Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Diffrent Methods of Jazz Improvisation: Intro

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately are the various ways that one can learn jazz improvisation.  If you look online for any amount of time you find a vast majority of resources, all claiming to teach you how to be a great jazz improviser.  Yet the question of "What is the best way to learn to improvise?," still sits in the back of your mind.  Everyone wants to know the secret and become an amazing improviser overnight, but fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, this is not the case. I say fortunately because if it were easy to become a great jazz improviser then the solos we love really wouldn't be as meaningful.  Jazz wouldn't move us as much, but fortunately for us it takes hard work, dedication and some creativity to become a great jazz improviser.  So why do I tell you this?  I do it to let you know that there is no easy way to become great, so stop looking for that magic pill.  I will say this though, there are methods out there that will make you an accomplished jazz improviser with some time and effort.   What I would like to do is introduce you to some of these methods so that you can decide which one will fit you the best.  There are four main categories that I'm going to discuss in my next few posts about different methods to learn jazz improvisation.  They are the following: The Technical Approach, The Traditional Approach, The Theoretical Approach, and the Etude Based Approach.  All of these methods of learning to improvise jazz are viable, but each has its strengths and weakness.  What you will want to do after reading about each approach is decide which one fits your goals, desires, and personality and use that method as your main means to learning jazz improvisation.  When you do this with plenty of dedication you will start seeing the results you desire in learning to improvise jazz.  That's all for today, but I can't wait till next time.Until then

Caruso

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