HELP ME WITH IMPROVISATION

[Sachin Agarwal]

Hey guys.
So i have been playing guitar for quite a long time now. I believe i am pretty familiar with a lot of the scales and their modes but i still cant improvise . I have been taking lessons from so many guitar instructors and websites but still no has been able to help me with that. I am currently a student at a music college and they have only taught me what scales to use for a particular chord. I can play notes that sound right for the chord progression but I am never able to make them sound musical. It just sounds like i am playing random notes and not musical phrases. This thing is really holding me back as i love to jam with different musicians. How did you guys figure out Improvisation. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[idssdi]

Improvisation is really similar to writing a solo on the spot. If you have your scales figured out you can start thinking about arpeggios etc. One key thing to start with is to simply skip notes from your scale instead of just playing it very linearly(just up and down) when you do this you may create some melodies in it. Another tip is to first listen to the chord progression one time before you start soloing. This way you can already create some things in your head before you start playing making it easier to at least start with something musical. Start with these two things and when you have any more questions you can always just ask!

 

[Dan Shipway]

Playing notes of the scale in order isn’t so much of a bad thing. It sounds to me like you may need to focus on articulation and phrasing for example instead of playing two notes next to each other, try sliding or bending into it. Doing this will give you playing more feeling and make it not sound so rigid. I do however also use runs to get to a specific note such as the last note of a solo that I want to bend.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to learn licks. That’s the number one reason why a lot of people just put notes together. I was actually a culprit of this1 Try to think of a melody that you want to convey. And also try learning licks out of the key signature in the scales that you’re using. Believe it or not it’ll really make a big difference. I think it might be good for you to listen to some older classic rock players like Eric Clapton as they were really big on feel and improvisation. That was the era of the 30 minute jam times Don’t worry, like I said I went through the same thing and the more licks I learned and learned the actual chord progression behind it and thinking of a melody, the better at came out also, one thing I really learned here from Papa Gates is a concept called tension and release. You hear a lot of it in blues and jazz. Boy, that REALLY spices up your playing. Also consider groove. Syn’s secret lesson covered this well. Try adding a rhythmic aspect to your playing where you incorporate different rhythmic notations like dotted 8th notes into triplets. Joe Perry comes to mind on this one.
I hope this helps!

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

I do not know if what I do is the proper way or not. But first, in any chord progression, I try to find a minor and a major chord which are either in the progression, or matches with any chord in the progression (say I find a chord a G major but it G7 in the progression). Then start playing over the corresponding minor and major scales and figure out right or wrong notes on the go. Now, to make it more musical, remember you are training your brain, not your fingers or building muscle memory. Improvisation is an exercise of the brain. Start by playing really simple licks (of 2-3 notes) according to the chords. Try to build simple licks over a simple progression. Chain those licks to match the progression. Then increase the complexity of your licks gradually. It will never happen in a day, it’s a never ending process. Good Luck.

 

[Ed Seith]

Lots of great advice here, but only Nike can tie all of it together:
JUST DO IT.
Getting good at improvisation is all about taking all of the tools our friends here mention above, and then spending real and actual time JUST DOING IT. Yeah, it’s gonna sound like ass for a long time, but the more you do it, the better you get.
Commit to even doing 10 minutes of improv every day over a backing track as part of your practice routine, and you will see improvements. Record it sometimes, and listen back – listen to what “worked” and what didn’t. You don’t need to make notes. Your brain will retain and subconsciously guide you.