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Learn Jazz Improvisation With Chord Exercises

Posted by admin2 on August 30th, 2010 Comments Off



If you’d like to learn jazz improvisation, or learn to improvise in general, you’ve come to the right place!

Jazz improvisation is often viewed as the hardest part of learning jazz. The masters have left behind many tips and exercises though. Unfortunately people often hear these tips but never act upon them. So please take action on these tips to “learn jazz”.

When you have a song you’d like to improvise on, follow these preparatory exercises.

1. Listen listen listen! Buy CDs and vinyl records and listen to the jazz masters. Get as many versions of the song as you can.

2. Find sheet music (chord changes are the important thing). Try memorizing the changes, and just go through them in your head.

3. Figure out what the chord is for each chord change. Finding the chord and scale of each change will help you learn to improvise.

4. Once you know the chord, run up the chord 1-3-5-7 in eight notes over the change.

5. Then do 1-3-5-9. These steps may seem silly, but it will help you learn jazz, learn jazz improvisation, and learn to improvise.

6. Try both step 4 and 5 backwards. Go 7-5-3-1 and 9-5-3-1.

7. Then invert the chord as many ways as you like. Go 3-5-7-1, 5-7-1-3, 7-1-3-5, 3-1-5-7, etc. etc. Do every possible combination.

That’s a lot of work right there. And these are just preparatory exercises. And of those exercises, these are just chords! We still have scales AND scale tones to worry about.

This seems like a lot of work, and it is. If you follow this, you will quickly learn jazz improvisation, and learn how to improvise.

By: Bobby Jackin

Posted in Jazz Festivals

How to Use the Dorian Mode in Jazz Improvisation

Posted by admin2 on August 29th, 2010 Comments Off



The Dorian mode is very important in jazz and deserves attention. Let’s figure out how to make a Dorian scale. There are two ways to think about this: the first way is to remember that Dorian is the 2nd note of a major scale, so if we find out the first note then we know what key signature we are in. For example: I want a G Dorian scale. I know that G is the 2nd note of some major scale. Let’s go back and look at our major scale from the first part of the book. 12345678.

If I put the note G under the number 2 (remember that we are trying to find G Dorian, the 2nd mode) I can now find out who 1 is. You can think of this is algebra, solving for 1. I will go down a whole step from G and find myself on F. Remember that there is one whole step in between the 1st and 2nd notes of a major scale. I now know that F major is the key I’m using. F major has one flat. Now, I will start on G, and play from G to G using the Key of F maj. In other words, I am in the key of F.

The other way to form a Dorian scale is to compare the Dorian to a major scale. You can see that the difference is the 3rd and the 7th notes. In Dorian the B becomes B flat, and the F sharp becomes F natural. In both cases the 3rd and the 7th are lowered

Posted in Jazz Festivals

Can Your Trading and Investing Benefit From the Principles of Jazz Improvisation?

Posted by admin2 on August 25th, 2010 Comments Off



The art of jazz improvisation can contribute a lot to trading and investing. These activities are fluid, not static. They experience ups and downs and quickly changing situations.

Trying to create a large set of rules to cover all possible market scenarios will drain your time, stifle your creativity, and cause your trading system to break down from too much “curve-fitting”.

Improvisation (improv for short) can be the answer. Contrary to what you might believe, this is not about just making up whatever you want. It’s about picking up small, simple patterns that recur in a fluid, chaotic situation. You take these patterns, or a simple set of rules, and stretch them to fit current conditions.

It’s about having a basic framework that enhances your ability to respond to the market – rather than hampering it.

When performing good improv, you neither feel like you have no idea what to do, nor do you feel like your hands are tied. When confronted with a crisis or new market situation, you are able to pull out a few ideas or principles from a previous trade, and then you feel free to modify them through your own creativity.

Good improv has the quality of less ego and more present moment awareness. If something isn’t working, you cut your losses without a fuss, and try something else. There is no anger, blame, or fear – the concentration is on understanding the current market, finding some advantage to exploit, and putting on an effective trade.

By: Praveen Puri

Posted in Jazz Festivals
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