Buds Blues

Rhythmic Approach to Soloing

The character of an improviser is not just through their note selection but by the way they approach
rhythm.
So far all of the attention has been on the technical aspect within improvising referring to the chord
and scale relationships and various options available to us within them. As your playing is now being
informed by this information it is time to turn our attention to rhythmical devices that are used.

Double Time
The first thing to notice is that during this solo there is a lot of what is know as double time playing.
Look at bars 19-22 for example. This is where your playing suggests that the speed is twice as quick
as the actual stated pulse. Sonny Stitt plays a lot of semi-quaver lines throughout this solo and it can
be used as a way of generating intensity within your improvising.
A way of practising this would be to take a II-V-I phrase that youre familiar with and try playing it
twice as fast through a bar set of changes. Take one of the licks looked at during lesson 3 on the IIV-I progression and try playing it over a turnaround looked at in lesson 5.
E.g.

A key thing to be aware of here is to play the faster lines with a lot of clarity. You need to ensure that
the semi-quavers are all even so that the line will be heard clearly. In order to develop this try playing
along with a metronome. Place it on every crotchet beat to ensure that each set of four semi-quavers
are accurately placed.

12/8 Triplet Feel

Another device used a little bit during this solo is the playing of triplet quavers. An example can be
found in bar 32. This device can be used to imply a different time feel over the given pulse. In this
case by playing a run of triplets over a 4/4 bar you are implying a 12/8 feel.
To practice in a way that will help you to internalize playing with a strong pulse but with a changing
time feel practice your scales firstly as quavers to establish the pulse and then try to play the scale
again grouping the notes into triplets.
E.g.

Try playing through a simple three chord blues progression and try improvising just using quaver
triplets. Although when improvising a solo you would be aware to vary the rhythm, by isolating this
one key area in your practice you will be working very efficiently.

Displacement
Looking at Sonnys playing we could also have an introduction into how you can change the
harmonic rhythm. The harmonic rhythm refers to the rate the chords change and it is common
within an improvised line to pre-empt or delay the change from one chord into another.
When looking back at the solo on All Gods Chillun Got Rhythm have a look at bars 39-40, 56-57
and then 71-72. It clearly shows repetition of a pattern with the phrase in bars 71-72 being displaced
by one beat.

Bar 39-40

Bar 55-56

Bar 71-72

The previous two times he plays this phrase the D# in the line is clearly the point at which he is
stating the B7 chord. In bar 72 it could be thought of as Sonny delaying the resolution by a crotchet
beat. This is what it suggests to me as the phrase has been so clearly played prior to this with a strong
resolution onto beat one.
Try playing through the next exercise which will demonstrate anticipating or delaying the chord
change into B7. Try using the phrase above and starting it on each of the four beats in the bar.
Ex.1
Beat 1

Beat 2

Beat 3

Beat 4

The half diminished phrase is three beats long and could lead us into possibly practising three beat
phrases to help us displace the harmony. Look at the example below and see how this approach can
really work over a turnaround in C major. In the example the chord VI is left unaffected so that we
can repeat within these four bars easily.
E.g.

Try playing over this turnaround and where the chord tones are try to improvise a line but with the
changed chord placements. As you may already be thinking, this could come in all sorts of variations.
Here are two more examples:

E.g.

Or

You might find that a good way to practice this is to come up with a three beat rhythm that you can
keep repeating as you change the notes to imply the harmony at the various points.

A great way of generating forward momentum during a solo which also suggests pre-empting the
chords is to anticipate the next bar from the last quaver before the bar line. Playing on the and of 4
is a device very commonly used by rhythm section players but is also used within the improvising

phrase by horn players all of the time. In Buds Blues a good example of this is found in bar 54.
The major third of the chord I is played on the last quaver beat in anticipation.

Over C7 the B would be a Bb so the use of the natural clearly suggest playing into the G7. This
creates a small amount of tension before being released when the chord changes.

Pacing a Solo
Now that youve learnt a lot of information a big danger with your improvising is that it might just
become an endless string of notes just navigating through the chord changes. One of the best aspects
of playing and listening to jazz is the interaction within the band. An endless sea of notes from the
improviser certainly does make playing in a conversational way rather difficult and unlikely. This
raises the issue of using silence. If there is space between your phrases it firstly allows you to reflect
on what youve just played so that the next phrase can be informed by it and it also gives room for the
rhythm section to react to what youve just done.
There are a few practice methods that will be mentioned that will help to improve this side of your
playing. They are as follows:
Question and Answering phrases. While playing over a sequence try playing a short phrase.
This is the question phrase. Leave a short gap while you reflect on what youve played and then
try to answer it with a phrase that compliments the original line.
Pre-determined alternating play and rest. This practice method makes you leave space as you
alternate between improvising over bars in the sequence and leaving bars blank. Try playing two
bars on followed by two bars off throughout a chord sequence youre looking at. As you get more
comfortable try then switching it around so that you are now playing with the two bars rest at the
top of the sequence. This can be developed further by changing the parameters that youre
practising with. Try playing three bars and then one bar rest, one bar playing three bars rest etc.
Consider the shape and contour of your solo. Try using some motific development which means
that you try to develop one phrase as you progress through the sequence. It is a great way of
creating cohesion between your improvised phrases.