>IMHO, alt scales and diminished scales are a total dead end for
>improvising.
>
Perhaps we need to distinguish between harmonic improvising and melodic
improvising. See below.
>I'm almost totally against seeing improvisation as moving from
>one chord scale to another. I don't see any of the players
>I'm interested in paying attention to things in that way. The
>people I listen to are more interested in simplifying the piece
>into larger groups of measures that are essentially in one key.
>That's how people play those long horn lines that everybody
>wishes they could play.
>
>You need to spend some time transcribing and studying transcriptions.
>
Thanks for the advice. I know you're correct about the value of
transcribing, and I confess that I haven't done any. Anyone know of a
free/cheap Mac-based tool like Presto ?
A few points in my defence:
- I think I'll always have a nerdly interest in musical forms quite apart
from trying to play better.
- Transcription of harmony is much more intimidating to me than
transcription of melodic lines. When I've tried it, it's discouraging to
get stuck trying to figure out the voicing on the first chord.
- As a pianist who's usually playing by myself or accompanying my wife's
singing, I'm much more focused on learning nice voicings and solo piano
styles than on developing extended melodic lines.
> However, I just think of tension choices when it comes to
> dominants and sometimes just think of the large key center
> that I'm in and don't pay much attention to the dominant.
But are you talking about melodic soloing or voicing or both? The
tensions come from a pool of possibilities. I find it helpful to have a
vocabulary of _qualities_ that is more specific than just "dominant". I
think I've left the impression that I try to improvise melodic solos by
thinking chord/scale 1, chord/scale 2 etc, whereas I think I mostly use
scales to build and understand chords.
What about the lovely effect obtained by shifting E Bb Eb G around by
minor thirds when the tune calls for a C7b9 chord? It seems to me this is
grounded in the diminished scale. I wouldn't ordinarily associate Db G C
E with C7b9, because the 7th is absent.
Thanks,
Richard
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"It's no use prevaricating about the bush"
-- Wallace, in "The Wrong Trousers"
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