Day: February 22, 2025
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For Beginning Improvisers – Chan Chan from Buena Vista Social Club
A student has been working on this awesome song and learning to both improvise on her own, and to transcribe the improvisations of others.
I made a simple recording that she could upload to an app that we use to slow down, and repeat certain parts of a recording. If you load the recording I made into such an app, the changes of the song play over and over. That is a great way to practice your improvising!
This song is in D minor, and for this exercise we’re using just the notes of the D minor pentatonic scale.
D F G A C
The accompanying graphic shows one location of those notes on the guitar, bu those notes are all over the guitar, too. Find those notes anywhere and improvise a new melody over these very fun changes.
Enjoy!
This is my simple recording.
This is the app we use to make the track repeat over and over. I really like it, but there are a lot of different similar apps. I’m sure you’ll find one you like.
