Improvising over changes

[toddw7]

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone can give advice on improvising over chord changes. I've looked at Musician's Institute Press as well as Berklee Press books, and am pretty overwhelmed with the amount of options out there. I don't know where to begin. What books do you guys recommend?

Thanks!

[jaxadam]

Chord changes within same key? Chord changes to different keys?

There is really a lot going on with both of these, and I'd say the best way to start is to get a good basis of the modes down, and then learn what notes sound good to YOU over a chord or chord progression, and then develop a few phrases that will work over these chords/progressions.

I typically like to find an "off" note, say a 6th, and give it a little suspension going into the root, or maybe 3rd, and develop some kind of phrase that works around getting to the next chord or key change.

[toddw7]

It seems to me that there are two ways people improvise. One involves playing in the same key over the entire progression. The other involves something more satisfying to listen to (at least for me). It seems like it involves changing keys for each chord, or at least targeting the notes in the chord that sound strongest. Steve Vai's solo in All About Eve demonstrates this. The way he solos over the change from the first chord to the second is dramatic. (I hope I'm making sense.)

[jaxadam]

Originally Posted by toddw7

It seems like it involves changing keys for each chord, or at least targeting the notes in the chord that sound strongest.

As long as the phrasing makes sense. The key is to make the phrasing "make sense" over the chord that is being played, and for that phrasing to be able to "lead into" the next chord.

[Homebake]

theoretically, (in jazz anyway) one of the methods is to play notes from the chord arpeggio of the chord that is going on. eg. you're playing along in A minor, chord changes to D min then E minor in 1 bar, you could hit the 3rd and 5th of each chord while it's going on to make it sound good.

obviously, that would result in incredibly boring playing, but that's the theory of it.

and of course, using modes and stuff. obviously A aeolian has all the notes of A min, D min and E min, but using just A minor to solo over it doesn't give as good results as if you focus on the actual notes of the chord that's going on.

[3rdeye]

Start by creating melodies using the chord tones only. Then add non-chord tones to spice it up. After a while you'll naturally gravitate towards the tones that speak to you the most and drift in and out of the chord tone bracket in a musical way. You can also look at non-chord tones (as someone else pointed earlier) as being suspensions of chord-tones, you can choose to either resolve these or not, your call.

[karimagus]

I would suggest you check the works of UK guitar monster Guthrie Govan. You can find on youtube a series of improvisations upon small jam tracks of which you can download the backing tracks for free with accurate tabs.

I've been working on a track called "ORANGE blues jam", if you get a chance to watch Guthrie play it on youtube, you will witness the meaning of skillful improvisation.
Hope this comes handy
Cheers!