Do you ever feel like you have a lot of music theory knowledge, yet in an improvisation setting, you still somehow feel very limited? You might feel like your solos don't sound coherent or interesting despite playing the right notes. 

This problem is all too common, even for some advanced players. But what if we told you an antidote to this problem is writing etudes?

Just like when you're writing a story, slapping in some good verbs, nouns, and adjectives doesn't really mean you made a good story. The same is true when writing etudes over a tune.

If you get really good at writing interesting etudes, you'll be able to take those elements that you've learned from that process and put them into an improvisatory setting. As they say, “composing is improvisation slowed down.”

Okay, so what makes a good etude, and therefore a good, coherent improvised jazz solo? Let's find out by observing several great etudes today. Today we'll do a deep dive into three great jazz etudes. But before we get going, you can check out these etudes and more in our accompanying YouTube video, 11 Ways to Improve Your Solos!

Contents

Stella By Starlight chromaticism etude

Airegin modern soloing etude

This I Dig of You melodic construction

Stella By Starlight etude

The first etude we'll check out is over the jazz standard “Stella by Starlight,” and it comes from Chad LB's 20 Approach Note Etudes, a book he wrote with the goal of demonstrating how to incorporate chromaticism into solos in a melodic way. Let's take a look at the bridge to the end and discuss what makes it sound good.

There are two main highlights that make this excerpt work so well and flow so naturally. First, take note of when chromaticism is being played. Notice that it's not just being spammed all over the place, nor is it being played in a repeated, predictable manner. We have a chromatic walk up starting on the “and” of beat 3 here. This next entire measure doesn't have any chromaticism at all. Then a descending passing tone on beat two to three here, the “and” of four here, and beat two to three, again. Then one to two, this time, followed by four to one, etc.

Constantly switching up the rhythmic placement of chromaticism can keep the chromaticism sounding fresh, something we should strive to do within our own improvisation. The other highlight is how the lines flow up and down in a linear way, rather than just jabbing at chord tones from random intervals. This etude uses almost entirely small intervals to travel up and down the registers of the horn, which enables a nice showcasing of voice leading from chord to chord. 

The timing of when these lines go up and down is worth observing, too. In measure 19, it goes down, then we go up, then down a half measure, up the other half, sort of neutral the next half, more upwards movement, then down a half, neutral again, then up and up some more with a quick dip down to resolve the line. 

In summary, we can use melodic stair-step movements in various timings as a vehicle to create the feelings of highs and lows within our own solos. 

Airegin modern soloing etude

Let's go ahead and take a look at another great etude. This one is over the tune “Airegin,” and it comes from Cecil Alexander's 25 Hard Bop Etudes, a resource that is chock full of modern soloing techniques and really colorful concepts. Let's check out measures 13 through 27.

There's two highlights that we can observe here that make this etude sound awesome. The first one is that Cecil signifies the ending of a phrase by changing up the rhythm, mostly in these instances by using one or more quarter notes. We can see it here in measures 13 and 14, we have a constant stream of eighth notes, and in the next measure, we finally get a quarter note and the preceding rest signifies the end of the phrase.

The next phrase is more intense, utilizing eighth notes as the moving lines, but this time also triplets. Then in measure 21 this phrase finally resolves with an entire measure of quarter notes. This marks the beginning of the next phrase, which again eventually ends in quarter notes. So within our own improvised lines, we can signal the ending of a phrase more concretely by changing up the rhythm right before you rest a few beats. 

The other highlight to look at is the use of sudden larger interval leaps within eighth note lines. We can observe a lot of them, starting in measure 19. We start on this b3 of a major chord, which is a little odd, but it's actually really a prolonged enclosure around the 9 on beat three, as you can see here. So it actually ends up sounding really cool. This beat two has a tritone leap downwards, then later another tritone leap. Here we have a minor six leap downwards, and then another one here, immediately jumping up to the fifth. Cecil is a master of mixing small chromatic intervals with larger diatonic intervals.

Something to take away from this is that we can build suspense and intensity within our solos by incorporating large interval leaps within our eighth note lines, creating this more angular sound.

This I Dig of You melodic construction

The last etude we’re going to look at today is by Nathan Graybeal. When he first joined JLV, Chad asked him to write a book of 25 Melodic Etudes on Jazz standards, and it was a huge growing experience for him.

This is over the standard “This I Dig of You,” from measures 9–28. 

There are two main things that Nathan learned while writing this etude. The first is that we can intentionally plan a melodic structure that will always sound pleasant if we are first familiar with what the harmonic structure is calling for.

For example, in measure 13 and 14, we have a ii-V followed by another ii-V a half step down. Usually what is done in this situation is to play the same material or a similar phrase down a half step. This strategy is always effective, but let’s see if there’s a different way that we could navigate this harmonic pattern. 

With that stair-step concept in mind, Nathan played a phrase that melodically travels downwards, the first ii-V, and then without ending the phrase, he played new melodic material on the next ii-V, but this time ascending up the horn. So as you can see, the ii-V starts up and then walks down a half step, but the melodic line is the inverse. 

This ended up teaching Nathan an effective way to play chromatic ii-Vs without just repeating the same material transposed. Again, this is very effective, and it's not easy to do, but consider using the stair step concept into your melodies. 

Another thing writing this etude taught Nathan is that you can play an idea, then repeat it, and on the third time, you can hint at it but swiftly segue into a new melody.

For example, in measure 17, he plays a figure and repeats it. There was a slight embellishment and modification to fit the chord, but it’s still a repeat of the previous idea. So now you’ve set up the expectation. But as he starts into the figure, he suddenly transitions out of the usual rhythm and plays some new notes, and suddenly we’re in new territory. He built the expectation and then surprised us by building in a sort of resolution that takes us somewhere new.

This happens again in the next phrase as well. In measure 26 again, he plays a diminished pattern, and it sounds like it’s going to repeat a third time, but instead it serves as a sneak peek to segue into a new phrase.

The takeaway here is that we can set up an expectation through repetition and use one of the repeats as a bridge into a new idea to keep the listener interested.

That’s all for today, but if you’re interested in checking out more etudes like these, watch our accompanying YouTube video, 11 Ways to Improve Your Solos!, as well as our resources 20 Approach Note Etudes, 25 Hard Bop Etudes, and 25 Melodic Etudes on Jazz standards, all available in Bb, concert, and Eb. 

We’ll see you next time!