Hi Roger,

Since I am working hard learning to improvise, I wanted to respond to your plea. I share your desire (obviously) to improvise and made up my mind I would do two things. First, recognize that all chords have six notes you can play without hitting a wrong one. Example: D minor 7; you can play around with the notes D, E, F, G, A, and C. Second, I probably do more listening than I do playing, so listening is actually priority #1. What do I listen to? Since I am into jazz I like to listen to Diana Krall recordings. I don't listen to her singing. I listen to her piano player in the background. I'll play a short two bars on the CD while sitting at my keyboard, then pause the CD. I try to remember the notes and rhythmic content of those two bars as played by the pianist and play the passage faithfully on my KN. I continue this process every day. To my mind, listening is absolutely crucial to learning. I have a long way to go to get where I want to be as an improvisor, but I'm happily on my way.

You mention the pentatonic scale. It is one of many scales that can be employed in improvisation. Besides the major scales, you have the minors, harmonic minors, whole tone etc. You also have modes - dorian, mixolydian etc. My feeling is that if you go down that road (learning all of those scales) you will never learn to improvise. You will be too busy learning scales!

So back to square one. Look at the chord in your left hand. You know its name. Play the six basic notes of that chord in a free and easy manner. Example again: D minor 7. In the first measure of your improvisation play D, skip a beat, then play A, D. In the second measure play E, F, E, D. That is a two bar cadence. I do understand this may seem to be an oversimplification, but it is in fact the foundation of improvisation. You build on the foundation. There is no mystery or magic to it. It is a skill that anyone can acquire if they work at it. The secret in my opinion is "Listen and play, Listen and play, Listen and play". Remember! You have to crawl before you can walk or run.

Now, after having said all of this, I agree with you that a workshop presented by someone who can improvise skillfully and who is a good teacher would be a great way to get your feet wet so to speak.


Good luck! All of you East Coast Jammers enjoy yourselves. And play a tune for this old guy if you have the time.

Best Wishes,

Chuck