any advice for the level 5 instrumental assignment
Does anybody have any advice for me on the level 5 instrumental assignment. Im just so bad at improvising and I dont know how to make my fills sound good with the licks I have chosen. Also I cant find a head lick. I was hoping for something super catchy but nothing stands out. I have about 5 licks all with different focus notes.
To tell the truth I also haven't put a lot of time into it because it kind of feels daunting the task. I do put a lot of time into chorus form improve but like I said my fills suck.
I feel like I'm stuck
Hi gamma8gear,
Just to expand a bit on Rob's guidance...
As Rob said, the first step is to do an inventory of your favorite songs and licks. These may be study songs from this website or other songs that you are familiar with. The 'A' licks are typically found at the beginning of a chorus. I recently did my LOA 5 submittal, and I pulled 'A' licks from Chorus #5 in Big Walter's "Walter's Boogie", Chorus #3 in David Barrett's "Serious Fun" and Chorus #3 in David Barrett's "Lick Train". I believe I also used the first chorus in "Gary's Blues".
'B' licks in the AAB chorus form and 'C' licks in the AB/AC chorus form are both V-IV-I-V licks, since they make up the last 4 bars of the chorus. Again, take an inventory of your favorite songs, and make note of the last 4 bars of each chorus. Then, think about which licks mix and match well together with the 'A' licks that you already chose.
Experiment with all of the above until you get something that you like. It (probably) won't be the next "Juke", but (as Rob points out) it's a big first step. Try to enjoy the journey :-)
Cheers! -Dave K.
Thank you UkuleleRob65 and DaveKay for the advice and the words of encourgament. Im going to do what you guys said. Start out with just a lick and modify it. Maybe ill stick close to the original chorus at first and then changing it up a bit... maybe that will help expand my mind to this task. Just your kind words helped relight the fire so Im going to jump back into it. Thank you!
gamma8gear:
It's perfectly fine to "steal" ... er ... adapt ... melodic lines, riffs, hooks, etc. from favorite blues recordings. Then just alter them a bit as you see (or hear) fit. As for fills, it's usually best to keep them simple. Like a two-note fill, which can work just great if the notes sound good and work with the melodic line.
People sometimes talk about great improvisors in music, but good improvisation is seldom something the musician just makes up out of thin air at the time. E.g., saxophone giant John Coltrane was known as an incredible improvisor, but only because he spent hours and hours each day practicing scales and melodic ideas. So that when the time came on the bandstand or in the recording studio, he had the tools to express what the music called for at that moment.
LIttle Walter was also known as a great improvisor, but if you listen to as much of his work as you may be able, you'll hear that he had a full toolbox of ideas that he could throw in as improvisation when called for. A toolbox he'd undoubtedly built up over years of woodshedding.
And re daunting: Every jouney starts with the first step. Every great tune starts with either the first measure, or a nice-sounding measure around which a musical house is built. In other words, small steps.
Good luck!