Improvising -coming up with fills
I am going to ask David the same question, but wanted to see how you tackle this also! I am spending time in Improvising Study I - Chorus Forms. I am good with the whole Chorus Form concept, but I really struggle when it comes to coming up with "Fills" . An example would be AAA with fills.
Do you come up with your fills simply by trial and error or is there a magic formula to come up with fills that sound good?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks Rob - I was referencing specific to the lesson in Improvising Study 1. David goes through the chorus forms, that is pretty straight forward. But then there is space at the end of the licks for us to add our own fills. I am having a hard time musically coming up with fills that sound good. I was just wondering if it's more trial and error or if there was something I was missing in coming up with fills that sound good.
Same ideas hold true for filling on the assignment for Improvising Study 1. E.g., if you're working on using The Strut as a study song, think about "echoing" what you just finished in the melody line when space allows. Maybe in a different octave, and/or different techniques. Or play those last few notes backwards. But again, while a little phrase might be considered a "fill" after a line, or in the space between lines, it might also be considered a "pickup" for what's coming next. So again, David's recent Pickup Study might give you ideas.
And "trial and error" is just another way of saying, "Do it! And if it works, try to remember it. And if it doesn't, try to forget you ever did it."
Just cut them short. Play only the end of them (which is where they either resolve or build tension) if the space for fills is not long enough to play the whole lick.
And then you can do the tricks Dave explains in the last improvising lesson (or one of the last lessons) where you take a lick and transpose it, play it in reverse, upside-down, rearrange parts, etc.
And, lastly but not least importantly: copy fills from others. Listen to harmonica songs you like from the masters, in different positions, and copy the fills.
Peter:
Interesting question.
If you're talking about fills between a vocalist's phrases, or during spaces in another instrumentalist's solo, the very first thing is to ask before a set starts, "Do you like having my harp do fills, or would you rather I just sit out when you're on?" Some musicians - for reasons I don't understand - don't want anyone else to be playing while they're singing or playing. But some time ago when I was just starting to play publically I had a singer ask me, "How come you never play any kinds of fills or responses when I sing; I'd really like it if you would!"
If you're talking about fills when just playing or recording a study song, you don't have to worry about a dirty look from another musician on the bandstand, but the same concept, below, might work.
What to play? Listen to the melody being sung or played, and then fill with something that matches. Either a direct reference, or perhaps a line in the other direction. E.g., if the vocal line ends with notes going up in pitch, answer with a riff that goes down!
And it doesn't hurt to think of fills as pick-ups. E.g., if you're filling behind another musician, or between your own chorus melodies, you're really playing pick-ups for him or her (or yourself) until he or she (or you) starts in again. So a really good start could be David's Pickup Study (see "New Lessons"). Stuff that works not only on the bandstand, but if you're just working on a chorus form for a lesson recording.