale. Then sing along with the scale as you play it until you are comfortable with this 'singing & playing in unison' concept. Next, play your simplest little licks -- tags, turnarounds, intros, whatever. Now sing along with that. The next step is to improvise a simple solo -- by this time you should be able to sing ALONG WITH what you're improvising. Everything should come off the top of your head. Once you've conquered the simple stuff, try 'scat singing' (singing in unison with what you're improvising) on more complex stuff -- swing, jazz, etc. You should be able to do it equally easily on either neck. This exercise improves hand-mind coordination. LTB |
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Don McClellan Member Posts: 882 |
posted 06 March 2001 12:06 AM
Do you remember George Benson doing that? Many great musicians can sing what they play like Stevie Wonder and Edgar Winter and Jimi Herdrix. Toots Thielman whisles in unison while he plays jazz guitar solos! That's the best advise. I agree with you guys. |
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Jim Cohen Member Posts: 8715 |
posted 06 March 2001 05:23 AM
quote:Jazz guitar? I knew he played harmonica, but not guitar. (Guess you can't whistle and play harmonica at the same time, though, eh?) ------------------ |
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