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A: Yes. You can trust that your credit card, debit card or bank account information is secure because we rely on PayPal, the world’s largest third-party payment processor.

A: No. Books 2 to 8 have the complete information relevant to The Modes they are written in, which is not mentioned in the other ebooks on The Principles of Improvisation. If your music education is well founded, and by that I mean to university level, you could get away with books 9, 10 and 11 – The Occidental, Oriental and Chromatix Handbooks

A: No, any one book in the series is enough to generate more than a lifetime of ideas on improvisation, so much so that you could become a ‘modal specialist’. But would that be stereotyping?

A:  In four simple statements 1: The Principles of Improvisaton does not pretend to tell you the how, when or what to play. 2: All that it claims to do is to lay a solid foundation for you to develop your own ideas. 3: It concentrates on developing your ability to generate ideas for playing improvisation. 4: This is the ONLY system that offers the PROOF of what it states at every stage of development.

The bottom line is that we have chosen this format to reduce the price to you! A traditional, hard-copy book would cost three times as much as the ebook, given the mark-up from the publisher, editing, distribution, shipping, etc. The ebook format allows us to reach a wide range of people and provide them with an easily accessible and affordable guide to the improvised line.

A: Put simply (and we love to do that) Modes are the scales within a scale. Hence there are only 7 modes, one for each note of the scale. The Ionian Mode is the normal scale beginning on the 1st / Tonic / Naming note. The Dorian Mode uses the same notes as the Ionian but begins on the 2nd / SuperTonic note. The Phrygian Mode uses the same notes as the Ionian but begins on the 3rd / Mediant note. The Lydian Mode uses the same notes as the Ionian but begins on the 4th / SubDominant note. The MixoLydian Mode uses the same notes as the Ionian but begins on the 5th / Dominant note. The Aeolian Mode uses the same notes as the Ionian but begins on the 6th / SubMediant note. The Locrian Mode uses the same notes as the Ionian but begins on the 7th / SubTonic / Leading note.

A:  In ancient Greece the philosophers who taught music (Muses) thought three years was adequate time to learn all that was known. But the reality today is it would take more than one lifetime to remember all the variables. That is not to say you should wait a lifetime to begin. Start now and go with what you know. Better education will bring about more sophisticated statements.

A: My ambition at the outset was to create a system that Blind Freddy could understand, so the answer is very little. Every situation has been catered for. You can start from scratch with book 1 – An Introduction to Improvisation or jump right in at the deep end with Books 9, 10 and 11 The Occidental, Oriental and Chromatix Handbooks. These are for the experienced players only as they are quite advanced.

A: Yes, providing you have the three prerequisites – 1: a rudimentary knowledge of music including the ability to read it; 2: an average ability to play a musical instrument; 3: an enquiring mind capable of understanding and creating new ideas.

A: There are two answers. 1: a spontaneous response by a performer on a musical instrument to the chords in a given key; 2: a system of texts and charts designed to develop the ability of generating ideas on what to play improvisation.

A: Yes, providing you have the three prerequisites – 1: a rudimentary knowledge of music including the ability to read it; 2: an average ability to play a musical instrument; 3: an enquiring mind capable of understanding and creating new ideas.

A: There are two answers. 1: a spontaneous response by a performer on a musical instrument to the chords in a given key; 2: a system of texts and charts designed to develop the ability of generating ideas on what to play improvisation.

Chords made easy

New to music improv? have a look at this; there are 8 in this series.

No matter what instrument you play; if you’re into music improv; miAim can tailor a path for you.