Breaking out of your comfort zone

Well, it’s imperative to get comfortable with what you’re doing at first before you go off and actually start soloing. I think it’s great to just play scales over the progressions because you can get a feeling and an understanding of where you can and can’t go and what scales you can do and which ones sound the best. In the beginning I think doing this is actually a good thing to do. We need to remember to be patient with ourselves as musicians. To be honest, Julian (and please don’t be mad at me because I mean this in all sincerity of trying to help you improve), but when we were talking on Instagram, I encouraged you to just use the first Cmajor scale position and get REALLY comfortable with that position alone, and then write a little solo over it. When you took my advice and made the solo video on here, you stayed in that position for about not even a full two measures and you ended up going all over the neck and hitting notes that you yourself knew weren’t in key or in any Cmajor scale position. If you watch Papa Gates’ lesson about the Cmajor arpeggio in the beginner section, he creates an entire beautiful solo just with that ONE position, he never moves out of it. But what you do hear, is him using rhythmic articulations, sequence patterns, slides, vibratos, and resolves and he finds a melody. And it’s a very beautiful solo. But the reason why PG can take such a simple scale and turn it into a full-blown amazing song solo, is because he KNOWS it so well. The more you get familiar with things and really hone in on them, the natural ability to solo and write will come. I just put up my new improv video over Cmajor taking PG’s advice on some things, and I include new scales and new patterns I learned thanks to my singer but I had to play them over and over again for a week for hours a day to be able to do it. Just focus on playing scales over your progressions in the beginning and get use to how they sound. Get them SUPER solid with 16th notes, triplets, quarter notes, rests, sequences, then plop on a backing track from the school and have fun!! I really recommend the Cmajor backing track in the beginner section for the intro to the scale. It’s got a bluesy/jazzy vibe to it and really is a lot of steady fun to play to. Hope this helps buddy!

And one more thing, my friend. This is yet again only to help you. When I get messages for advice from you on Instagram, what I hear 99% of the time is you’re trying to run before you can walk. I think you’re overthinking a lot of things and trying to be extremely precise and learning all these complicated things before you get solid with the basics. You have a lot going for you. You have a natural knack for melody and songwriting, so don’t worry about that. You’ve already got that! But as a real friend to you, I’m trying to help you understand that I think your ONLY flaw when approaching the guitar is you scatter your attention and trying to learn TOO much at once. I don’t want you to be overwhelmed. I know taking on the guitar is a HUGE, daunting thing. There’s soooo much of never-ending knowledge we can learn and we feel we have to rush against the clock to cram as much as possible. Please don’t do that. You have a long journey ahead of you of learning things, unlearning things, RElearning things… don’t rush it. Be patient and be kind to yourself. When your solo work comes out and you record it, it’s going to be incredible because you are a talented songwriter. I just would hate to see you lose out on necessary skills and concepts for the rush of trying to learn so much in such a little time.