Ultimate Hack to Becoming a Fluent Improviser

Agustina, our au pair who moved in a week ago, is from Argentina.

Last night, we were discussing learning languages. Even though her English is strong, she confessed she wants to be able to speak faster.

Then she described all the steps she has to go through to speak in English:

1. Think of something to say

2. Say it in her head in Spanish

3. Translate it into English

4. Say it out loud in English

Fluent speakers complete this process instantaneously, on a subconscious level. But when you’re learning a new language, each step can feel like a mountain.

The process is basically the same when it comes to improvising music.

1. Think of something you want to play, i.e., hear a sound in your head

2. Figure out the scale degree numbers

3. Translate the numbers into note letter names

4. Play the notes on your instrument

In case I lost you with steps two and three, here’s what I mean by translating numbers into letter names:

Sing the melody to Mary Had a Little Lamb in your head.

Got it?

Now convert that sound into scale degree numbers...

3 2 1 2 3 3 3 and so on.

Now that you have the scale degree number sequence, you can play the melody in any key.

In the key of F Major, the notes are A G F G A A A.

Make sense?

Here are the steps again:

1. Think of something you want to play, i.e., hear a sound in your head

2. Figure out the scale degree numbers

3. Translate the numbers into note letter names

4. Play the notes on your instrument

Of course, the next problem, as Agustina points out, is moving through these steps faster to become a more fluent speaker or improviser.

Here’s the truth:

It takes time.

You have to be patient.

But there is a hack to speed the process along. It’s a theme I come back to again and again in just about every area of my life.

And the strategy can be summed up in one word:

Limitation.

To become a more fluent improviser, restrict yourself to a limited amount of notes. One of the ways to do this is by focusing only on chord tones.

But another way is by improvising with just the blues scale.

It's only six notes, and, if you’re improvising over a 12-bar blues, you don't have to change scales.

(If you were to improvise with mixolydian scales on a basic 12-bar blues, you’d have to juggle three different seven-note scales. That’s 21 notes compared to just six notes in the blues scale.)

So, to sum up, here's my advice: practice the four steps detailed above using just the blues scale.

But there’s an important caveat:

If you’re not yet familiar with the sound of the blues scale, it’s going to be difficult to complete step one: hearing the music in your head.

You’ll need to do more than just memorize the names of the notes in the scale. You’ll need to memorize how they sound.

To do just that, I recommend playing simple, short blues scale phrases and singing them back to help you get the sound in your ear. Think of it as using your left brain (the note names) to teach your right brain (the note sounds).

Lastly, don't worry about speed right now. Familiarize yourself with the sound of the scale and then work your way through the four-step process, one step at a time.

The speed will come with time, I promise.

I’ve been there. I remember asking my teachers how to get what’s in my head out onto my instrument

Trust the process and be patient.

Before we go, if this kind of instruction is wetting your whistle, I highly recommend joining me and hundreds of past students in my course: Improvising with the Blues Scale (without sounding like an amateur).

Enrollment closes today and we have our July live check-in call next week, so click the link below to secure your virtual seat.

https://go.jeffschneidermusic.com/improvising-with-the-blues-scale

Happy shedding,

Jeff