How to Make Soloing on Hard Chord Progressions Easy

We've all been there.

Someone calls a tune at a gig or a jam session with chord changes that make zero sense.

Do you glue your eyes to the sheet music and try to nail each chord in your solo?

Or do you just say "screw it" and try improvising by ear, hoping something halfway decent comes out?

Over the years, I've been guilty of both approaches.

And the resulting solos were mediocre at best...and total train wrecks at worst.

Playing over scary tunes like Bill Evans's Very Early or Wayne Shorter's Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum or John Coltrane's 26-2 really makes you appreciate "regular" standards like I Got Rhythm, Billie's Bounce, and There Will Never Be Another You.

But we're not here to make excuses or take the easy way out.

We're here to solve problems and figure out the most efficient and effective ways of practicing things that are difficult.

And it goes without saying that the art of improvising jazz solos is damn difficult.

So, let's tackle the question: how do you make hard chord progressions easy to solo on?

First, it really does help to know your arpeggios and chord scales well enough that you don't have to rack your brain for the chord tones every time a new chord comes up.

But once you get to that point, the real secret is to make the melodies you improvise sound simple in contrast to the complex harmony underneath.

Here's your mission: come up with a nursery rhyme type melody over an atonal, non-functional chord progression.

If you can do that, you've got a strong foundation on which to build a solo.

If you can't, your solos are going to sound as random as the chord progressions over which you're improvising.

The thing most people miss when they try to blow over hard tunes—or even easy tunes for that matter—is that they fail to improvise horizontally and vertically at the same time.

It's crucial that you understand the distinction between the two and that you're able to do both simultaneously.

Unfortunately, the horizontal/vertical approach is not intuitive. But the good news is that anybody can learn how, and it doesn't take a whole lot of time, especially if you have a system to follow.

Lucky for you, the system I use is laid out in detail in my six-week improvisation course, Making the Changes. It's appropriate for beginner and intermediate improvisers on all instruments, and enrollment closes at the end of this week.

If you'd like to secure your spot before enrollment closes, click the link below to learn more.

And if you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email.

Looking forward to seeing you in the class!

Click here to learn more about Making the Changes.

Happy shedding,

Jeff