Improvisation from the Beginning

Lets begin with somthing simple:

We see here a simple Blues in C.

We will remember that the notes in C Major Scale (C Dur Tonleiter) are

I II III IV V VI VII
C D E F G A B C

Which means this simple Blues form is I/I/I/I/IV/IV/I/I/V/IV/I/V

Lets play this in the left hand slowly.

Our right hand is free not to play ´free melodies´- impovisations (:

What are these improvisations?

There are many answers but we can begin with simple ones:

We create a melody line, that is made of small short words, and together we can create a sentence.

Here is a simple example:

1. Small word no.1

2. Small word no 2

3. Small word no 3

4. Small word no 4
All together makes a sentence that looks like this:

BUT! We can also play things in another order inside the sentence using the same words:

or

These are simple examples for the idea of variation. You use small pieces (motives) and make the
musical sentence little another every time you play it in order to make it interesting.

One more thing we should know about improvisation- Improvisation is an art of inventing on the
spot (or on the go) but we have tools to help us know WHAT WE CAN USE AND WHAT NOT-

We have 12 notes in an octave. We can use them all, but as we already know, not all pass to the
harmony all the time. So we try our best to put tighter limits- instead of 12, using only 6/7/8 (and to
´throw away´ the ones that doesn´t sound good with the harmony- we simply don´t use them)

This is where our knowledge of scales comes in hand.

Lets go back to our Simple Blues in C.

Since the Blues is in C, the first obvious choice for playing an improvisation in the right hand will
be C Major Scale (C Dur Tonleiter) which includes C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C

There is not a law that says that every ´word´in our little solo has to begin in C, so you can try to
begin words also in E, G, or any other note!

Improvised solo is not only going up and down a scale... so also playing with it! Using the scale as a
guide- Meaning that if you play in C Major, there will be no Black keys, only white.

In the next example, I created a simple right hand ´Solo´ using C major, in a fixed time pattern- all
the right hand words are an answer to the left hand chord.

Also – VERY IMPORTANT! You are more them allowed, or even encouraged to REPEAT a word,
an idea, or as we call it a Phrase. Don´t be afraid of repeating, this is great!
Another Option will be to use the C Pentatonic Blues Scale Which has these notes:

C,D,Eb,E,G,A,C

Here is example from me:

OFCOURSE! You can both scales use together, meaning you can use

C,D,Eb,E,F,G,A,B,C

The only way to discover it, is by yourself... (:

Have fun!!