Vocabulary: Part I

The importance of vocabulary to an improviser can be highlighted with a simple comparison to everyday speech (this metaphor has become commonplace by know, so if you know it and don't feel like hearing it again, skip this paragraph...). Verbal interaction between humans combines impromptu structuring ability and the recall of thousands of memorized phrases. Think back on the conversations of your day – even the passing greetings – and consider the amount of original material that any of the participants offered; you'll quickly see that at least 95% of these interactions contain mostly stock phrases that you've used countless times in the past. What changes from instance to instance is the context and stimulus for the conversation, both of which narrow down the selections of acceptable phrases to the few you consider at the moment. If this wasn't the case, merely ordering your lunch would be an almost insurmountable task. Now, return to our comparably more concrete world of jazz. Here the context is the chord being played by the piano player and the stimulus is the style of the song: ballad, medium swing, bossa nova, etc. In order to construct a coherent solo that capably stretches over multiple choruses, the experienced soloist draws upon the melodic material they've already learned to apply to these situations. In this sense, solos are constructed like a photo-montage, piecing together ideas of contrasting qualities to create a greater whole.

With that in mind, one of the first goals for a beginning improviser should be the establishment of a basic vocabulary. In this process, let your first rule be given to you from the possibly-apocryphal sayings of Pablo Picasso, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Pick up your favorite album by your favorite artist – it doesn't matter if he or she plays the same instrument as you – and transcribe everything you can. For harmonic reference, it helps if you know the song that's being played, but if you don't, you can work on your ear training by figuring out the chords progressions in the song. If you don't already have it, the program Transcribe! – available at www.seventhstring.com -- is invaluable in this process and worth far more than its $50 price tag. Similarly, a notation program like Finale, Sibelius, or Guitar Pro will help you keep your notes neat and readable. Once you've got a good amount of material, find a way to separate and organize it: the simplest way would be to categorize by chord type or progression. The more systematic you are in your approach to this, the faster you'll see results; it's best to start a notebook to keep your material together for quick study.

The material you gather in this way will serve as the basis for everything you do after this. Memorization of the melodic patterns you transcribe will provide you with material to play over the chords in the songs you know. If you think this process leads to unoriginality, remember that Charlie Parker memorized the solos of Lester Young, Cannonball Adderly quoted the songs of Charlie Parker throughout his solos, and even in the composed world of classical music, Beethoven quoted Bach throughout his piano sonatas. But, in the end, your suspicions are correct; the material you gather through transcription functions best as a body of examples with which you can model your own ideas. Look at the licks you like best and ask yourself a series of questions: when do they use chord tones? When are upper extensions of the chord played? What kind of rhythms are used? What kinds of intervals are used? Once you've figured out the answers to these questions, you can begin to create original material with what you've learned. When you reach this point, you'll be able to return to the songs you know with the beginnings of a functional language and play better, more structured solos.