Call-and-response Improvisation With Mary

Hey there fiddler,

Join me for a short guided improvisation.

We’ll play around with Mary Had A Little Lamb, the pentatonic scale, rhythms and call-and-response. This is yet another example of how you can practice advanced skills with simple, familiar songs. 

Below you’ll find a simple, plug-and-play routine that you can use with any song.

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Simple Improv routine

Play a simple song with a drone track

In this session we played Mary Had A Little Lamb.

Play its pentatonic scale

• Add variations: rhythms, slurs, textures
• Change the note order

For Mary, you’ll play D Pentatonic scale: D0-1-2-A0-1-3

Add variations to a song Chunk

If that sounds good, then experiment with the same variation on other Chunks.

Alternate between song and improvisation

Play the song, then improvise with the scale and song.

Add little or big variations to the melody.

Make up new melodies by re-ordering pentatonic scale.

Don’t overthink it. Have fun with it.

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Here are some play-along tracks to elevate your practice.

Mary – Jam Mix – 60 bpm

Mary – Jam Mix – Multi-tempo

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1. Sign up for the Free Two-week Trial. You’ll get full access to all courses and group lessons. Plus, I’ll send you some free lessons tailored to your current skill level.
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Further learning

Improvising With Rhythms

Easy Song, Skills Strong

For subscribers:

• Improv Playground
• Play Every Day Workshop 1: Improv-practice
• Improvisation Workshop

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