Experimenting with Your Improvisation (Practice Session) - a podcast by Brent Vaartstra: Jazz Musician, Author, and Entrepreneur

Welcome to episode 258 where today I'm having you sit in on a practice session where I explore a I-VI-ii-V chord progression, experimenting with whatever ideas come up in the moment. A lot of times we get wrapped up on playing the"right notes"that we forget that we have to experiment creatively to find the music that we really want to play. Developing a mindset of experimentation can help with that.



Listen to episode 258You know a lot of us can get stuck in our jazz improv when we get over-analytical.  



We think a lot about exercises. We think a lot about certain concepts we may have learned that we want to apply over a jazz standard or a chord progression, and we forget that we're actually just trying to make music. 



And for me, and something that I like to instill in all my students, implement into my courses and my programs, is the act of creation, of experimenting, finding the notes you like, finding the notes you don't like, trying different things to see what works and what doesn't work. 



So, in today's episode, I'm going to do a little bit of a practice session just for myself over a popular chord progression.



I'm just going to try as many things as possible, and just work through the chord progression, try to see what ideas come up spontaneously, see what I like and see what I don't like.



And I think this will help you understand how you can structure a practice session around this concept of experimentation and creation.In this episode:



1. Why experimentation is important for better jazz improv2. I practice a I-VI-ii-V progression, experimenting as much as possible



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