Your First Rock Improvisation

Before starting this lesson I advise you read our Introduction To Improvisation lesson first. You will also need a copy of This Free MP3 that is used as a backing track for this lesson.


In this first improvisation exercise you will be presented with a four bar pattern similar to that given in our improvisation introduction and I will be discussing how to approach creating a part for it. Here is the notation for this exercise:

The sheet music for the exercise

So you can see the tempo is 100bpm, it is played in a rock style, it's a four bar pattern and it is based on a rhythm. You can also see that bars 2 and 3 are to be the same or similar to bar 1 and that in bar 4 there is a fill. First of all let's make sure you can play the given rhythm. You will be playing on the '1', the '+' after 1 and the '+' after 2 then count 3 and 4 to fill the space in the second half of the bar. If you are unsure of how this sounds listen to the MP3 linked above, the rhythm the guitar and bass are playing is the given rhythm. Play the rhythm along with a metronome a few times to get a feel for it.

Once you have the rhythm down you should think about what structure you are going to use for the piece. For grades 1 and 2 improvisation I strongly recommend always following an 'A B A C' structure. By doing this you have a 'set' structure for any four bar improvisation that you just need to fill in the parts for. In the case of this structure, 'A' refers to a bar of groove, 'B' is a variation on that groove and 'C' is a fill. There are several examples of how to apply parts to this on the lesson linked above. You don't have to follow this structure, I recommend it because it gives you more options for showing off your abilities.


Now you know what structure you are following you need a groove for the 'A' part. The groove will be played in bars 1 to 3 so is the bulk of the piece. In this case we will use the same approach taken in our Introduction To Grooves lesson, where you were given a rhythm and then turned that rhythm into a groove. An important thing to take into account at this point is the genre the piece is to be played in. You should include traits of the genre within your groove to make it more appropriate to the back track. A key feature of most rock grooves is a strong 'back beat', which is when beats 2 and 4 are prominent in the groove. The easiest way to achieve this is to place snares on beats 2 and 4, as you have with most grooves so far. More detail on individual genres will be given in separate lessons.

Next decide what you'd like the right hand to do. Crotchets or quavers? Which part of the kit will it play? For this example lets keep it simple and say quavers on a closed hi hat. Finally you just need some bass drums and this is where the given rhythm comes in. Basically, just play bass drums as the rhythm shown in bar 1 whilst the snares are playing a back beat and the right hand is playing eighth notes. That sounds far more complicated than it is. The bars below show the right hand part on the left and on the right is a version of the full groove you could play for this bar.

An example groove for this exercise

I mentioned above taking note of the genre and applying features of it to your playing. Along with a strong back beat, another common feature of a rock groove is accents on all quarter notes to give a more 'driving' feel. I would suggest applying that here, we have a lesson on this subject Here.


That's the 'A' sorted out, which is bars 1 and 3. Next let's get the 'B' section. This is just going to be a subtle variation on the groove used as 'A' and there are a lot of things you could do for this. Below is a list of a few options:

The idea I am going to talk you through involves listening to the backing track and looking our for any parts of the music you can simulate. Have another listen to the MP3 provided above. Notice how on beat 4 the guitar and bass are playing another note on beat 4? You could perhaps do something on that beat in the second bar to make it stand out. Below are four options for a 'B' section using the idea of accenting beat 4. Notice that some of the ideas presented in the above list are used.

Four options for the 'B' section


Finally we need a 'C' section, which will be the bar marked 'fill' in the sheet music. I have been a little mean in this example. If you listen to the backing track again you will notice that on beat 4 of bar 4 the guitars all play a note and stop. To get top marks in an improvisation exam this is the kind of thing you need to spot and incorporate into your playing. What I would suggest doing here is some sort of fill for beats 1 to 3 then hitting a crash and bass drum on beat 4. The list below gives you some options for fill construction, also see our list of fill concepts for even more ideas.

Always go with an option that you know you can play well. A simple idea played really well is always far better than a great idea played badly. Below are four possible options for a 'C' section.

Four options for the 'C' section


So there are your four parts. You hopefully now have a good idea of how to take a rhythm, turn it into a rock groove, create a variation on that rock groove then create a fill to complete a four bar phrase. This lesson has been quite in depth, a lot of these things will very quickly become second nature to you. To end on here are two examples of possible combinations that would fit this improvisation exercise.

Full Phrase 1

A full four bar phrase for this improvisation


Full Phrase 2

A full four bar phrase for this improvisation


TASK:

  1. Create your own part for the improvisation exercise presented at the start of this lesson.
  2. Play your part to the backing track and see if you think it fits well.
  3. Think about different ways you could approach this exercise.

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