Jazz Improvisation: The Technical Approach What is it?

The technical approach of jazz improvisation is something we are all familiar with.  You've see the guy.  He steps up to the band stand and just starts blazing away.  His technique is phenomenal.  He is all over his horn and can't seem to do wrong.  Lick after lick you come to realize this guy has really spent time shedding.  He's got monster chops.  Wow, how did he get so good?  Being in aw you decide to ask him afterwords.  What does he tell you?  Practice your scales, learn lots of licks and get some patterns under your fingers.  Basically he tells you to master your horn through technical means.We have all had this experience at least once in our musical career.  Usually while we are young.  Of course by now you probably have come to realize it nearly isn't as simple has he makes it seem.

The technical approach of learning jazz improvisation is one filled with lots of work, practice and tons of shedding, yet in the end it is worth it.  You come out a better player and technique to be marveled at.  So what is the technical approach to jazz improvisation.  It is an approach of jazz improvisation where a player values technical ability over everything else.  Scales, licks, patterns, and lots of notieness are the love of a technical player.

To become a technical player you have to master your horn.  It is plain and simple the masters had complete control of their instruments.  If you want to be like them you have to have the same kind of control.  The first step to learning jazz improvisation through the technical approach is mastering all your scales.  This mean throughout the full range of your instrument and in all keys and not just in major and minor.  Jazz is complicated and filled with a variety of sounds and musical colors.  The greats didn't just use major and minor scales and chords they also had diminished, whole tone, and augmented.  This means that you need to learn all these varieties.  You have to master your major and minor scales along with there different modes such as dorian, mixalydian, lydian and so forth.  To top it off you then have to master the augmented scales the whole tone scales and diminished scales.  Once you have this you are just getting started.  Scales up and down in a solo can get boring really fast so you have to mix it up.  One of the ways that the great jazzers made their phrases and melodies more interesting was through sequenced patterns.  For technical players this is a big part of their practice. In the technical approach to jazz improvisation a player extends their scales usefulness by learning sequenced patterns.  For those who don't know, patterns are simple melodic ideas that a player repeatedly plays up or done like a scale.  Patterns are typically played in a diatonic or chromatic manner.  Now, if you think that scales and patterns are all you need to learn your wrong.  Even if you have all your scales done and some patterns under your fingers it doesn't mean your going to sound jazzy.  You still have to learn the jazz language.  Players do this by learning the licks of their favorite players.  Scales and patterns are like the alphabet.  Where licks are words. You combine both to make sentences.

So in summary the formula for learning jazz improvisation through the technical approach is master your scales, learn patterns, and get jazz licks from the greats.

Caruso