Creative Rerun guidelines

26 Aug 2025

I’ve done a few “creative reruns” – like pre-composed solos, but alive with the feel of improv during composition – following the outline given by Christiaan Van Hemert on his Discord. I’ve published them to a YouTube playlist. Here are a few guidelines I’m writing to myself for future creative reruns.

I wrote this as I thought an imaginary master might guide a student (me). Any “you” in these guidelines is actually directed at me. There is no right or wrong, there is only the work, and my ideas will evolve.

I assume that you have a backing track, and when I say “loop”, I mean to use something to replay the same section over and over again.

Summary:

• Quantity is more important than quality.
• Pick an easy tune that you like.
• Collect ideas to use in the CR.
• The goal of a CR practice session is a complete recorded solo.
• Always Be Playing.
• Loop small and large sections.
• Keep it effortless.
• It should always feel like an improv.
• Play loud, stay loose.
• Play a capella.
• Screw around.
• Record the solo.

Details

Quantity is more important than quality.

Crank out stuff in great quantity. Quality will come with time.

As you’re growing and improving, your idea of what “quality” is will evolve. You will get a clearer picture of what you can do and what you like. Like a child learning language, you will start with disjointed thoughts and ambitions, so put that on the shelf for a while, and just crank out stuff.

Focus on the big goal, avoid getting trapped in little details.

Pick an easy tune that you like.

Pick something that you can really get into, that is within your technical ability. There are many, many common and fun tunes that you can get a lot of enjoyment out of.

A hard tune (tempo, changes, whatever) might mean that you get too caught up in challenges. Sometimes you have to face challenges, of course, but get all of the easier stuff really in your body and fingers first!

Collect ideas to use in the CR.

Listen to a bunch of versions of the tune.

Collect a handful of things to incorporate in the CR. Licks and ideas, e.g.:

• the melody :-P
• licks from transcriptions (any transcriptions, not just of this tune)
• playing before, on, and after the bar
• arpeggios with voice leading

Avoid over-collecting material, because there’s always more material to collect! Get just enough to get started.

The goal of a CR practice session is a complete recorded solo.

The goal is to finish and record a solo, and that’s it! Not even necessarily a great solo. Thinking about “great” blocks your flow, let the flow guide you along.

Set aside a decent amount of time, enough to explore your ideas. Too little time might make you rush, and too much time might lead you to over-analyze things.

As you work on the CR, keep moving forward. Avoid perfecting the “little things” out of the ogate. Lay the big pieces in place first.

Always Be Playing.

ABP. The act of playing itself will pull you along.

Carefully working things out, and/or getting technique up to scratch, is valuable work, but it’s not part of the CR practice session. The CR practice session is for playing, moving around the materials you have, and seeing what comes out.

Loop small and large sections.

Build the solo section by section. Loop a small section (a few bars), and start with something really easy, to get a building block in place. Then play around with a few ideas, and see what comes out. When something sounds OK, move on to the next section. This helps you avoid getting stuck. Maybe set a timer to nudge you along.

Regularly play the whole solo from the beginning up to your current point. This keeps the whole thing alive and fresh, and will suggest new ideas.

ABP.

Keep it effortless.

Pick easy ideas. During real improvs, like in real conversations, what naturally comes out of you is what will feel right. Trying too hard (licks, technique) blocks flow. Stretching is fine, but it’s not the main goal of the CR.

Making difficult ideas easy is the goal of regular practice, but not the goal of the CR session. The goal of the CR is to complete the solo, and nothing more.

Start each new section with something easy and obvious. Keep it light and bouncy, and keep it in time!

It should always feel like an improv.

A CR is a solo, it is not an etude or a thing set in stone. You might have some licks that have to hit at just the right time, but those might be your mind and ego leading you along.

If it’s feeling robotic, take a break. Switch between the rhythm and the solo (trade fours with yourself). Change some things. Make some mistakes, and make them loud.

Play loud, stay loose.

Real jams are loud and messy things. Make your CRs the same.

Play a capella.

A strong solo contains its own rhythm and chord changes. When you have the solo pretty much worked out, set the metronome on a sparse beat, just 2&4, or just 4. Play acapella, and make sure you still feel the beat and the changes.

When you can stand on your own two feet playing a capella, turn the backing track back on. At that point the backing track will be a partner, and not a crutch.

Screw around.

Because what the hell. Turn off the metronome entirely. Play slow, fast, loud, soft, whatever. Make lots of mistakes.

Record the solo.

Recording is important, because it’s a tangible goal that you can reach.

Loop the whole tune, and play your solo over and over again. Bend the playing around the big ideas that you have in place. It’s an improv each time, really.

Your solo is done when it is good enough to be shared – and good enough does not mean perfect! “Good enough” means whatever you want it to mean. It could mean that you like how it feels overall, even if there are rough edges; it could mean that you’re content with the work you put into it. Your definition of “good enough” will evolve.