Improvisation

News: 11-05-2008: Please take your time to vote for the talented Tom Quayle over at guitar idol: -quayle Then enjoy the most recent improvisation. Improvisation over a tune I wrote yesterday This is a content summary only. Visit Truth In Shredding to find out more!

[Improvisational comedy] involves people making very sophisticated decisions on the spur of the moment, without benefit of any kind of script or plot. That's what makes it so compelling -- and to be frank -- terrifying. ... What is terrifying about improv is the fact that it appears utterly random and chaotic. It seems as though you have to get up onstage and make everything up, right there on the spot. But the truth is that improv isn't random or chaotic at all. ... Improv is an art form governed by a set of rules... How good people's decisions are under the fast-moving, high-stress conditions of rapid cognition is a function of training, rules, and rehearsal.- Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without ThinkingNow, reread the quote above and replace improv with exploratory te

News: 28-04-2008: To remind you that Tom is part of guitar ido competition, he's posted an acoustic improvisation video: www.guitar-idol.co.uk/tom-quayle Tom says: Here's a small soloesque snippet of a tune I've been working on. I'm sorry for the low level of the lead guitar - my yamaha 01x won't drive the mic any louder!! Oh well. Acoustic improvisation 3 - watch in high quality if poss! This is a content summary only. Visit Truth In Shredding to find out more!

Listen to Samples This album presents the improvisation based on traditional Korean musical aesthetics and the unique naturalism in music arising from natural Korean instruments. It also provides the audience with a chance to feel the very pulse of improvisation flowing in the veins of Korean traditional music.

News: 05-04-2008: Paco Hernandez with an improvisation over this fusion tune by Greg Howe. Very little distortion, emphasis on rythym details. First take impro over "Sunny" by Greg Howe This is a content summary only. Visit Truth In Shredding to find out more!

News: 14-03-2008: A bit of a gap between posts, but worth the wait as this exciting two handed improvisation over a Michele Quaini backing track... wow! impro!!! This is a content summary only. Visit Truth In Shredding to find out more!

News: 09-03-2008: Another Bill Palmer improv, just a 2-5 in A (Bm7-E7) using his Strat with EMG's into an MI Audio "Blues Pro" straight into my soundcard - hence the 70's kind of tone. Backing is provided by everyone's fave piano man Jamey Abersold... Bm7 - E7 improvisation Here's Bill Palmer playing through Wayne Shorter's "footprints" - again, it's the Strat with EMG's (2 x 81's) into an MI... This is a content summary only. Visit Truth In Shredding to find out more!

Expand the boundaries of your knowledge and improvisation skills with this exciting book, which picks up where the improvisation lessons in Intermediate Jazz Guitar leave off. Topics include improvising over altered dominant chords, the diminished scale, the whole-tone scale, targeting the altered chords, revamping licks, modes of the minor scales and more!BookCD

By: Yoke WongMusic is a universal language. We all know that in order to master a language, one needs to learn how to read and speak in that language fluently. When I teach my piano students how to play music, I stress the importance of music reading and the music making processes. A piano player who is proficient in playing by ear but has limited abilities in reading music is considered music illiterate. A pianist who is a strong sight reader but cannot improvise is also lacking the ability required to make beautiful music.Most children learn how to speak and understand language before they learn how to read it. Toddlers learn how to talk by improvising a sentence as well as imitating others. Very often, you may not even understand their child talk. However, after a period of time, when they have acquired new skills and have practiced, you will notice children making huge progress on their language skills and you will be able to communicate with them in simple sentences.I teach my you

Frank Gambale's new improvisation book is a twelve-chapter course, with seven lessons per chapter, that covers the twelve most important guitar scales and modes. Each lesson explores the chords, voicings and licks that are derived from each scale. The two enclosed CDs contain 119 recorded music examples (over 50 CD tracks), and the clearly presented text is written in standard notation and tablature. With standard notation, guitar tablature, guitar chord diagrams and instructional text. Improvisation.

Last night we experienced a memorable, incendiary performance by the Archie Shepp quartet at  Iridium in NYC.  In my impressionistic (read: untrained and unrestrained) manner, I put up a quick sketch of the band’s first set over at newcritics. A genius sax player, informed by a history that includes blues, avant garde jazz (a short but memorable phase), and a clear devotion to music that’s unmistakably African and African-American, Archie Shepp belongs in his own original category. Go peek, too, at Jason Chervokas’ fine tribute to the great, beloved jazz drummer, Max Roach, to whom Archie was paying his own tribute last night.  Since you’re there (or even if you aren’t—I mean, yet) scroll through Tom Watson’s merry crew live-blogging of the TV show, “Mad Men.” Most jazz clubs set an entrance fee and then, often, a two-drink minimum. Alcohol  affects me like poison, inflicting an instant, liquid migraine. So on occasion, I’ve spent ten d

