I need some help learning improv


JesseS420
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Joined: 11/13/06
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JesseS420
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Joined: 11/13/06
Posts: 2
10/24/2007 5:15 am
I have never been that good at improvisation. If i use just a Am pentatonic i can 't seem to find the right intervals to work with i usually end up with playing 2nds or something like that. I know all sorts of arpeggios and scales but i can never get anything good going. I'm not much of a chord player i don't know if that helps a lot with soloing improv or not. don't get me wrong i know what scales to use of certain keys and chords but not to the level i want to. I don't know where to start. I'm not totally new to theory but i don't understand keys and modes that well, or what intervals to use to get a melody going. what should i study
# 1
looneytunes
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looneytunes
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10/24/2007 11:52 am
I'm not much of a musician, but it sounds to me you need to play with more people. I look at it like playing chess. You need to play with someone who is better at it than you for the challenge and drive to be better and you need to play with someone who is not as good as you to build you confidence and improve your communication skills.

I really don't see how anyone can expect to play guitar without playing rythme first. Rythme is essential to any song. It sets the pace (beat) and the sound of the song. A vocalist, lead guitar, riffs & licks, are just flare. A good rythme guitarist playing correctly (in time & in key) is what makes the rest shine! I know a drummer sets the time and beat as well, but give me a good rythme guitarist anytime.

I mentioned that I didn't consider myself a musican, but since I have been practicing playing in time using a metrodome, and working on different strum patterns, etc. You know playing rythme, I have improved my playing ability a great deal.

I don't know if you like blue grass, but you would be amazed at what you can learn sitting on the tailgate of an old pickup playing with guys you never met before at a bluegrass festival. You will learn key changes, strum patterns, and some amazing pickin' and licks. And talk about improv, wow! Don't think you can't use what you learned playing other music, because you can. You may even develope your own style by crossing different blue grass chords and licks with jazz, blues, or rock. Plus, it's a lot of fun!
# 2
ren
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ren
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10/24/2007 1:46 pm
Yup.... rhythm... :)

Without it, you can't get anything interesting going and you'll find everything you play will sound pretty samey. Also, I'm guessing based on experience that you could do with slowing down. If you've got a backing track in Am, try just holding the notes for longer and adding vibrato... maybe slide into them etc... Don't go for speed, go for taste and build from there...

Try playing through the scale slowly as well - you'll like some intervallic sounds better than others.... maybe you'll find you like minor 6th's - so start using them.

Final thought for now - try playing notes or licks in a higher octave... so maybe after a full tone bend from the 7th fret of the G string, do it again from the 10th fret of the E. And don't be afraid to screw up... some of the coolest things I've ever done started as 'mistakes'...

Check out my music, video, lessons & backing tracks here![br]https://www.renhimself.com

# 3
looneytunes
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looneytunes
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10/24/2007 5:57 pm
This is all good advice and it makes a lot of sense. If I might add, you can also walk up to the notes. You may find you fell short of the note you wanted, but if you walk up to it in time you will have a better effect than you were trying for. Like a slide, but play each note.

Just a thought.
# 4
Spedzar
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Spedzar
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11/14/2007 4:08 pm
For a different approach, really listen to what you are doing with basic song structure like your chord progressions, then hum or sing solos to them in your head. Something you have found should stick or at least make sense musically. Try and then translate that into your guitar solo. Listen to great Jazz musicians like Miles Davis and John Coltrane and get a feel for improvisation. Listen for the notes and phrases that the greats use in passing and how these relate to the "hooks" and the climaxes of the solo. You don't need a music degree to improvise but you do need feel and emotion (well they are basically the same thing).

If it doesn't sound right to you then it probably wont to your audience. Become a critical listener of your own music. Try and relate everything to a feeling rather than a scale or a pattern but keep practising those aspects to develop you "chops" and dexterity as a guitarist. When feel clicks with ability (not to mention a multitude of variables that contribute to finding a good tone) you will have something. Good luck!
Spedzar - "the sound of one hand tapping"...
# 5
starstuff
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starstuff
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01/27/2008 10:05 pm
Gotta agree with Spedzar here. A few things to help you out with improvisation:

1. Listen to the chord progression and [U]sing[/U] an improvised line to it. Find one you like, and then figure it out on the guitar. Why did that particular melody "work"? What's the underlying scale? This starts to connect your personal taste and sound to the music theory and your fingers without your technique and playing habits getting in the way.

2. Learn more chord / scale relationships and get them in your ears. Sing them and play them to expand your vocabulary when you improvise.

3. Play with a group or with recordings as often as you can to keep pushing yourself.
"There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman. They are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence. These are the qualities I want to retain in my music."
-- Stan Getz


www.improvisemusic.com
# 6
GoOdGuItArIsT
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GoOdGuItArIsT
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02/18/2008 2:34 am
what you need to do is try jumping to different strings and bending. my guitar teacher is teaching me about this now and it really helps when you have someone playing the chords because you get to try placing the notes on different beats and fast picking, etc. so try getting someone who knows the different types of chords in the key you play on.
# 7

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