"Twelfth Year" - My improv progress

AmundLauritzen

I like to record my playing regularly so I can listen for weak areas. I've been working a bit on improvising on Djangos "Twelfth Year", a favorite of mine.
I recorded a short video of my improv on this tune:



Of course there are mistakes, but overall I notice the benefits of gypsy picking in tone and projection.

What I can hear when listening to myself in third person, is that the picking is not always 100% consistent in timing and dynamics. This of course, will be fixed with more practice. Deeper muscle memory and more relaxed technique.

The funny thing is that the tempo sounds and feels much faster when I play than when I listen afterwards.

I would be happy to get some feedback on how I can improve my playing.

Bones

Wow nice! I'd love to give you some advice except I wish I could improvise half as well as you so it would be worthless except to say whatever you are doing keep it up, seems to be working. I liked your ideas and I think I'll work on transcribing some of it for an exercise. Thanks for the post.

Jon

I think it sounds really good - some great licks and ideas there joined up very fluidly together. You could make some more spaces in your playing, so we hear you playing separate phrases rather than such long lines. Just a few short gaps here and there will help frame your lines and ideas a bit more.

Interestingly, there's a Tchavolo album (not sure which one right now) where you can hear him very clearly breathing between each phrase he plays. He doesn't sing while he plays (which is another popular technique to build phrasing) but he definitely breathes what he plays - holding his breath during a phrase and breathing in the gaps, or something similar.

Also, I think you could focus a little more on the groove or swing of your lines, which sometimes are a bit tight sounding, and not rhythmically flowing as much as they could - this also could just mean relaxing more.

Great stuff!

Jazzaferri

@Jon ....you raise an interesting point that I hadn't thought about. Sax playing limits ...ie have to breather.... Seem to have affected my guitar playing.....my lines are shorter....more spaces.....

Thanks for bringing up that point. I find it very helpful.

AmundLauritzen

Jon wrote: »

I think it sounds really good - some great licks and ideas there joined up very fluidly together. You could make some more spaces in your playing, so we hear you playing separate phrases rather than such long lines. Just a few short gaps here and there will help frame your lines and ideas a bit more.

Interestingly, there's a Tchavolo album (not sure which one right now) where you can hear him very clearly breathing between each phrase he plays. He doesn't sing while he plays (which is another popular technique to build phrasing) but he definitely breathes what he plays - holding his breath during a phrase and breathing in the gaps, or something similar.

Also, I think you could focus a little more on the groove or swing of your lines, which sometimes are a bit tight sounding, and not rhythmically flowing as much as they could - this also could just mean relaxing more.

Great stuff!

Thank you for the feedback!

At this point I tend to fall into the long lines. I think when I will get more vocabulary and better technique, that I will have enough material to be able to start and stop phrases anywhere on the fretboard and anywhere in the bar, which will help a lot.
At this level I am most concerned with outlining the harmonies and trying to relax my right hand, so once I no longer have to think about those aspects I guess I can focus more on the phrasing or musical sentence construction.

As for the groove, I'm going for that Dutch style which seems to be very much on the beat. I realize that my playing at this point is inconsistent though, which will hopefully be fixed as my right hand technique improves and becomes more relaxed.

Charles Meadows

You really seem to have nailed Stochelo's second finger vibrato!

MattHenry

Great playing, Amund! I was just studying this clip in SoundSlice yesterday!

I'd agree that just a bit of breathing to break up the phrases would go a long way. I love your tone and technique though. Honestly, the phrases aren't too long if that's what you're feeling! I might argue they're a bit samey in their length and shape if I was trying to get picky. Still though, nothing wrong with classic four-bar licks that have a solid right hand and really explore the changes in a sensitive way. You've got a great style and you should just keep doing whatever it is you're doing.

I made sure to follow you on YouTube. I hope you upload more clips just like this one so I can use them for study. You might get a bit closer to the camera next time. Again I'm just being picky, but SoundSlice.com doesn't allow you to make the video any bigger.