Play & Improvise Your Own Soulful Melodies

If you’d like to be able to

• play melodies in a soulful style
• improvise your own melodies
• share ready-made fun lessons with students

then grab your instrument, start the video below, and play along. The melodies are easy to play, but it’s challenging for some to emulate the nuances of rhythm and articulation. The first video is pretty accessible for any level of player: Here’s a more advanced version: If you’d like to learn how to make your own melodies effortlessly on the fly, get access to all my courses here. As the parent of a ten year-old, I figure everyone needs ways to learn online now that are to the point and engaging. This short play along format has been a game changer, so, after making 120 of them since March, I plan to continue doing it. Whether you want to glean nuances of style or develop good habits for general composition and improvisation, there’s a lot to take away from the videos above that isn’t explicitly stated, so I’ll list some of those below.

General

• Develop a habit of playing distinct phrases
• Put clear limits on yourself. (Like in my course on Free Improvisation)
• Be conscious of the melodic rhythm
• Take the opportunity sometimes to learn things by ear.
• Grow faster by recording yourself and listening back.

Specific to the style

Mix blues scales to create and release harmonic tension
• Create and release rhythmic tension via different groupings of triplets, and by playing in back, middle, or front of the beat.
I cover all of this and more in our online bootcamp. Learn more or join our next session at: Creative Strings Workshop Online. If you teach, you can share resources directly with your students. To schedule an exploratory call and learn about ways to work together, grab a slot on my calendar.