Jojo teaches a three-step exercise to improve improvisation: play scales as numbers (1-7) instead of note names, then sing those numbers while playing, then practice switching between three vocal buttons anywhere without the guitar. Mental rehearsal builds an internalized map you can translate instantly to melodies.
Yo, Jojo here. Welcome to the Channel. I am here to teach you guys how to improvise and compose with freedom. Today we're going to talk about by far the most powerful exercise that you can do to improve yourself as an improviser. It's a three step process and the third step is the most important. That's the one that I'm really taught about. So first off, and very, very important for you guys to understand this before you move on, you have to be able to look at music in a purely numerical way. It's not bad to learn the note names by any means. But for now I want you guys to just turn off that part of your brain. If this seems like a foreign concept to you, you can go check the playlist down below and it'll bring you up to speed. But basically we're just going to be for the sake of our major scale. It starts with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And then it repeats on 1. And if you were to do this with the minor scale, you just start on six instead and use the same map. So let's be in the key of C. So C is going to be our one. So I'm on our. I'm on my eighth fret on my low E string and this is going to be one. So step one is just build up the scale. Scale up and down. So we're gonna go 1, 2. I'm gonna do what's called a mobility jump to my a string. 3, 4, 5, 5 to 6. Mobility jump, 6, 7, 1. So that's just my major scale. And then let's go back down 1. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Alright, you guys, follow me there. I started on my middle finger, by the way. It's probably the easiest one to play. So the first step is after you play it up and down, you're just going to improvise in this range. So you could start by just going in sequence. And then after that, experiment with some skips. I'll, I'll start off. So just one to one, that's your floor and your ceiling.
Okay.
You could do it a little bit longer than that, but after you do that, you get comfortable with some of the skips you're exploring. And don't be in a rush. Explore the nooks and the crannies and feel free to hang out in certain parts of the area. And it's so, so, so, so important that you're knowing what number that you're going to. So in the next part you're Going to really be tested on that, because now we're going to involve our voices in it. And what we're going to do is we're going to sing the numbers along with our playing. So it'll sound something like this. This is step two.
1, 5, 3, 4, 3, 2, 5, 7, 6, 4, 6, 5, 3, 5, 3. 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 1, 7, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4, 5, 3, 2, 4, 5, 2, 1.
Okay, so that's step two. We're gonna sing the numbers and play at the same time. If this is something that you find difficult or it's unfamiliar to you, I would recommend just limit it down to the first five notes or less and be able to really get a handle on those. Make sure that you're really listening to the pitch of your guitar. I don't want you guys to be singing different notes in your playing. You don't want to do something like.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
You know what I'm saying? It's got to be 1, 2, 3.
4Th, 5, 6, 7, 1, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
And just let the singing be light and easy. Now on to the third step. And this is the most important. And as soon as I explain, I'll tell you guys why it's so powerful for you. So. So now what we're going to do is we're going to improvise with those sounds, but with our voices only. And if this is your first time trying this, I want you to just stick to the first three notes. So in this case, it's going to.
Go 1, 2, 3.
So after you play and sing them together just one more time to get it into your head.
Three, two, one.
We're going to set the guitar down, and I want you guys to imagine that you have three buttons on the inside of your mind's eye that say 1, 2, and 3. And I want you guys to be able to effortlessly switch between any combination of those. So it'll be something like this.
1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, three. 1, 1, 3, 2, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3. 1, 2, 1, 3, 3, 2, 3, 1. Right?
And be able to, you know, go from 1 to 3, from 1 to 2, from 2 to 3 to 2 to 1, 3 to 1, 3 to 2, every single combination. And just get really, really confident and comfortable. And this is. If this is your first time ever trying something like this, you might have a little bit of difficulty with it. And don't be afraid to kind of check yourself every once in a while, like, okay, is that still My one. Okay, got it. And as you get more comfortable, you can expand it to more notes. Once you have a solid handle on 3, you can go 4, 5, 6, 7. Until eventually you have such a good understanding of it that you can just sing these numbers. And basically at that point you can play any melody that you imagine.
So it's like 1, 3, 4, 6, 5, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3. 1, 2, 4, 6, 1, 7, 7, 6, 7, 6, 5, 3, 4, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 3, two, one.
And I want you guys to realize that it's so powerful because if you can do that with your voice, then translating it on the guitar is literally so easy.
6, 5, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, five.
A little out of 10 because of my guitar. But if you can do this with your voice, then putting it on the guitar is literally so easy. And the most powerful part about this is that you don't need your instrument, guys. You can practice this wherever you are, when you're on the bus stop, when you're waiting. If you want to actually get good at this music thing, guys, I'm telling you, you need to get obsessed. You need to be able to be thinking about this all the time. And this exercise, the ability to take your practice with you wherever you are in the shower is literally so powerful. And there's nothing better that you can do to really deepen that connection that you have with the sounds of our musical scene system. And so this is just one scale, right? So we started on one. You can do this starting on any of the notes. And the process is still the same, this three step process. So I'll just do a quick example starting on six, for example. So I'll just stay in the same key. So I go 1, 7, 6. And now I have 6, 7, 1.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4.
3, 2, 1, 7, 6. That's a minor scale, for example. But now it's going to go 6.
7, 1, 4, 3, 5, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 6, 6. 1, 3, 5, 4, 3, 2, 4, 3, 2, 7, 1, 7, 6.
So it's like all those melodies that I can imagine and I can sing effortless on the guitar. And what this eventually translates into is that any melody that you've ever heard in your life from any song, you're able to imagine it. You can instantly translate it on the guitar. Happy exploring and let me know if you guys have any questions. Bye.
