Have you ever been asking yourself: "How can I improve my solos building up ideas in a more, thematic way?"
In several jazz improvisation books you can read about the "call and response" system but, in my experience, little or no time is spent on how to practically teach your brain to do that step-by-step.
So here there are 3 main techniques you can use to develop your solos thematically:
1) Imitation
2) Extension
3) Fragmentation
In this short article, I'll introduce the concept of imitation.
Step 1: Pick a very simple rhythmic and harmonic setting (e.g., 4/4 , G7)
Step 2: Choose a very short melody (3-4 notes) and play it again and again.
Step 3: Generate a variation of the initial melody using the same rhythm and melodic curve (if you don’t know what a melodic curve is, just put in writing the notes of your melody and then join them. You’ll instantly see what your curve is).
Step 4: Play the new melody 4 times, then play a new set of notes (still same melodic curve)
Step 5: Now select a chord progression (e.g., II V I or an easy standard) and practice imitation throughout the harmonic progression. You can play the same set of notes thoughout or choose to change notes in separate areas of the tune (e.g., AABA)
There you have 5 easy steps to start working on your thematic soloing.
Author Resource:-
Francesco Amico is a jazz guitarist with over 20 years of performing experience. If you found this article helpful, subscribe to his newsletter and get instant access to a FREE guitar video tutorial: http://www.topguitarlessonsreviewed.com
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