Hello everybody,
in this page I'd like to continue talking about improvisation, began with "the riff", and so giving great importance to the use of rhythm patterns.
As I said in the last lesson here melody is not considered, and only the rhythm is taken into account.
You might follow the melodic direction of the pattern, but in this kind of work it is neither that important nor a thing to focus too much.
So I' ve extrapolated some rhythm patterns from jazz themes; interesting patterns either for their polirhythm sense or for their accents. They can help you with new ideas and sense of swing when improvising (no swing, no jazz!).
Here are some important rhythm effects that you can encounter in themes or solos. I recommend you their importance.
- The use of 2 + 3 or 3 + 2. Ex:
- the anticipation of the beginning of following bar. Ex:
- the delay of the beginning of the bar. Ex:
- alternating of "crome" e triplets Ex:
As an exercise, I recommend to take a pattern and play it for a long time, even all along a whole piece, getting yourself bored, but learning it well, until it is completely absorbed and become part of our language.
The Mp3 file is an study example. This time I have considered an entire chorus; it is off the Aebersold version of All the things you are, on which I have melodically played starting from the third of the chord (other interesting work, isn't that?), useful expecially on pieces like this, which have some chords.
All the things
you are 
On the other hand I have almost exclusively rhythmically played on the following patterns:
In the first 16 bars a pattern from Lady Bird:
In the following 12 bars a pattern from Anthropology:
In the last bars a pattern from Stolen Moments:
I'll repeat it one more time: everything I played is an example of a study, and not a real solo.
Obviously later on we must leave this mathematical method of inserting a pattern, bit this is going to happen naturally as long as the pattern will be inside you, like magic...
I hope, with these three lessons devoted to "the riff", everything is clear and useful to you.
Hopefully to give you the input to enbark of a pleasant musical journey. It could keep you occupied for years, if you want to get into it, but after only a few months of exercises you will see the first results. Try to believe. At the next, ciao Toni.
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