Improvising fills
Dear teacher,
when I practice my improvisation and add fill, I often lose the beat just before the chord changes. I noticed that my fills are pure improvisation without any structure. do you think I should change my approach and use only piece of licks that I learned in previous songs?
Okay. you can be sure that I will be patient.
thank you
David, just now working on LOA 4 Improvising and was watching/playing video of Chorus Forms and when it was my turn to play fills, I had no idea how to make it sound right. I sometimes have good idea in my head and I can even hear a great tune including fills in my head but I'm not good enough to get those same notes out correctly on the harp - if that makes sense. In other words I'll hear a good fill which makes great musical sound in my mind, but I don't know those same notes translated on the harp yet. I might hit one or two correct notes that I want but then its a guess as to whether what I'm after is a draw or a blow or a different hole or what. The end result is the fill comes out not so good and not very musical. I'm supposed to do fills for the test and I'm worried about it.
Hello lhobdey. It just means you're not ready to improvise yet... you need more licks, via studying more study songs. This is common, so don't feel like you're slow. Take fill licks from your study songs and insert them (it will take practice/experimenting to make it work). As time goes on, as you gain more experience, the fills will start to come.
Hello Mr Bourgeois. Do both. Use licks from past study songs (trying to fit them in the best you can)... this will be your best bet to sounding good. Also do pure improvisation... though challenging right now, it's important that you keep experimenting with it. Fills are the most basic form of improvising, so this is your first step into the wonderful world of becoming your own original player.