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    Chordal Improvisation Vs Melody Line Improvisation

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    Ritik Aswani

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    Chordal Improvisation Vs Melody Line Improvisation

    Uploaded by

    Ritik Aswani
    12 views1 page

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    Chordal Improvisation vs Melody Line Improvisation

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    12 views1 page

    Chordal Improvisation Vs Melody Line Improvisation

    Uploaded by

    Ritik Aswani

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 1

    20/07/2024, 17:28 Chordal Improvisation vs Melody Line Improvisation

    TJPS

    Chordal Improvisation
    Melody Line Improvisation
    Improvisation is generally thought of as spontaneously creating a single melody line. This is because historically, the primary improvisational instruments were
    horns – trumpet, sax, clarinet, trombone – whereas the piano was simply there to play the harmony in the rhythm section. Historically, pianists played
    chords or arpeggios with their right hand. This can be clearly heard in ragtime and early Jazz pianists who largely just played syncopated patterns around chord
    tones.

    Modernity Strikes
    Then in the 1920’s a pianists called Earl Hines, who is now known as the Father of Modern Jazz Piano, rather than simply playing chordal patterns started
    playing more direct and linear melody lines. He called it ‘trumpet-style’ because he was intentionally imitating how a trumpet might improvise. He played single
    melody lines (sometimes doubling them with an octave) and created a hornlike improvisation on piano.

    This was considered much more ‘modern’ than playing chordal based patterns, but that doesn’t mean that you should completely neglect chordal piano soloing.
    In fact, all the great Jazz pianists are able to improvise both using this trumpet-like single melody line approach, and using a chordal approach.

    Chordal Improvisation
    The great thing about chordal improvisation is that it sounds really complex and interesting, but is actually quite simple. And that’s exactly what we want –
    something that sounds complex but is actually really easy to do. All you need to do is to learn to play the chords in your right hand, and then improvise around
    those chords, either by:

    arpeggiating them; or
    improvising with your top fingers while playing the chord with your bottom fingers on your right hand.

    And you don’t have to use plain old 7th chords when using this technique. You can improvise around any other chord voicing, such as rootless voicings or quartal
    voicings, etc. But again, obviously you first need to learn to play the chords by themselves and only then can you create a chordal solo around that particular
    voicing.

    This technique sounds really interesting and like there’s a lot going on, but really, you’re essentially just playing the chords. So give it a go yourself with a song
    you know; and don’t neglect chordal soloing! It may not be as ‘modern’ as single line soloing, but so what? It still sounds great.

    Discover related topics

    Conjunctions Pdf

    Teaching Free Improvisation

    How to Learn Jazz Vocabulary

    Free Improvisation Exercises

    Jazz Scales Pdf

    Note that in the below video I play a chordal solo in my right hand and a walking bassline in my left hand. If you are playing with a band and the bass player is
    covering the bassline, you can play a two handed chord solo!

    Have a Listen to
    Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers – Moanin’ (from about 6:40)
    Miles Davis – Straight, No Chaser (from around 7:28)
    Oscar Peterson – Night Train (from about 3:42)
    The Three Sounds – Blue Bells (from about 2:10)
    Any other Three Sounds piano solo (the pianist, Gene Harris, used this technique extensively)

    https://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-improvisation/chordal-improvisation/ 1/2

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