improv challenge?

[LongBlackVeil]

Tell me if this is something you would be interested in.

Maybe every two weeks or every month i will post a backing track from youtube, it could be anything from the chords to an old time fiddle tune to a gypsy jazz guitar backing track, or a straight 12 bar blues, and whoever wants to participate would post a video or soundclip of them improvising over it. I saw this on a guitar forum and its still going on after years of this challenge being started. Over there we encourage people to participate no matter what there skill level (im not too great myself) is or how accustom they are to the style, its all for fun, no winners or losers. Just making music and sharing it along with constructive criticism to help develope our skills.

If enough people say they would be interested in participating, ill post a backing track tonight and try to record my entry either tonight or tomorrow. If theres not enough interest ill drop it because this kind of thing isnt very fun to do by yourself. It would be kind of like the song-a-week group but id encourage people to try and be original as possible and really make the tune your own.

Let me know!

[Marty Jacobson]

Count me in. I'm trying to learn how to improvise this decade. Sounds fun.

[danielpatrick]

That sounds fun!

[darrylicshon]

I up for it, can we use any mandolin family instrument

[LongBlackVeil]

That's a pretty good start!

I up for it, can we use any mandolin family instrument

Yeah sure why not

[emzech]

Cool idea. If you don't mind some very amateurish playing... I'm in.

[Markus]

Good idea. Not sure I have time, but I can try.

[LongBlackVeil]

Cool idea. If you don't mind some very amateurish playing... I'm in.

I'm a very amateur player myself, I'm hoping we can share ideas and criticize each other in a constructive way and hopefully well all get a little better because of it.

[Londy]

Ok..count me in baby!

[LongBlackVeil]

I'd say that's enough people interested to give it a go

Ok so finding a backing track I was happy with was a challenge tonight and I'm a little worn out. So I'll try and at least get something posted tomorrow. Definitely going to go with something simple to start off with. If anyone finds something they like feel free to suggest it!

Also I'm wondering if we should do this in a social group or simply do it right here. I know it would be more visible here, but maybe there's a good reason song of the week does theirs in a group page.

Thanks to everyone interested

[Marty Jacobson]

I'd say let's go for it in this thread and see where it leads.
Any tune ideas? Blackberry Blossom is a standard with a minor change in the B part, that might provide some cool opportunities for improv without being inaccessible to many folks.

[robert.najlis]

sounds cool

[Tony Pearce]

Interesting.

[LongBlackVeil]

I'd say let's go for it in this thread and see where it leads.
Any tune ideas? Blackberry Blossom is a standard with a minor change in the B part, that might provide some cool opportunities for improv without being inaccessible to many folks.

Alright BB it is. I'll try to do my submission tonight, but everyone can submit whenever they want. Good luck!

[OldSausage]

Well, this sounds like fun. Not sure about that backing track...

[Marty Jacobson]

You're welcome to make us a real one, David. :-)
The one from Free Bluegrass Backing Tracks is the standard Band-In-A-Box fare, maybe a little better.

I was hoping you'd chime in. You always throw interesting extras into the gumbo.

[Manfred Hacker]

Well, I am sure, David the Old Sausage can easily IMPROVISE at 200 bpm (quarter notes).
I would be glad to be able to play a tune with a barrage of eighth notes CLEANLY at 200 bpm after hours of practice.

So, are most of you here speed demons able to improvise at 200 bpm?

By the way, LongBlackVeil, I can input any succession of chords into Band in a Box and provide a nice backing track. Just let me know what you want.

[LongBlackVeil]

Yeah I kind of hastily picked that one trying to get off the ground.

Well, I am sure, David the Old Sausage can easily IMPROVISE at 200 bpm (quarter notes).
I would be glad to be able to play a tune with a barrage of eighth notes CLEANLY at 200 bpm after hours of practice.

So, are most of you here speed demons able to improvise at 200 bpm?

By the way, LongBlackVeil, I can input any succession of chords into Band in a Box and provide a nice backing track. Just let me know what you want.

That might actually work best. Let's try to keep it at a speed that everyone can play at, I don't want to discourage someone who might wanted to be a part of this

I still think the blackberry blossom idea is a good one to start with, just remember, this is improv we don't have to stick to the melody. Also maybe make it shorter, a 3 minute long mandolin break isn't easy to do!

Hope you can join in old sausage your entries in the song a week group were always great

[BradKlein]

I agree that the backing track is kind of a bummer to listen to, but I didn't even know folks were posting backing tracks to YT at all. Interesting.

How is this for an organizing idea? The OP, LongBlackVeil, or anyone else, starts a thread here in 'Song and Tune Projects' called: [Song Title] - Improv Challenge that begins with the backing track in audio or video. I would suggest keeping the tracks short to make them more interesting to listen through - Say, record the melody through once and then the backing track only, a second time (AABB or whatever the structure is). Then folks could reply with their improv in audio or video.

That way 'improv challenge' would become a search term - and the song or tune title would let you pick the thread that interests you.

*** I may be overthinking this, but I'm willing to give it a try *****

[JeffD]

I like the idea of doing this as a social group, (my "keep it neat and tidy instinct), with maybe general announcements and "come join the fun" posts in the general forum. It sounds cool.

[LongBlackVeil]

I like the idea of doing this as a social group, (my "keep it neat and tidy instinct), with maybe general announcements and "come join the fun" posts in the general forum. It sounds cool.

i think i like that idea as well. the benefit of that is that all of the challenges would be in the same spot and people could find one they like and post to it easily. People dont necessarily have to post to the current running challenge, they could choose to post to an earlier one. Then we could just keep one running thread in regular forums to discuss the next song choice and other matters while staying visible and getting new people attention

[Londy]

I say what ever we decide to do, lets KEEP IT SIMPLE! I am sure not many of us are speed demons either.

[LongBlackVeil]

Just waiting on a decent backing track now

[OldSausage]

They have decent backing tracks on this site:

http://www.fbbts.com/Tunes.html

Blackberry Blossom is on there. It looks like you can't download them at first, but I found that if you right click on the player, you get a "Save Audio" option.

Those versions have a few solos on them. Versions entirely free of solos are here:

http://www.fbbts.com/tunes_ns.html

There are a lot of very helpful features on that site to explore, so please donate to the guy who provides it if you're so inclined (NFI on my part, and you don't have to).

[Londy]

How about this one? Its a lot of fun to play.
Just for fun, I attached one that I made as well.