Best tools for improv?

[greg_tsam]

Crash and burn in front of a crowd as much as possible. Don't repeat anything that sounds bad. Repeat.

[catmandu2]

The best single "tool" I've seen is YouTube; simply an amazing resource for musicians and an incredible asset and advantage to players of the last decade

[Charlieshafer]

I'll start off recommending baby steps. First, and most critically, is that everyone improvises every day without knowing it. Listen to people talk. No one says "I'm going to the store, want to come?" using the same note for each syllable, nor is the timing a straight "I'm...Going...to...the..store..want...to...co me?" You sing and improvise as you speak, especially in an animated conversation. Ella Fitzgerald made the comment once that when singing, all she was really trying to do was talk in tune and in time with the music. Before you learning eight million scales or trying to comprehend all the different methods, do what Sonny Rollins did, and sit under the Brooklyn Bridge for three years simply playing along with the sounds of the city. I'm assuming you're not going to do this (I'm not about to, either) but you can listen to tunes you like, and sing along with them. You don't even need to know the words, just hum a little obbligato on top of the melody. Don't pick up an instrument. Do this in the car while driving for a couple of weeks, and you'll already have developed more melodic improv lines than you'll know what to do with. Start organically, and then tackle the technical stuff later. After a while, start playing those same lines you were humming to yourself on the mandolin, not playing the melody, but floating pretty lines on top of it. After a while, you'll be a genius. And that's a money back guarantee.

[JeffD]

Improvising is great when it sounds like: "I know the tune, but have you thought about this?"

Improvising is horrid when it sound like: "I don't know the tune, but don't I sound cool?"

Or worse: "I am too cool for this tune, listen to me instead."

[John Flynn]

My favorite quote that applies to improvisation is drummer Shelly Manne's definition of jazz:

"Never play anything the same way once."

[Chip Booth]

Several people have mentioned starting with blues. Although that seems to be the standard way the average rock guitarist teacher begins (minor pentatonic scale, 12 bar blues, and you are done...), I suggest that it is a very difficult way to actually teach anything. When looked at from a theoretical standpoint the blues is failry complex and confusing.

I find that improvising over a single chord using a major scale and emphasizing chord tones on the down beat of each measure is the way to start. Then add a second chord, changing the emphasis to the appropriate chord tones as the chords change. In my experience even complete beginners "know" (due simply to constant exposure to western music) what a major scale should sound like, and they quickly recognize when a note is "wrong", meaning that it is not a chord tone if it is played and sustained on the down beat of a measure.

Another good way has been to look at small licks, or blocks of notes and begin to interchange them, until the player starts to hear how they interact with the chord changes. For example, take the last measure or two (ending or turnaround) of a fiddle tune and interchange the melody with the ending of a fiddle tune with the same chord changes. Then look at how the differ and how they are similar and create a unique ending that combines elements of both of them. Think about how chord tones play into those phrases, and create an ending completely from scratch. You could call this composition, but really that is all improvisation is, composing on the fly. The more experience a player has at composing the easier it is to do it quickly.

The best tool? Ear training, hearing chord changes, and recognizing that a chord tone will be a half step or whole step away, or that maybe you are already playing it. Have I said "chord tone" enough? The simple idea of a chord tone played on the strong beat(s) of a measure is really what makes the difference in a blues guy whanking out a random solo vs someone playing what I often think of as an "alternate melody", or a fully realized improvisation.

[catmandu2]

I think part of the efficacy of the "blues" form for beginning improvisation is its commonality--so when you sit down with somebody and begin to play it serves as a common vehicle. The progressions, the licks, turnarounds--enables development in a vernacular accessible to all, since blues forms the basis for so much of our music; probably not a bad starting point to begin to analyze form

[TNFiddler]

Just wondering what you guys thought are the necessities of any good improv

Practice with jam tracks. You can experiment and play around without worrying about anyone hearing the mistakes. bluegrassbackingtrax.com, drbluegrass, and several other websites have plenty to choose from. There are some multitempo tracks there that you can jam slowly with, then speed up little by little. I use these to teach my students, and it works really well.

[Andy Alexander]

Improvising is great when it sounds like: "I know the tune, but have you thought about this?"

Improvising is horrid when it sound like: "I don't know the tune, but don't I sound cool?"

Or worse: "I am too cool for this tune, listen to me instead."

This is so true with so many BS players. If you can't play the melody, you can't improvise on it!

[greg_tsam]

Improvising is great when it sounds like: "I know the tune, but have you thought about this?"

Improvising is horrid when it sound like: "I don't know the tune, but don't I sound cool?"

Or worse: "I am too cool for this tune, listen to me instead."

I've been guilty of all of these but try to avoid the last two like the plague. I see it a lot too.

[JonZ]

Several people have mentioned starting with blues. Although that seems to be the standard way the average rock guitarist teacher begins (minor pentatonic scale, 12 bar blues, and you are done...), I suggest that it is a very difficult way to actually teach anything. When looked at from a theoretical standpoint the blues is failry complex and confusing.

I find that improvising over a single chord using a major scale and emphasizing chord tones on the down beat of each measure is the way to start. Then add a second chord, changing the emphasis to the appropriate chord tones as the chords change. In my experience even complete beginners "know" (due simply to constant exposure to western music) what a major scale should sound like, and they quickly recognize when a note is "wrong", meaning that it is not a chord tone if it is played and sustained on the down beat of a measure.

Another good way has been to look at small licks, or blocks of notes and begin to interchange them, until the player starts to hear how they interact with the chord changes. For example, take the last measure or two (ending or turnaround) of a fiddle tune and interchange the melody with the ending of a fiddle tune with the same chord changes. Then look at how the differ and how they are similar and create a unique ending that combines elements of both of them. Think about how chord tones play into those phrases, and create an ending completely from scratch. You could call this composition, but really that is all improvisation is, composing on the fly. The more experience a player has at composing the easier it is to do it quickly.

The best tool? Ear training, hearing chord changes, and recognizing that a chord tone will be a half step or whole step away, or that maybe you are already playing it. Have I said "chord tone" enough? The simple idea of a chord tone played on the strong beat(s) of a measure is really what makes the difference in a blues guy whanking out a random solo vs someone playing what I often think of as an "alternate melody", or a fully realized improvisation.

I disagree with the Blues part. The thing about the Blues is it's sticky. For whatever reason, the Blues are easy to hear, remember, imitate and invent. And very few people approach the Blues from a theoretical standpoint. Sometimes making something easier takes away what is interesting about it, and the motivation to continue.

However, those other exercises you mention are good too.