Improvisation Exercises

q = 100

4
&4 V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 + 4 1 2 + 3 + 4 1 + 2 3 + 4

A
5 C F
& ™™ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ™™

B
9 C D‹ F G
& ™™ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ™™

C
13 C A‹ D‹ G7
& ™™ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ™™

D
17 CŒ„Š7 A‹7 D‹7 G7
& ™™ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ™™

When improvising it is good to start with simple rhythmic choices and then build into complexity.

On the top most stave we 4 bars of seperate rhythms to choose from, below that are 4 chord progressions
to improvise single note lines or a "solo" over.

When starting off it would make sense to first outline the "chord tones" (1st,3rd,and 5th) of each chord
that passes, eg. C, E, and G for a C Major chord or A, C and E for an A Minor chord respectively.

It would also be helpful to simply choose 1 bar of the top rhythms to repeat over the whole of each
progression when starting off and then when confident introduce more rhythmic possibilities.

Luckily all of the progressions above remain within the key of C Major, so once confident with the
placement of "chords tones" try experimenting with different note choices within the C Major Scale to
"colour" the sound a little more.

Copyright © Edward Mountain 2016