Improvization

Hello,

I've been playing guitar for about a year now and I've made a lot of progress. I need practice to play anything though. If I want to play a tune by ear I often make mistakes even with the easiest of sounds. I can move around scales and with the scales I am familiar with I know what I am going to play generally before I play it. I am wondering if being able to just play a melody you have not practiced before (simple or not) is something one can do after lots of playing? Do you need to do lots of practice of scales for it? Are there any exercises one needs to do to achieve it?

I have been playing for about 2 years now, i too have noticed alot of progress. I think being able to pick up a song by ear just takes time. Once you really know the sounds of the guitar and chords it'll be easier. I have noticed I can recognize different chords now. It just takes time.

developing a good hearing for notes and improvised things comes with time. in the beginning i also had problems to figure otu a melody no matter if it was a melody from an existing song or if it was something that i just had im my head. but with time and practice you´ll develop a feel for it. i suggest you put on a song that you like, and try to play along with it - not the actual melody - just improvise something - you´ll realize what fits and what not - this makes you comfortable with impriovisation and trains your ear

I think I agree with you guys, I believe that through experience, like playing a lot of songs, learn more chord progressions... learn more scales... whatever we listen or hear from the radio or CD player... we can visualize the chords or cales from what we experience...it is not whether we play the exact chords or scales that matters, it is whether we know we play is out of tune from what we heard that matters. Hmmm...I guess I am confused by myself too... ;p

Improvizing is cool stuff. Like Malmsteen said, it´s coming straight from the heart. But I haven´t practiced it a lot. I mostly hold the orginal thing I wrote our learned but I´ll start with improvization more as soon as I learn to concet scales and stuff. I´m not good at that yet. I could improvize with a penta scale whole day long but it isn´t fun ´cause I like playn´ more advanced stuff. But when I got time to write stuff, it usually turns out pretty good so there´s hope. I can sing in my head how I want to sound but can´t transfer it yet on the fretboard. It takes time and experience of course and training.

Yngwie does it whole the time. That´s why his solos are so close to eacother ´cause it´s just a couple scales and a couple arpegios but he does it damn good.

Like Azrael said, practice alone with songs.

What I did to be able to improvise a solo was to go on the net and find some midi files I liked. I love playing with midi since you can take some instruments off the track and replace them with yours.

Helped me a lot, but the best advice I can give you is not to be afraid to try things. Try to put in some licks you've learned, even if you mess up. With time you'll develop timing and you'll be able to play what you hear in your head.

Normally I never listen to those voices in my head but with improv it's ok :)

i ve been playing 10 months now, and im picking up the chords i know which are about eight of them. The key to it is to play songs that you like with chords obviously and then listent to the song often. Then you hear it ever where after...but keep in mine that a lot of songs use the same chords, its melodies or single notes that are tough for the newbies like myself.

The best way, is definitely by listening to other musicians play, etc, and try to work things out, by ear. definitely!

I have been playing guitar for nearly 12 years now. Learning lead in the past four, and just getting goog. One trick i will let you all know is to buy a b bender. This toy will kick ass for anything you do. I will warn youit is twangy, but you will impress the hell out of any 75mph players buy playing a solid bender lick at 1mph. There are somethings you just can't do with a stock guitar.

I feel the most rewarding thing with guitar is improvisation. Whether you just lay down a simple progression and improvise some stuff or if you just improvise over an existing song. It gives you a chance to express yourself.

Its fair enough chugging away on some bar chords for a while, but to really get the most out of your guitar you need to hit those top notes and grab your whammy bar, its a wonderful thing to just sit down and play whatever comes off the top of your head :)