Jazz Trombone F.A.Q.

2) What's the best way to learn to improvise on the trombone?

Jeff Adams: For a beginner, if you have a computer, the absolute best way to

start is to use Band in a Box. Because you can set the tempo slow enough to attempt

playing what you hear over the changes.

Start with a Dorian mode tune like "So What," the first track on Miles Davis'

recording "Kind of Blue" (a must have for all jazz musicians.) Learn the ins

and outs of the Dorian mode of the major scale. In C major this is the C

major scale but starting on the 2nd degree of the scale=D. Improvise with

this over the form of the tune trying to make musical and logical ideas come

out. Most importantly try to play what you hear.

Graduate from this to improvising over the Blues. Keep the tempos slow so

you can play what you hear.

Next move to working from Aebersold volumes 1 and 54. Once you feel very

comfortable with these, pick up “How to Improvise” by Hal Crook. It is the most

thorough written material on the topic and will really get your creative juices

flowing.

Sam Burtis: See above (my answer to the previous question). Learn your scales;

listen to the great players on EVERY instrument. Learn THEIR solos, as well as you

can...on the horn, plus be able to sing them and understand what they're doing

harmonically, rhythmically and melodically.

Chris Smith: Jazz is an aural tradition. The music is passed down from player to player

mainly through recordings and live performances. In recent years there has been a lot of

work done to document jazz music with new fakebooks, play-along CDs, etc. but I think

the “old-fashioned” (Old-Skool?) way is best. Spend lots of time listening to jazz music.

Play with recordings, learn solos, watch master improvisers play in person; ask questions.

I firmly believe that if you internalize the music- get it inside you, so that you have

strong emotions about the actual music (not about the tangential aspects of performing,

being “cool”, being a “star”, etc.), then you will develop into a player who other people

enjoy listening to.

And that’s what it’s all about, to me. Do people enjoy the music? If you learn to really enjoy

it yourself, you’ll gain the ability to pass some joy around yourself.

You might notice I haven’t mentioned the trombone. That’s because the music comes

before the instrument to me. First you learn what jazz is, then you apply your instrument

to it.

Alex Iles: There is no one "best" way.

There are as many ways to learn as there are jazz musicians. The simpler for

you, the better. Play everything you like [or simply CAN play] by ear. Songs,

jingles, TV show themes, nursery rhymes, anything you can hum, try to play in

as many keys as you can. Whatever music you listen to the most is the music you

know best. Start there. Once you have the melody down, listen for the roots of

the chords [or the bass line of the tune] and play along. Now you are really

listening!! These skills are part of the "craft" part of playing jazz. Great

players learn how to connect the "art" [creativity, spirit, instinct and

sponteneity] with the "craft" [ear training, harmonic knowledge, instrumental

technique, tune knowledge]

Improvising adds a step to the above; YOU compose the song and play it by ear

AT THE SAME TIME. Is it TOTALLY spontaneous all the time? Never. No more so

than a regular conversation has brand new ideas or words every time you speak.

The spontaneity comes from how we put the material together in our own

individual way in a given place and time. Practicing jazz is about developing

a vocabulary and learning the conventions of the language [which has MANY

dialects!]. Instead of words, we have harmony and rhythm; instead of sentences,

we have musical phrases and scales, instead of grammar, we have music theory

and the recorded legacy set forth by the great jazz masters. ACTIVELY listening

to music [that is, not as background sound, but with your horn in hand, ready

to imitate or playback something you hear!] is the single best way to develop

this particular skill. Once you start doing this, I think you can turn to all

the great jazz materials [Aebersold, Levine, Crook etc] for more ideas.

Studying privately can especially help your harmonic knowledge and introduce

you to music that you might not find or be interested in on your own.

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