improvisation and structure
April 6, 2024 | Michael Schneeweis
When I was a stoned teenager, I got my first glimpses of musical transcendence while syphoning blues solos out of the ethers with my best friend.
We would jam for hours—him playing a solo, me playing the chord progression, then we’d switch.
Again and again and again. Distortion pedals. Bong hits. The whole deal.
It was in those hazy sessions that I discovered the symbiotic relationship between structure and improvisation. The difference between playing from memory and playing from the feeling of the moment.
The former is more calculated, predictable, and accurate; the latter is more free, open, and wild.
The one playing the chord progression needed to keep the rhythm and maintain the overall pattern of the song. With the basics covered, the one soloing was free to push the envelope and explore new dimensions.
Admittedly, 99% of the music we made at that point was not something most people would want to listen to for more than 30 seconds. And the humor of playing excessive, self-important, stoned guitar solos wasn’t lost on us— even then.
But the point wasn’t to make great music. The point was to explore all possibilities within the framework of our limited skill.
In the 20 years since then, structure and improvisation are still central themes in my relationship to music. And to life in general.
To me, it boils down this:
The process of repeating a structure a billion times is valuable (if the structure is sound)
That repetition makes you more patient, grounded, and skilled
The skill of responding spontaneously and artfully in the moment requires trust
That trust invites beauty you could never calculate in advance
There’s no way around the slow, steady process of developing a skill. But skill alone is not what makes great art.
An artist’s ability to maintain a felt connection to the present moment is what separates a rote performance of musical steps from a piece of music that is moving, captivating, magical.
I am very much a beginner in all of this.
For this week’s video, I experimented with playing an improvised piece on my acoustic guitar, sitting next to our banana tree in the early sun. It felt like I was collaborating with the birds and the giant oak trees swaying above my head.
Enjoy!
