Charlie Parker improv?

Question

Charlie Parker and Coltrane and Jaco Pastorius and just about any great jazz improviser always outlines the chord when they solo and you can hear they make it clear when the chord changes because they play notes in that chord, how are they doing this? it seems very hard to hit the chord notes whenever they change. can anyone explain charlie parker methods of soloing? or coltrane?

Answer 1

Oh man, there have been books written about this.





Buy the Charlie Parker Omnibooks. it's a book of his transcribed solos.



and yes, its very hard to hit chord tones if the chords go by fast. but there's no secret to it, other than practice. Bird practiced 11-15 hours a day for 4 years.



other than the chord tones, Parker and Trane both utilize all 12 tones in their solos. as long as you hit the chord tones, it doesn't matter what notes you use to get to those notes.

Answer 2

First of all buy an omni-book it has all parker's solos in it on all the song he recorded. By playing form the omni-book you will get a better idea of how he hit the right notes to outline the changes as it also lists the chords. Listening to Parker and Trane is very important too. Tane did not always outline the changes as he got older for example in My Favorite Things there was not much for him to outline. All in all, you need to take it slow, get some aebersold books and put the background rythm section on and play up the chords 1-3-5-7 or whatever you need to do. When you feel like you know the notes of the chords. Then try improvising with good rhythm just using the important notes such as 3rds and 7ths. Just make sure you don't try and go right into soloing when you don't now a tune learn the chords first.



I hope this helps, remember practice makes perfect (well almost), and make sure your listening to a lot of jazz.

Answer 3

It sounds like you're already doing the most important thing by listening to their solos. Try to transcribe one of your favorite solos if you can, then learn to play it - this will help you learn some of their licks.



Another trick is to sit down with some changes and write out the chord tones for every chord. Then sit down and play them (to the beat). This will help you get a feel for the notes in the chord.



One more thing: check out the book "Patterns for Jazz" by Jerry Coker. It's got a lot of great exercises to work on chord changes.



Hope that helps! :-)

Answer 4

1st two answers are good!