Mastering Jazz Improvisation: Why Simplicity is Key 🎶
In this video, Dr. Lawrence breaks down one of the most important (and often overlooked) concepts in learning how to improvise jazz: don’t try to do too much too soon. Instead of chasing flashy lines or complex patterns, focus on keeping it simple by playing arpeggios from the root to the 7th, using quarter notes and eighth notes with a strong feel and clean articulation.
This approach builds solid time, phrasing, and harmonic awareness—the real foundation of great improvisation. Whether you're a beginner or looking to refine your fundamentals, this lesson will help you sound better by doing less, but doing it well. #jazzpiano #jazzlessons #jazzimprovisation
✅ Topics Covered:
Why overplaying hurts your progress
How to use simple arpeggios effectively
Tips for better articulation and time feel
Practice ideas for developing groove and clarity
🎧 Grab your instrument and let’s get into the groove—slow, steady, and swinging.
🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe for more jazz improvisation tips and lessons!
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Transcript
Okay, I just did a quick little YouTube short on folks getting the cart ahead of the horse when it comes to developing improvisation skills. Students come in here all the time at the Dallas School Music wanting to improvise. I get it. I totally get it. However, they're trying to do way too much in the beginning, at the beginning level. And as a result, really getting frustrated and discouraged because they're just got the card ahead of the horse. And what I mean by that is that they're trying to incorporate all kinds of chord scale relationships that they've read about online on the internet, pentatonic scales, blues scales, half whole diminished scale, whole half diminished scales, you name it. Every scale that you could possibly imagine they're fiddling around with in an effort to try to develop improvisation skills. I always have them take a step back or a dozen steps back, depending on how far down the road they've been with trying to incorporate everything into their playing. And I ask every student, I say, look, can you just simply play an ascending arpeggio using chord tones from the root to the seventh, put on a nice backing track play with a nice feel, a nice articulation, ascending from the root to the third, to the fifth, to the seventh, ascending only quarter note for each beat. Can you do that? And if you can do that, then can we insert a pair of eighth notes on count four, and then insert a pair of eighth notes on count three. Move that pair of eighth notes, in other words, from count four to count three to count two to count one. All ascending arpeggio motion using just simply quarter notes at first, then a combination of quarter notes with a single pair of eighth notes. And can you do that with a proper jazz articulation in time with a great feel? Can you do that? 99.9 % of the time, they can. But yet, they got the card ahead of the horse, they're trying to do all this other stuff that they've heard about and read about, and they can't even do that. So, let me model for you what I'm talking about, because if this applies to you, which I know it doesn't, but if it does, then you may want to try this as well. Let me go to the piano, and I'm gonna start with just a simple pair of eighth quarter notes, so you'll get the idea.
So here we go. Nice swing groove. Nothing crazy. About 110. Nice relaxed tempo, right? And all I want them to do is this. without rushing. Just a nice feel, right? Nice and relaxed. Then we'll add a pair of eighth notes on count four. several times. They get that? We're gonna move those eighth notes to count three. Now shift them to count two. Let's move into count one.
That's it. Such a simple little exercise, Quarter notes and eighth notes. Yet, most can't do that. Right? They can't do it. They're trying to do everything else when it comes to improvisation, but they're having a difficult time doing that. So, mission number one for all students coming in, wanting to learn how to improvise here at the Dallas School Music, very first thing I do is work on simple ascending motion, arpeggio motion with quarter notes and eighth notes on all of our chords, our 12 majors, 12 dominants, 12 minors, 12 half diminished and 12 diminished. If they can do that, then we're ready to move on. If not, we have the cart ahead of the horse. All right. Hey, if you're not a member of the Jazz Piano Skills, I wanna invite you to check it out. become a member, a great community. Podcast every week, tons of educational material