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Learning Jazz improvisation is a daunting task for many students and there are numerous methods out there to help you on your way. One of the most frequently recommended methods is to copy other people by transcribing their solos and then playing them, or by copying short phrases or licks. However, the problem with this method is that most people end up sounding like a tribute to their favourite player, rather than developing their own style. It also limits your range of styles, as if you copy somebody’s blues phrases, they may not fit over that bebop tune you’re trying to master.
Assuming that you’ve mastered the technicalities of Jazz, like scales, arpeggios, modes etc, and you have a good degree of technical facility on your instrument, your greatest tool for learning Jazz improvisation is simply listening.
By listening to particular players regularly over a long period of time, you will absorb the essence of what underlies all of their playing, rather than just knowing some of their popular phrases. Without consciously making an effort to, what you have absorbed will start to show in your own playing, and over time you will develop an individual playing style that has dashes of other influences, but does not represent an imitation.
As stated above, this process is not a deliberate and conscious effort, rather something that will occur over time if you have been listening regularly, and when it does, it is magical. You will start coming out with lines that you don’t know from where they came, and you will begin to play what you hear rather than what you know from a set of theories.
This doesn’t take away the value of transcription, which is a useful tool for many other things, and yes you should be able to listen to phrases and play them back, but this shouldn’t constitute your basis for learning how to improvise effectively.
