[Dixielandjazz] Improvisation

[Dave Cown]

Brian Geoghan's response to Pat Ladd's story strikes a chord. Apart from the discussion of what is jazz, I feel that formally learning improvisation is a rough ask.  After all, tunes are just chord sequences which are fairly easy to "hear" and memorise. The best way to learn is to play CD's of favourite songs and tinker with variations on the chords with connecting notes.

The classic example of this is the Marsalis YouTube clip of Happy Birthday - simple and very effective. I don't believe you have to study formally to learn the technique. Just try it until it sounds OK. I's much easier these days with access to digital music.

Dave Cown

Sent from my iPad