Improvising

Improvisation. It may seem as the hardest thing to do. Many people are afraid to do something wrong, to hit a bad note. I know, I’ve had the same problem. Improvisation is a choice, it may be a way of life. But I’m not here to tell you how to live your life; I’ll only teach you the simplest thing.

There are many ways one can improvise: you could just hit random notes and see what works, you could try to learn music theory, or you could try a bit of both. That’s what I do and that’s what I intend to teach you.

Let’s think of it as a game with numbers. Now, keep an open mind, this is no rocket science. If you want to learn how to improvise, I assume you already know how to play an instrument and you know the notes. Therefore, you probably know to play different scales in different keys. Have you ever wondered why in the key of G major we hit the note F# instead of F? Let me explain it: every major scale has two specific places where the interval is a half note. Here is when the game begins.

Let me tell you the rules. First, we choose a key, let’s choose an easy one: C major. After that we give each note in scale a number: C is number 1; D is equal to 2; E=3; F=4; G=5; A=6; B=7 and the number 1 is equal to 8 which is C note. You may have noticed that on the piano (it’s the same on almost every instrument, but the piano is most convenient) that between the notes E and F and then B and C there is no black key. That’s because the intervals between those notes is a half tone. Imagine the intervals as steps: between step 1 and step 2 there is a big (hole) step, then to get to 3 you have to climb another big step. After that to get from 3 to 4 you have to climb a small (half) step, then to get to 5 you take another big step, then you do the same for 6 and 7, but to get from 7 to 8 you take again a small step. And that’s it. You can step on all these steps, but you have to watch out for the other half steps that aren’t in the scale, as you have them everywhere.

After you’ve understood the rules, you can hit all those notes and make up a melody as you go on playing.

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