From scales to improvising

Some thoughts on making the jump from playing scales to improvising in no particular order.

• Play melodies and slowly start to embellish them.
• Sing your ideas and try to mimic them on your instrument.
• Play short melodies landing on chord tones.
• Pentatonic melodies.
• Have a conversation. Make a statement and then answer it.
• Give yourself a specific length to play over, such as 16 bars.
• Use as few notes as possible.
• Use common tones to quickly sound more sophisticated .
• Listen to the greats and and imitate (even if it’s just the phrasing… or simplify the line).
• Explore intervals within a “sound” (b3, sus, M6, b5, b7).
• Outline 3rds and 7ths.
• Start with only 2 chords.
• Explore scale patterns (in 3rds, 6ths, 123,234,345).
• Listen to you favorite artists. When you hear something that moves you find out why and use in your own playing.
• Listen to the blues.
• Pick a simple rhythm and play it exclusively.
• Start simple. Build. End confidently on purpose.
• Use phrasing techniques such as bending, sliding, and legatos to make your melodies more emotional.
• Play with dynamics.