Chords for Language of Improv - #4 - Bill Evans

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Now I'd like you to pull up the chart
and look at the phrases that I wrote down. _
Like I said, _ there are thousands, millions of phrases,
_ quadrillions of phrases that you _ can create yourself.
This is just how to _ _ get into the language.
For instance, there are a million ways to describe
how to go from one location to the next
if you're speaking in English.
How to get from your city to another city.
You could talk for days.
It's the same on this.
_ I just wrote down some.
So if you're looking at your page,
let's say the first bar, you could play it like this. _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ That's pretty standard, right?
[D] Or you can _ _ [Am] _ _ [G] go_ _
Or you could really [Dm] swing it.
_ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ Or_
right?
That's just on one bar, okay?
[Dm] So that's how I want you to look at this page.
You just don't _ [A] play_
Okay, I know that.
No. _
Get to know it.
Let it sink into your brain.
This is a language.
Each time you think hard about something like this,
you're learning it a little bit more.
Okay, the next one.
_ _ [Bb] _ _ The next one after that,
and I'll keep going one phrase after the next. _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
[Dm] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [Gb] _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ Can you get sort of the feel of what this music is like,
what this bebop is like?
It's_ _ _
_ _ _ _ You know, it's a language.
_
_ _ _ _ _ And you _ _ [A] _ [G] _ _ _ _
[F] have_
_ _ [Db] _ And the list can go on and on.
_
[G] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [Gm] _ _ [C] And then syncopate it a little bit.
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And in other words, start with a simple phrase.
Here's a good exercise for you to do.
Start with a simple phrase like the one that's written on the page
that goes like this.
_ [G] _
_ _ And then add on to that phrase.
_ _ [A] _
_ _ [Db] _ _ And then add on to that. [D] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [G] _ _ [Gb] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _
_ Constantly do that.
Come up with your own phrases.
Play something _ [Cm] like_
_ _ [Eb] And then add on to that.
_ _ [G] _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ [C] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
[F] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _
_ [B] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ [Cm] _ _ _ [B] You keep adding on.
You keep making sense.
Start with one bar. _
Go to two bars.
Go to three bars.
Go to four bars.
And just keep adding on.
And what you're doing is, you're beginning to tell a story.
All of a sudden, you're starting to sound good.
You're starting to sound like you can play.
And you're starting to make music out of it.
You're not just going_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
Anybody can do that.
You want to separate yourself and become a player?
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ [A] _ _ _ [F] How did I get that?
I embellished it.
I put color into it.
I'm listening like crazy to hear how it's supposed to be.
So my brain is putting this whole thing together.
Let me just quickly run the rest at the bottom of the page.
They just go_
[Gm] _ _ _
_ [A] And some are a little more syncopated.
I _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ changed a couple of them around. _ _
_ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [F] _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ [B] And you'll start saying,
a lot of these sound very similar and the same.
Yes, they do.
That's the bebop language.
You can do anything you want with them.
As soon as you know how to do so many different variations on this,
all of a sudden, you start playing.
And you start saying something.
_ [E] _ _ [D] _
_ _ [E] _ [G] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ [Bbm] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
[Abm] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
[N] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Em] _ [C] _ _
_ [Gb] _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [Am] _ [B] _ _
_ [G] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And I bet now, what I just played,
all of a sudden, isn't as intimidating as it was
maybe in the beginning of this course.
Because now you're hearing, wow,
one bar phrases, maybe two bar phrases.
Now he's adding on to the first phrase.
You're beginning to hear bebop.
You're beginning to understand the language.
It starts to become more clear.
_ You're writing your own phrases out.
You're beginning to see them.
You're beginning to hear them.
You're listening to other master musicians
like Charlie Parker and _ all the classic bebop guys
as well as the guitar players that play bebop styles.
And now you're starting to open up your vocabulary. _
And that's the main thing here.
You want to play and improvise
and open up your _ _ _ box, so to say.
I know so many really great players
that come to me and they want to be able to open up their vocabulary.
And you know what I talk about?
I talk about this.
_ I say, you have to go back and you have to start increasing
the words, the sentences.
You have to get the knowledge that we're talking about here
to expand what you're saying.
And then when you can do that, sky's the limit. _