ABSTRACT
A few basic improvisational strategies involving blues riffs, guide tones and motifs are examined, and implemented in practice. Successful improvisation depends just as much on the ability to project the melodic line in a convincing fashion as it does on a familiarity with the melodic syntax, harmonic vocabulary, and rhythmic conventions associated with the tune being used for improvisation. In addition, the ability to listen to our own playing, articulate the form of improvisations, and make large-scale musical connections is an important skill that can improve improvisational skills. In jazz improvisation we first acquire a basic vocabulary of chords, scales, and motifs along some normative voice-leading rules. Studying blues improvisation, however, gives us a solid foundation that we can later develop and expand. The most basic strategy in learning blues improvisation involves playing simple melodic ideas derived from the blues scale, called blues riffs. Techniques of motivic development are innately connected with the art of composition and improvisation.
