Thinking outside the "box"

How do you do it? I'm still stuck on the box patterns and no amount of memorization has helped me to shift gears from this. Anytime i have to improv i still play box patterns. I just cant seem to connect the different shapes together as i see other guys doing. What excercises or tips or books can i get to help me?

learn like 1 more box shape, the one that is higher than the one you know. and try to move between the two shapes as u play. then add another then another.

also look at this site http://www.power-chord.com/gaff/mapper/


u can make things like this http://www.power-chord.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/mfcole/custom.pl

Whoa thanks so much. That site is great!

Originally Posted by: bunmiadefisayoHow do you do it? I'm still stuck on the box patterns and no amount of memorization has helped me to shift gears from this.

You've answered your own problem; memorisation won't free you up. Well, not memorising shapes, anyways.

I suggest these things:

1. Spend some time improvising along each string. Stay on just one string for a whole song at a time.

2. Learn the modes and spend several practice sessions on each mode. Improvise just out of that mode. Combine this with step one.

3. Play whole solos thinking of the sounds you want before you play them. Don't play a note without hearing it in your head first. Don't think about where it is on the fretboard if you can help it; try to let your fingers find the right note on their own.

Also, when you practice pentatonic scales or modal shapes, try going up one box, and down the next e.g G Ionian ascending, A Dorian descending, B Phrygian ascending and so on....

I found it helped me 'see' the patterns as I was playing - it took me much longer to start hearing what I was going to play in my head. I think visualising scales on the fretboard is the next step

Originally Posted by: Mark PavYou've answered your own problem; memorisation won't free you up. Well, not memorising shapes, anyways.

I suggest these things:

1. Spend some time improvising along each string. Stay on just one string for a whole song at a time.

2. Learn the modes and spend several practice sessions on each mode. Improvise just out of that mode. Combine this with step one.

3. Play whole solos thinking of the sounds you want before you play them. Don't play a note without hearing it in your head first. Don't think about where it is on the fretboard if you can help it; try to let your fingers find the right note on their own.

I hav ebeen told to "hear" the note before i play it and it seems to make a whole lot of sense but how do i know what that note that i'm hearing is? How do i find it quickly w/o groping around too much. Whenever i want ot improv i have a basic idea of how i want it to sound but then it doesnt comeout the way i wanted it.

I'm thinking of getting that Fretboard Logic thing.

one suggestion i heard about hearing the note is to sing the lead line as you play it, and it will soon be clear if the note you play is the one you meant to. and then u just gotta practice.

Originally Posted by: Fret spiderone suggestion i heard about hearing the note is to sing the lead line as you play it, and it will soon be clear if the note you play is the one you meant to. and then u just gotta practice.

Yup. That's good advice.


Also, a knowledge of intervals is invaluable. If you know how notes sound in relation to one another it makes them so much easier to find. In other words, if you can play a note and know in advance how, for example, the major third will sound after it and where the major third is in relation to the first note on the fretboard, then that helps enormously.

You get a good working knowledge of intervals by playing around with the modes and also by pedalling one note and playing notes over the top of it. So, say, play an open a string and then play all of the notes on the D string to see how they sound with that open A. Then try to make interesting melodies/riffs with the open A going and playing just notes on the D string.

I like to think that I 'think outside the box' when it comes to guitar playing and composition. My advice is to forget about scales and modes etc - if I start thinking that way my creativity goes out the window and I get boxed into shapes and rules etc. I always listen to the backing music and imagine the solo I want to play, sometimes it helps to sing the solo parts, then work them out section by section. It's just too hard to jam out an amazing solo - you end up playing the same runs and shapes all of the time and it can be really hard to come up with something thematic that actually goes somewhere. That's what works for me anyway. I never think about scales and to be honest I don't know much about theory but I I know the fretboard backwards and what works where and with what. Jamming can be fun and you can come up with some great ideas off the cuff, but I like to spend time creating a solo as an independent composition with a beginning, middle and end and I find I can only do that well if I put the guitar down and let my mind create the music before I put my fingers on the fretboard. The way I look at it is, the mind is a far better musician than the hands can ever be. Anyway, this works for me, other will advise learning theory and that may very work for you too - if it works for you then continue doing it - if you get stuck in a rut try changing your approach.

Originally Posted by: Akirastill trying to find songs to illustrate other intervals.

A little random, but the song 'somewhere over the rainbow' was what I used to memorise intervals for my grading exams. Pretty much all of them are in it as I recall...

I used to have a different idea in my head of each, like the tones in church for ah-ha-ha-men.... etc etc. Now it's kinda automatic...