Improvisation: Slow & Fast Contrast

Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a rut while improvising? Let me introduce you to improvisation concepts which will open your eyes, so you'll never ever have to repeat the same thing twice in your playing!

In this lesson we are going to work on contrast between slow and fast playing. There are many different types of contrast and that's why it's so popular in art in general, but today we are going to stick to this slow/fast type of contrast.

It is a really simple thing and it can be extremely easy to apply it. You don't always have to make a huge difference between slow and fast. It doesn't have to be extremely slow (like for instance a whole note) and extremely fast (16th triplets). It can also be barely noticable. You don't need to make it so obvious to the audience. You can use this concept just for yourself, as a guide which will tell you: play this part slower and then play the second part just a bit faster. But of course, you can make a huge difference between parts, it's all just a matter of your choice, and both ways work!

You can make a really small difference between parts, you can make a bigger difference, and you can make a huge difference. I tried to cover all of these "modes" in this lesson, so you are able to see all the examples of this slow/fast contrast.

There's one more thing I'd like to mention. It doesn't always have to be slow-fast-slow-fast-slow-fast type of order. You can change that too. Be creative! I changed the particular order at the end of the solo. I played a faster part and then I played two slower parts, because I wanted to keep the last fast part for the end.

You can really spend hours playing only with this idea. Be creative and try to get the most out of it!

Have fun!

Ivan