By Peter Edvinsson The abiltity to improvise is within the reach of everyone who wants to develop this skill. You can start to improvise in a way that will give you and others the benefits from this art. Let's see what good improvisational skills involve!What is improvisation?Many people have the notion that improvisation is the ability to create something out of nothing. Well, you can improvise in a kitchen too. Creating a fantastic dinner out of the things you can find around.However, note that there has to be some sort of material to use, like a potato or a carrot hanging around. I haven't heard of a chief creating a dinner out of nothing yet.Let's apply this principle in your piano playing! Here are the two ingredients that will create and make your improvisations into something worth listening too, in other words, music:1. Your ability to find the notes you want to play on your piano.2. Phrases, scales and fragments of melodies that you have memorized in your mind or in your fi

Renowned Berklee College of Music faculty guitarist Jon Finn, combines his experience, education, and stylistic versatility in this eclectic series of lessons for aspiring rock guitarists. Jon's innovative approach is unique, fun, and challenging. The book/CD set and DVD both offer a well researched original take on the use of pentatonic scales in rock improvisation. Using his "Warp Refraction Principle" which takes into account the major third tuning interval between the second and third strings, Jon presents a series of five vertical patterns applied in two-string increments throughout the fretboard. The philosophy behind this project is to present concepts and techniques as a thought process rather than simply providing a reference manual.BookCD

Bass blog contributor Bill Harrison wrote a very interesting post recently on his bog Jazz Underneath. His post was prompted by this post from jazz vocalist Carol Sloane. Regarding the skills necessary for constructing a solid improvisation, Bill writes:Just because one knows the melody and lyric of a song does NOT mean one has the skills to improvise or scat (ugh, just writing the word makes my flesh crawl). Skilled jazz players (and the few singers who have taken the time to do so) spend YEARS learning the language of jazz improvisation in order to play meaningful solos in this style. It should be self-evident (but clearly isn't) that the necessary skills include practical knowledge of song form, theory, harmony, rhythm, jazz history and the many stylistic elements that comprise a convincing solo (melodic shape, use of space, density, inflection, etc).It is true that many inexperienced singers (and the all too frequently heard "solo" pianist) improvise as if they've never heard t

Joseph Befumo's Exotic Scales: New Horizons for Jazz Improvisation begins with “Basic Harmonic Theory, Diatonic Scales, and Modes,” and then jumps into scales ranging from the somewhat traditional Melodic Minor and Neapolitan Major to more uncommon ones like the Dhenuka, and the Enigmatic Minor. Scales are cataloged and presented according to the number of augmented intervals they contain. Befumo shows you the intervals that build each scale, where the notes lie on a regular six-string guitar using tablature, and the makeup and function of the chords built from the scale tones.

YouTube DirektLink . Video Clip de Improvisation Ajoutee de Sonic Youth Director: Alberto Parra y esta Bloguera hizo el arte! Cámara: Martín Amézaga Foto: Matías Vega Montaje: Anthony Mancilla Yeah! (solo quería ponerlo acá!) . . [techtags: Improvisation Ajoutee, sonic youth, video clip]

“He has become a great improviser, the Miles Davis of the war.”Edward Wong – NY Times.com In a vacuum, power is something so many and too many with different ideas about how something should be; fight for. Moktada al-sadr is one of those people. Where he is interested in an Iraq without outside involvement, he realizes the best bet for this scenario is to wait on the American efforts in Iraq to come to a somewhat stabilizing fruition. Like our Democrat leadership, although much less interested in an American defeat, a senior Iraqi official said of al-sadr: “Mr. Sadr’s thinking was in constant evolution, groping for a workable strategy for the war.” From the NY Times: “Perhaps nothing is more surprising than the fact that Mr. Sadr’s attitude toward the Americans actually reflects a degree of ambivalence.” “Anti-Americanism is the basis of his unflagging popularity. More than any other Iraqi politician, he is willing to recognize, validate and capitalize

As a fan of all kinds of music, I’ve seen a fair share of concerts ranging from the heaviest metal to the quietest folk to the funkiest jazz. I enjoy all kinds of concerts but there are always certain ones that stand out as extremely compelling and exciting. These concerts are the ones that involve a lot of improvisation. There is something significantly more exciting about a dynamic show that is ever changing than a show where you know the band probably played it nearly the same, note for note, the night before. I believe that without improvisation we’re missing the point of music; to be an expression of the soul. What is Improvisation? When you improvise in music, you’re basically making it up as you go, or writing music on the spot. Instead of following a preset structure or pattern of notes, you develop your own melody or counter melody on the spot while you’re playing the song. You see improvisation in its purest form in jazz because jazz is based a

Jim Carrey stunned the cast and crew of his latest film by urinating on set.'The Mask' star infuriated his colleagues when he undid his fly and urinated during a scene in upcoming 'The Number 23' even though it was not in the script.A source told Radar magazine: "He unzipped his fly and urinated as part of his improvisation. Everyone was horrified."The outlandish actor has been branded "unpredictable" by co-workers from several of his latest films due to his "bizarre behaviour and on-set tantrums".Director of 'Fun With Dick and Jane' Dean Parisot now calls the film 'Fun With Jane' - because "dealing with Carrey proved so harrowing".An executive from 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events' said "he was scary".'Lemony Snicket' director Brad Silberling said: "When producers expressed the studio's concerns to Carrey he said, 'You should stop right now, because what you're about to say may mess up my creativity for the rest of this movie.' "Three of Carrey's film