Step 8 Strong Notes
You can get away with just going up and down scale patterns as a form of improvising
( known as noodling in the U.K. ) however what is much better is to think melodically.
This usually means finding strong notes for each chord as the sequence goes
through.
What is a strong note ?
A strong note is a note that you can hold for a length of time over any particular
chord without it sounding weak.
Any scale note will sound OK as a passing note but the ones you hang around
on, or accent, should be strong notes.
The notes that actually make up the chord are strong notes - so for example
if the chord you're on is A minor then A, C and E are strong notes.
I have put together some basic chords to improvise
over.
The sequence is ;
| Am / / / | Am / / / | Dm / / / | Dm / / / |
| E7 / / / | E7 / / / | Am / / / | Am / / / |
The tempo is fast (about 185 BPM)
Try to construct a simple melody choosing from the strong notes as follows
:-
On Am the notes A - C - E - B
On Dm the notes D - F - A - B
On E7 the notes E - G# - B - D
You shouldn't use all the notes - indeed using just one per chord is a good
way to start.
The whole 8 bar sequence could have a melody of just 4 notes - for example
I might choose:-
E for the 1st Am ;
F for the Dm ;
E for the E7 ;
A for the 2nd Am
- not much of a tune but if you hold these notes for the first bar
of each pair and then use the scale to "fill" the second
bar of each pair you then have a structure to get you started.
Listen to the 1st soundfile to hear me doing just this.
I have put a second soundfile with just the chords for you to try this for
yourself.
The chord sequence goes round twice with a stop on the 1st beat of bar 8
the second time round - try to "fill" this gap .
Once you've got the hang of it try using a different selection of notes
from the strong notes list - there are a lot of different combinations to
try . Use your own judgement then to select what you prefer as the
melodic tone for the piece.