Experienced musicians are accustomed to improvising to express their creativity. An invaluable skill, musical improvisation enables spontaneous reactions during a live performance, alone or in a group. But while improvisation may seem innate to some, it's actually a practice that requires specific training and know-how.

Newzik brings you ten tips to help you learn and master the skill of improvisation. Follow the guide and play your instrument with ease, even without a score!

What is improvisation in music?

In music, to improvise means to create and play music without prior preparation or written composition. It involves composing new melodies, harmonies or rhythms spontaneously, often alongside other musicians.

When a musician improvises, he's composing in real time. This means they have to use their knowledge and skills to create music instantly, while adapting to the musical environment around them.

To improvise, some musicians interact with other musicians with whom they share or create pieces of compositions together. This is the principle of the jam session a performance in which several musicians improvise as a group from scratch. Guitar, piano, vocals, drums: all instruments can play in tune with each other, each in their own way. In this context, improvising musicians have to listen carefully and react to each other's contributions, making each performance unique.

Different improvisation techniques for different musicians and musical genres

In jazz, for example, improvisation is at the heart of the music. Musicians play improvised solos over predefined chord progressions. In classical music, improvisation can appear in freer cadences or ornaments.

Improvisation offers great artistic freedom to musicians, who can explore new and unexpected musical ideas, express their emotions and personalities, and create ephemeral musical performances.

Although improvisation is spontaneous, it still requires rigorous preparation. Musicians train to improvise by working on their technical skills, their grounding in musical theory and their ability to react quickly to changes.

Our 10 tips for learning to improvise

1. Learn and understand the basics of music theory

Knowing how to improvise means mastering a few basics of music theory, in particular solfeggio, which enables you to understand the logic behind the sequence of notes, rhythms and harmony. This includes knowledge of scales, chords and harmonic progressions. Start by learning the scales often used in improvisation.

Major scales : the structure of the scale major scale follows a pattern of tones and semitones: tone tone , demi-tone, tone, tone, tone, demi-tone. For example, the scale of C major is composed of the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.
Minor scales : minor scales have a darker, more melancholy sound than major scales. There are several types of minor scale, including natural, harmonic and melodic.
Pentatonic scales : Pentatonic scales are made up of five notes, which makes them simpler and more useful for improvisation, especially in jazz, rock and blues. For example, the pentatonic of C major is C, D, E, G, A.
Blues scales: scale blues is derived from scale pentatonic minor, with an extra note, called the "blue note" (5b), which adds a characteristic tension to the sound. For example, the scale blues of A minor, which follows A, C, D, D#, E, G.

🎶 A very useful technique for perfecting practical playing techniques, improvisation also helps you to learning to read scores and musical notes more easily.

2. Listen to and draw inspiration from the great improvising musicians

Themusical ear is the key to improvisation. It is therefore essential to devote time to listening carefully to recordings by musicians who have proven themselves as improvisers.

For example, you can listen carefully to recordings or videos of such greats as Charlie Parker, John Coltrane or Miles Davis. Take the time toanalyze their solos, identify recurring motifs, and understand how they construct their musical phrases. If you have to, listen to certain tracks over and over again, and make a few notes with the elements you find interesting.

🎶 Want to save improvisation sessions? Use the audio recording function on Newzik Web to listen to the passages you want, when you want!

3. Practice active listening

Active listening is just as important as attentive listening. When you listen to a piece being played, try to reproduce the same melodies on your own.

If you're playing in a group, concentrate not only on what you're playing, but also on what the other musicians around you are playing. React to their musical suggestions and incorporate them into your composition to enrich your improvisation.

4. Experiment with improvisation using accompaniment tracks

Experimentation is the best way to practice! To help you, you can use apps or backing tracks. Tools like iReal Pro or backing tracks on YouTube can provide a musical framework (basic guitar, bass lines, percussion phrases or piano notes) on which you can improvise freely.

💡 Thanks to Newzik's LiveScore technology, it's possible to generate a MIDI accompaniment track and play over it. To do this, test the MIDI mixer mixer to isolate the instruments and launch the audio recorder to record your performance!

5. Mastering arpeggios for melodious playing

In music, an arpeggio (or broken note) is a chord in which the notes are played sequentially, creating a flowing melodic line. The arpeggio highlights the different notes of a chord and creates rich and varied harmonic textures.

Arpeggios are therefore very effective tools for improvisation, as they allow you to navigate easily through chords. Arpeggio playing requires precision, practice and an excellent sense of rythm. Don't hesitate to practice arpeggios on all the chords in the harmonic progression of the piece you're working on.

6. Playing with patterns

Patterns, or "licks", are short musical phrases that you can learn and reuse in different improvisations. Think of this licks game as an exercise: play these patterns over and over again to make progress! Have fun learning different patterns by varying the style and tonality of playing. This will help you adapt to different moods and musical worlds.

7. Explore rhythms

In improvisation, rythm is just as important as the notes you play. The best way to add diversity to your rhythmic playing is to practice a variety of rhythmic patterns.

Perform several exercises, whether singing or using an instrument: play with syncopation and meter changes, and experiment with techniques such as phrased irregular and rythm rubato.

8. Be comfortable with the transposition of tonality

Improvisation often requires you to play spontaneously in different keys. Practicing the transposition of your musical ideas in all keys will enable you to feel at ease whatever the key of the piece.

💡 Would you like to change the tonality of a score, raising or lowering it by one or more semitones? The Newzik application lets you transpose a score (in scan or PDF format) using artificial intelligence technology LiveScore. This function is available from the #b button at the bottom of your score screen.

9. Playing with other musicians

One of the best ways to progress in improvisation is to play with other musicians. Taking part in jam sessions or joining a group that works on improvisation in rehearsal is a great way to practice. Interacting with other musicians and instruments who adopt a different style from your own will open up new creative perspectives.

Don't feel comfortable improvising alongside other musicians? Don't hesitate to take music lessons! Supervised learning will make it easier for you to implement improvisation techniques.

10. Be patient and persevering

Improvising a solo à la Jimmy Hendrix is not for everyone! Like any skill, improvisation takes time and practice. Persevere despite the difficulties, but remain indulgent with yourself. Every improvisation session is a new opportunity to learn and improve.

By practising and staying committed to your practice, you'll gradually develop your musical improvisation skills, so you'll be able to take your music and creativity to the next level!

📲 Want to create a library 100% dedicated to your improvisation sessions? Record your creations and transpose them automatically into a live score from the Newzik application ! Start the record and play!