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.