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 Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:28 pm
So like today i got my first piece of humble pie...Today i went to guitar lessons and its almost my first year and i'm telling my teacher how i'm planning to improvise soon. He then whips out and starts playing some chords and he tells me to improvise to it on the G of the high E string. It was like blues and classic rock (me being the type of soft rock to metal...mostly modern music to). I totally freaked out and sounded like crap.
Later on i went home and like tried improvising to some songs on the G and it sounded like i was actually sounding like something. Nontheless i still was horrible. I don't wanna sound like a cheap copy artist but i don't wanna sound like crap.
Does anyone have any hints on developing improvision?...i know i'm kinda on my own but still.
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:35 pm
1: Learn scales.
2: Play random notes from the appropriate scale.
3: ???
4: PROFIT!
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:00 pm
Slappy the Ninja 1: Learn scales.
2: Play random notes from the appropriate scale.
3: ???
4: PROFIT! Everything means Nothing...
Not to sound like an a** or anything... but first and foremost, it's improvisation... not improvision.
To add to what he said, I usually do alot of chromatics if i'm just improvising over chords with no real restrictions (i.e. I wouldn't have to stay in key of G). Arpeggios are really good for improvising, as well... given you know how to sweep pick.
Though, improvising on one string is kind of difficult... was that the only restriction?
And my teacher whips out some country chords and Jazzy, bluesy chords and I still solo over it like I would a metal song. The only real difference is knowing when to change modes/keys (for me).
For the end of this lecture:
The thing that helped me to learn to improvise most was I figured out what sounded best to my ear. Scale-wise and arpeggio-wise. Alternating between your major and minor arpeggios creates some cool sounds and it's easy to do, too. Learn your Diminished Scales. They are very useful in everything. I've soloed over Jazz, Metal, Rock, Country, Blues, Santana (yes... I soloed over Santana... even though that's not a genre) using them. There's only two, so it's easy to remember and if you move it up a m3 (3 frets) it's played the exact same way! Oh! And learn your pentatonics! I still don't know mine... but, according from my teachers, I do alot of things differently and have a good variety... he calls me a fusion guitarist xD
Man... I hope all of this actually helped... if not, i'm sorry for making you read all of it (though I didn't make you >.>)
Have fun learning!
Modes are good to know too ninja
Playing songs and learning random stuff from them helps alot too.
Or is it that Nothing means Everything?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:52 am
the phrygian scale is a beast in a solo too. smile
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:22 am
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:29 am
This is a method that I found worked for me...play something incredibly easy. If you get bored easily like I do, it's going to encourage you to make the song interesting for yourself. I've been playing bass for a year now, and I'm still at the point where I just play with songs by my favorite bands, but I'm starting to give them a little personal touch in this way.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:39 am
turn on a random song and improvise!
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:32 pm
The Nameless Liberty Slappy the Ninja 1: Learn scales.
2: Play random notes from the appropriate scale.
3: ???
4: PROFIT! Everything means Nothing...
Not to sound like an a** or anything... but first and foremost, it's improvisation... not improvision.
To add to what he said, I usually do alot of chromatics if i'm just improvising over chords with no real restrictions (i.e. I wouldn't have to stay in key of G). Arpeggios are really good for improvising, as well... given you know how to sweep pick.
Though, improvising on one string is kind of difficult... was that the only restriction?
And my teacher whips out some country chords and Jazzy, bluesy chords and I still solo over it like I would a metal song. The only real difference is knowing when to change modes/keys (for me).
For the end of this lecture:
The thing that helped me to learn to improvise most was I figured out what sounded best to my ear. Scale-wise and arpeggio-wise. Alternating between your major and minor arpeggios creates some cool sounds and it's easy to do, too. Learn your Diminished Scales. They are very useful in everything. I've soloed over Jazz, Metal, Rock, Country, Blues, Santana (yes... I soloed over Santana... even though that's not a genre) using them. There's only two, so it's easy to remember and if you move it up a m3 (3 frets) it's played the exact same way! Oh! And learn your pentatonics! I still don't know mine... but, according from my teachers, I do alot of things differently and have a good variety... he calls me a fusion guitarist xD
Man... I hope all of this actually helped... if not, i'm sorry for making you read all of it (though I didn't make you >.>)
Have fun learning!
