Keep it Simple & Smile!
A lot of challenges in life may best overcome by keeping it simple and smile, my KISS 2.0 acronym: 🙂 (imho)
To create a great, simple jazz solo, focus on:
Groove, Melody & Variations, Space, Structure, and Story
G, M & Vsss!
Table of Contents
Questions, Comments, Ideas?
Please leave a comment and/or send me a message! I am still learning a lot myself, but I hope this helps!
Is jazz improvisation hard?
The concepts behind jazz improvisation are mostly simple. But simple doesn’t mean easy!
A great jazz solo can be created with simple techniques, but requires great understanding how to create music.
Like any art form, master-level jazz musicians spend countless years honing their skills and reflexes in order to create beautiful, inspired music.
Improvisation in jazz occurs at many levels:
- The soloist
- The groove & drummer
- The groove & bassist
- The comping and chords
- The interpretation of the melody
- The interplay between musicians
The concepts behind much improvising, in general, prove to be simple.
But in practice, in the hands of a master-level jazz musician, they can sound amazingly beautiful and complex.
Most beginning jazz musicians (when listening to the greats) hear a lot of complicated notes, harmonies and rhythms. They usually want to emulate their favorite musicians and this usually means complicated solos, intricate rhythms and harmonies.
But that’s like being 5 years old, and skipping your first day of kindergarten and starting with your PhD thesis.
Good news (for me and you) – with “limit” technique and good application of basic principles you can really improve your solos (in any genre really) by practicing and applying some basic concepts.
6 Simple Elements to Create a Great Jazz Solo
The short answer to creating a good jazz solo. Focus on:
Groove, Melody & Variations, Space, Structure, and Story
G M & VSSS aka Keep it Simple & Smile!
Play all notes with groove, Play simple melodies, create an obvious melodic structure to your solos, tell a simple story.
G, M & VSSS!
- Groove
- All jazz musicians (imho) primary role is to create and sustain great groove. This includes the soloist.
- Melody
- Create a few simple melodies – don’t worry about the complicated melodies that amazing musicians like Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane sometimes play. You can start incorporating those ideas after years of study 🙂
- Variations
- Create variations of your simple melodies
- Space
- Let the melodies breath.
- Literally take breathes between phrases, like your were a horn player or singer
- You can sing the notes you play to get a feel for phrasing in space
- Structure
- Restate your melodies in a logical way (for the listener)
- Create an obvious musical structure to your solo
- Use space to accentuate the form of your solo
- Story
- Imagine your solo is like a simple story
- Tell a story!
- A beginning – state your melody
- Plot development & Tension – restate your melody and add variations
- Climax – Build up to a climax in your story
- Resolution – Provide a musical resolution
Groove
Focus on making all your notes groove.
Lock in with the drummer & rhythm section.
Focus on playing in the pocket and either behind the beat or in the beat.
Some of my Favorite Ways/Ideas to Practice Groove:
- Improve Solos – Right Hand Groove (Jazz Guitar version)
- Make your Own Backing Track (5 Minute Practice Ideas)
- Practicing Jazz Groove (Slow C Blues with Oscar & Count Basie)
- Better Groove – Six Fun Practice Ideas!
- Learning to Groove with the New Birth Brass Band!
- Jazz Guitar Ideas – Count Out Loud – Improve Time and Groove !
- Groove and the backbeat (for Guitarists)
- Learning to groove (on guitar) with Rebirth Brass Band
- Playing 4 on the Floor! (Classic Jazz Guitar Groove)
Melody
Create a simple melody.
You can just use a pentatonic scale.
Try to come up with something that grooves and you can sing!
- Singing – What You May Learn as a Guitarist!
- Play what you sing, sing what you play!
- Learning Songs: Listen, Sing, Play
- Playing what they’re singing
How do you play in the right key?
Start practicing these concepts with the blues – if it’s an F blues, then play in the key of F.
A C Blues is in C. – you can use the C major pentatonic & blues, C minor pentatonic & blues.
If you are playing standards, you may have to analyze the tune a little bit more. Usually the key of the tune will be the last chord of tune or 8 bar section (not including the turn around).
