Improvisation IV - "Like Someone in Love" Part 1

likeSomeone_ebMaj.jpg

The improvisation exercise for this month is based around a different song, the jazz standard “Like Someone in Love”. Compared to “Stella by Starlight”, the harmony in “Like Someone in Love” moves a little bit faster. Since more chords last for only a half note, improvising according to the exercise’s rules requires slightly faster thinking. The fret range this month is the 6th-10th frets inclusive.

For any new readers, the rules of this exercise are:

  1. Arpeggiate the chords of a song in 8th notes within a five-fret range of the guitar.

  2. Starting on the lowest available chord tone in that range (in this case, Bb, the fifth of an Eb major 7th chord) and arpeggiate upward. Change directions only when the next chord tone falls outside of the five-fret range.

While the purpose of this exercise is to improvise according to the above rule, some find it helpful to read through a reference exercise. You can find one chorus written out here and watch me perform it here.