Who doesn’t like a great solo or someone that can improvise well? I know I do so I decided to pick up a book called The Complete Idiots Guide to Solos and Improvisation by Michael Miller. In this book you’ll find the essential techniques that will allow you to solo and improvise.

The Complete Idiots Guide to Solos and Improvisation is a decent sized book at 231 pages. It’s stuffed full of crystal clear instructions that will have you making your own sounds in no time at all. It covers a broad range of topics so that you have a proper introduction to the many different techniques of improvisation. It has more than enough material for those that know nothing about soloing and improvisation.

I really like the layout of this book. It gives an overall view of the many different techniques involved in soloing and improvisation. It doesn’t cover any one technique in depth but there is enough to get you started and keep you busy for some time. I like this approach because it gives me the ability to find what I like and get a book or some DVD’s that cover those concepts in depth.

What I didn’t like was the fact that some areas were moved over to quickly. One such instance was soloing over modal scales. This covered a very small amount of real estate in the book.

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Lesson Materials – The book is nice. There are plenty of side notes and tips throughout with nice charts for any examples.
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Lesson Instruction – The material is very structured and follows a logical line of thought. I found enough information to keep me coming back to this book time and time again.

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Fun Factor – I think this book is great. It was very interesting to read and the lessons were very usable right from the start. As long as I am learning and enjoying it…I am having fun.

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Value – You can pick this up for under 20 bucks. It will get you going in the right direction and keep you busy for hours. It’s worth it!

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The Complete Idiots Guide to Solos and Improvisation has a reserved spot right next to my keyboard. It is always there to lend a hand when I need an idea or two.

If you like to play around on the keys or need some ideas you can run with then this is a wonderful resource. If you are looking for something to teach you how to play the piano then this isn’t it. It assumes you have a good understanding of theory and basic compositional skills.

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