While you can use a lot more harmonic ideas, many simpler standard jazz tunes have melodies in mostly just one key. Figure out that key and you’ll be able to start creating a good, solid improv.
Obviously, a lot tunes changes keys. But to start out focus on the blues, modal tunes, and simple standards
Some jazz blues to start with:
- Practicing Jazz Groove (Slow C Blues with Oscar & Count Basie)
- Practicing Jazz/Swing Groove (C Jam Blues)
- E flat Blues (100 bpm) Acoustic Jazz Guitar Backing Track
- Eb Jazz Blues Backing Track (bpm 144)
More standards to check out:
- Learn Jazz Guitar, Day 1, So What by Miles Davis
- Learn Jazz Guitar, So What by Miles Davis, Part 2
- Learning Autumn Leaves (Cannonball/Miles Version, Chords, PDF)
- Chords for Autumn Leaves in A minor
Some scales forms (for guitarists) to check out:
- Blues scales (Guitar Fretboard Diagrams, Tab and Standard Notation)
- Minor Pentatonics (6 Fretboard Diagrams for Guitar and Full Moveable Chart)
- Major Pentatonics
Variations
- Pick your melody
- Now play/imagine/sing a few different variations on that melody
- Change a few notes
- Change the timing of a few notes
That’s really it!
Just pick the melody you want to play.
- Either play a 1 bar melody or a 2 bar melody.
- Leave space for the rest of the 2 or 4 bar phrase.
- For the next phrase, play a variation of the original melody.
- Leave space for the rest of the 2 or 4 bar phrase.
- Repeat #3 and #4 for the rest of the chorus or section.
Here’s an example with a 12 bar C Blues using 2 bar phrases and a 1 bar melody & variations.
On the next chorus, come up with a new melody!
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
CHORDS | C9 | F9 | C9 | C9 |
1st 4 | Melody for chorus | Space | Variation #1 | Space |
CHORDS | F9 | F9 | C9 | D9 |
2nd 4 | Variation #2 | Space | Variation #3 | Space |
CHORDS | Dmin7 | G13 | C9 | G9 |
3rd 4 | Variation #4 | Space | Variation #5 | Space |
Space
Let your melodies breath – give them space.
If you’re singing the melody when you play it (or are playing it on a horn), you’ll start to feel how and when it feels good to take breaths.
Play 1 measure and take a 1 measure break
Another way to create space – play 1 measure melody, and then take a one measure pause.
Play 2 measures and take a 2 measure pause/break
You can do the same thing, just create a 2 bar melody, and then take a 2 bar break.
Giving space allows the listener to digest the music easier, and helps accentuate the notes that are played.
Structure
Take your simple melody, simple variations, and space – now you have an obvious structure to your solo!
Keep it Simple & Smile!
The purpose of structure in a solo is to create repeating musical pattern that the listener can identify.
That pattern creates the feeling of a theme and cohesiveness to the solo. It help the band to interact with the soloist in a musical way.
An easy way to create structure in your jazz solo:
- Play a simple melody (or variation) at the beginning of every 4 bars
- After playing your melody aways give space.
- At the beginning of every chorus of your solo, create a new melody
Practice Creating Structure with Blues tunes
Soloing over the blues is a great place to use this style of melodic structure (1 melody & variation every 4 bars).
The listener will identify with this style of melody & variation almost immediately. And the space will give the band time to react.
Bonus idea:
As you develop your solo, the space you left in the beginning of the solo can be used to create a contrasting melody, if you want.
Story
Tell a simple story.
Story | Solo |
Introduction | State your melody, give lots of space |
Development | Create variations on the melody. Create a new melody at the beginning of each chorus &/or section |
Climax | If you keep solid structure to your solo (2 or 4 bar phrases with space), the band will help you create energy. Seek to create a musical climax with more intense repetitive phrases & notes, higher, louder notes (dynamics). The climax will have less space, if you were singing or playing a horn this would (probably) be part using the most breath. |
Resolution | Create a nice melodic ending to your solo at the end of the chorus. Leave lots of space |
Practice Makes Progress!
While there’s tons of other ideas and ways to create amazing solos, I believe the groove, melody & variations, space, structure and story can really help a musician craft good solos.
Best wishes and enjoy your musical journeys!
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