[germansax]

hello,

i am german and try to formulate some questions in correct english. i'm very sorry if i do some mistakes, but german boards are no help for me.

i play alto sax and i am looking for exercises to improve my improvisation skills. this forum is very big and i just dont know where to begin. reading english is still quite hard for me, so i'd be happy if you could post the exercises you did to become a good improvisor.

i have a lot of time to practice, so you can post everything that could help me. i can say about myself, that i already got some skills. i can improvise to easier tunes, but it sounds really unsecure and only very seldom good. i think the best way is to know what you good sax players used to practice. this should help me, too. and maybe you could say why you practiced the exercises and what effect they had.

i hope you could unterstand everything

thank you

 

[Randy Hunter]

If you keep doing your homework, you'll find a lot of resources through here, both free and for sale, that offer instruction and answers to many of your questions. One of the first things you should do is go through and read as many of the posts in the "Jazz and Improvisation" section of the forum as you can. You can also visit the "Free Stuff" page of my website:
www.randyhunterjazz.com/FREE Jazz Lessons.htm
where you will find a several free lessons and a number of downloads that may be of help. Of course, continue working to hone your basic sax playing skills, listen to and transcribe great sax players, study jazz theory, and probably most importantly- find a teacher either live or through the net.

Randy
www.randyhunterjazz.com
Online Jazz Lessons and Books
New Lesson:
Making Sense of Jazz Improvisation
Lesson Series:
Introduction to the Blues
The Arpeggio Circle
Through the Keys
and more...
Lessons page: www.beginningsax.com/Jazz Improv Lessons.htm
Rhythm Changes Demo:

Rhythm Changes Lesson:

 

[Souportwenty]

I agree 100% with Randy. Take advantage of the free and very reasonalbly priced material offered here (Tim Price, Randy Hunter, Sue Terry, Steve Neff...) but the most important part of your development is to find a good teacher. Practice doesn't make perfect but correct practice can be very effective. If you don't already have it, pick up a copy of the Charlie Parker "Omnibook". There is a wealth of information in there that could really be great for you if you have a good teacher to direct you through it and provide some insight into the melodic and harmonic approaches of one the greatest alto improvisors.

 

[vonbraig]

Learn the words. Learn the changes on the piano. Sing the song and play piano. (You can learn on voicing and be cool on a standard)
Then go to the horn. Be nice to yourself and enjoy it you are a part of a tradition that we can pretty much prove is 30,000 years old.
Remember the very first note was improvised.

 

[Tim Price]

read this ;

http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/creativepurity.html

read this ;
http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/saxual.html

learn this at 120 and up ;
http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/saxual.html

advanced pentatonic s are here ;
http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/newpdfs/TimsPentatonic1.pdf

http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/newpdfs/PentatonicScalesWholeTone.pdf

http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/newpdfs/PentLickon4od-7b5.pdf

NEXT ; buy the MODUS NOVUS BOOK ( buy it on amazon )

Lars Edlund is a classic of atonal, interval-based learning. It starts off with melodic exercises consisting entirely of seconds and fourths, then adding fifths, then thirds, and moving further on into more complex structures. In addition to the melodies written expressly for the text, the book includes many examples from the orchestral, chamber, and vocal repertoire. Preceding the melodic exercises, Edlund includes several 3- or 4-note examples of the most difficult intervallic combinations involving the new interval. I've found Modus Novus to be exceptionally good for working on troublesome intervals in a musical context.

TRANSCRIBE A LOT OF BIRD, THEN SOME MORE BIRD- LISTEN TO HOW MODERN HE SOUNDS- STILL

HAVE FUN - THIS IS JUST A START- ENJOY.

 

[hgiles]

The toughest part of any big job is starting. Start!
The beginning is half the whole.

 

[saxjah]

ICharlie Parker... one the greatest alto improvisors.

Try one of the few true musical geniuses (an often overused term, but correctly used here) of the 20th century who happened to use the alto sax as his primary tool of expression. I still can't believe how ridiculously good he was. He influenced so many and very few have gotten anywhere close to his spontaneous complete command of the music. Too bad his addiction was a stronger force than his prodigious talent.