Modes are good to know too ninja
Playing songs and learning random stuff from them helps alot too.
Or is it that Nothing means Everything?" Yea he slaughtered me when he switched around and did a one string improvision...he did bends and vibrato bend and did like a complete 1 note solo....its just i don't know what to play (especially on one string) that would make it sound like the song and be good at the same time. I mean i know its about creativity but if i sound like crap it does me no good.
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Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:42 pm
learn you licks
learn your different keys and scales
learn your arps and chords
learn your theory and chord scales
then mix it up with all of them , using the other stuff to find out why it works with each scale or chord or what not . Focus also on chord tones , hit them good spots . And use what works too , just dont go in to some crapy metal or blues solo over something that just wont work with it . Use your ears and focus on playing musicaly . Plus relax .
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 7:42 pm
im also working on this.... i really want to improv, tho i am what seems like far away from that goal...
i have my chords down pretty well, and a couple scales
penatonic, major, minor, and blues
tho now after reading this i will learn my diminished scales
i will jst keep on working on my scales... and then when i can play them all fluidly i will try combinding em and throwing in bends and vibratos
hmm... all of this is very exciting... i am teaching myself tho, im sure a teacher would help
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Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:49 am
Despite how lame this may sound; you have to practice improvisation in order to actually perform improvisation. If you take a groove and play over it long enough you can eventually figure out some new stuff that can be applied not only to the groove but to others as well. When you practice you should practice doing some amount of scales, some chops-building exercises (legato, bending sweep etc) that can be pulled out of any book or made up from other people's guitar solos. but when you "noodle around" Try to take something that you've played before and make it into something new. or, try to imagine yourself playing a lick or see the notes on the fretboard and then practise it. Learn how to connect it to other licks you know. Learn how it fits in the scale. Interesting trivia: Steve Vai sometimes spends hours on a few bars of music getting the accents and inflections on them Just Right. check this out: http://www.vai.com/nakedtracks/index.html
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Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:15 pm
remember to jam with people too !
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Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:48 am
MAKQ remember to jam with people too ! Hands down the most IMPORTANT advice any one can give you when it comes to improvising. After that learn your scales. Don't bother with all the complex stuff at the moment, just focus on the minor pentatonic. You can play a good sounding solo over pretty much any genre of music using those five notes. Then once you feel confident in being able to jam over a piece of music using the pent, go looking at other scales. Dorian is a personal face of mine.
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Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:47 pm
joe-dude667 MAKQ remember to jam with people too ! Hands down the most IMPORTANT advice any one can give you when it comes to improvising. After that learn your scales. Don't bother with all the complex stuff at the moment, just focus on the minor pentatonic. You can play a good sounding solo over pretty much any genre of music using those five notes. Then once you feel confident in being able to jam over a piece of music using the pent, go looking at other scales. Dorian is a personal face of mine. do the pat martino thing with minor scales . Like play them over major scales , it works really well . Dont forget to superimpose with the pentatonic scale , like in your in A minor .. use E minor pentatonic or even D pentonice . You end up playing these weird or great chord tones .
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Kyle Chopped and Screwwed
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:33 pm
I've been told im rather good at improv for playing for 1 year. About 87% of the time if I'm playing guitar, I'm making it up or playing what I have made up. What i did to get decent was practice the hell out of scales and played over songs that i liked. I usually played over songs that didnt have guitar parts or had minimal guitar. I was horrible, but one day it all clicked while jamming to the El Manana remix by Gorillaz. When practicing scales, i suggest you learn the theory behind them and not the shapes. If you know the theory (which would equate to knowing things like a major scale is w,w,h,w,w,w,h [i think thats it]). If you know that, you can make your own shapes and wont be limited by the one shape that you learn. If you're bad at doing certain runs in that shape, you may be in trouble, but if you can move around the neck you'll be good. That's what im trying to learn right now.
So, all in all, learn scale theory (major and minor is all that's needed. wwhwwwh and whwwhww respectively i think), and you'll be good. If a song calls for a slightly different scale, just adapt as you play. If they 6th note in the scale is flatted, flat it. And learn pentatonics. They are your god. They have lest defining notes than the regular scales, thus more flexibility, and it's fun bending up to notes you need.
Dont give up!
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