Improvising

[the4thcroock]

Do you improvise? how often and where?
Improvisation is important to your skill as a musician, testing your theory knowlenge and your techniques. A lot of Jazz and Blues musicians got to where they are mostly because of the improvisation.
I know I improvise, and in all kind of styles, like bossa-nova, mambo and latin in general, rock, metal, jazz, blues and probably a few more styles [I'm learning in an art school, so I have a lot more time to play and improve my improvisation skills]  

[Dojigomiru]

i had to improvise alot in my jazz studies class but i was never really good at it...i like written stuff better lol  

[mdwallin]

I improvise all the time!

Jazz and Rock are my main styles, but I do play a bit of Bossa-Nova.
Scales are great for improving your impro skills.

I impro, when im playn to my self, when I'm jammin with friends... anywhere razz  

[moosiklady]

I'm a classical pianist, so I love to have parts written out - BUT I have played with jazz bands, and pop music with choirs so I can improvise - it's a good skill to develop as some pop sheet music is arranged so ridiculously - every note in the melody doubled by the piano (GOOD singers don't need that!) Also if the song is in the wrong key for the vocalist I can usually transpose it in my head as I go.  

[Tungska Butterfly]

Depending on the band I play with, and the instrument I'm playing, I can either improvise a little or a lot. If I'm playing rhythm guitar, bass, piano or ukulele I don't tend to improvise, save for the odd stylistic flourish. But if I'm playing something like a violin, a tin whistle, drums or harmonica then I tend to improvise a lot around certain themes, mostly because they're instruments I'm not very good at, so I tend to find it quite hard to remember specific lines on them.

I'm very lucky in that one of my bands is mostly rhythm based, giving me the freedom to play around. Most of the actual song is contained in the bass line, and the drums hold it all together. So I can play around with my little boxes of noise and my guitar and have a little fun. I don't think we've ever played one of our songs exactly the same way twice. Mainly because there are so many variables in what I do, a lot of it is up to chance really. A sort of organic improvisation.