Encircling Technique in Improvisation

So you probably noticed that the melody and some of my improvisation in 1, 2, 3, I was using a technique which I could call encircling or enclosing.

What is Encircling?

This technique involves going above and below a note of the chord.

Example in C Major 7

• You could do this for C major 7 by encircling the third:
  • Put F and E flat in front of E, which is your target note (the third of the chord).
• You could also have the fifth as a target note:
  • Here, you would use A and F sharp below in front of G.

You can even encircle the root.

Effectiveness of the Technique

This technique, by itself, can just be quite an effective line. You hear people do that across a variety of chords.

Focus on Important Notes

You don't have to encircle every note of the chord. What I was doing there was encircling notes of the triad:

• Root
• Third
• Fifth

These are the most important ones.

Practical Application

In 1, 2, 3, for instance, in the F bars, I did something like this:

• First of all, I'm encircling the root:
  • There's the F approach from above and below.
• Then I'm finishing by encircling the third:
  • Notice that sometimes the upper neighbor (the note above the target note) is from the scale, but most often the lower neighbor is a semitone below.

The Famous Lick in B Flat

There's one other thing that I should draw your attention to in the B flat section, and that's what I call a famous lick.

Characteristics of the Famous Lick

• This is a term borrowed from blues piano.
• This is a fairly jazzy version of the famous lick, encircling and falling, resolving onto the third of the B flat chord.
  • I've encircled the third at the top (the third of the B flat chord), and then I'm going to resolve onto it below from the fourth above.

Learning and Practicing

Just one upper neighbor at the top of the phrase makes for a great phrase to learn.

• Play it in different keys.
• Take it around the cycle of fifths, for instance.
• Try and use these ideas in your improvisations.