Improvising Solos ... S(t)uck

[djmcconnell]

I've been taking lessons for a few months, learning pentatonic and major scales for starters and playing some transcribed solos. That's going pretty well.

Where I feel stuck is on improvising solos that don't sound like me running up and down the scales (because that's exactly what I'm doing). I'm feeling remarkably uncreative at present.

Do I just need to keep playing and it will "come to me," or are there some other strategies? If you have links to other threads, that would be helpful as well.

Thanks all!

[ibanezjunkie]

when i started out, my favorite scale to use was always the blues scale in E

|------------------------------------------------------12--15-|
|----------------------------------------------12--15---------|
|---------------------------------12--14--15------------------|
|------------------------12--14-------------------------------|
|-----------12--13--14---------------------------------------|
|--12--15----------------------------------------------------|

i like to pick a spot somewhere in the middle and use some techniques like unisen bending, sliding etc, then go either higher or lower and make something on the fly, etc.

hope i helped a little, IJ.

[jpfeifer]

Hi djmcconnell,

This is a great question. What you're starting to realize is that there is something different about an actual solo as compared to running endlessly over scales. (some people never realize this :-)

The fact that you're thinking about this is great.
The key thing to remember is that improvisation is very similar to language. It has many of the same concepts. Scales are similar to the idea of words in a language. The notes in a scale are like words . Playing an endless series of scale sequences is like speaking with a whole bunch of words but not really saying a comprehendable sentence (like reading from a dictionary).

This is why it's a good idea to learn some licks from your favorite players after you have your scales under your fingers. This is where you begin to see how you can string together these "words" into meaningful sentences. By getting a vocabulary of licks together you begin to arm yourself with some usable "sentences" to use in your solos, that don't sound like rambling.

Pretty soon you will begin to take these licks, and tweak them to your own liking (stealing one part of a lick from one player and combining with something else from some other player, etc). This is how you develop your own soloing style. In a similar way, you learn to speak as a young child by imitating your parents. Using some of the same sentences and phrases that they use.

Knowing all this, is it still important to practice your scales? Absolutely! Knowing your scales will help you to understand the licks that you learn, and make sense of them. Practicing scales also help you develop your technique. But scales are just part of the equation. The next part is to put those scales to work with some licks. There are lots of good "lick" books out there covering various styles. This might be one place to start. Or, just start learning a few from your favorite players. I started with some Blues players when I first got into soloing. Some players are easier to copy from than others. For basic blues stuff I used to get a lot of good material from playing along with Eric Clapton or BB King records, since they tend to play very clean phrases and not too flashy.

I hope this helps, -- Jim

[Monkus]

Great advice ! :beer:

[ibanezjunkie]

hmm, the info about sentences and words is good, i think i might borrow that when i teach.

[aeolian]

I'm not much of a guitar player, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

If you are playing scale, I'm guessing it is stringing notes linearly up or down the scale perhaps. One thing that can make it sound different is to not play so linearly. For example, pick a note from the pentatonic box, then skip over 2 strings and pick a note there from the pent box and see how that sounds. Another thing to play around with is to bend notes from the box. You will find that certain bends will sound good, but others will sound 'out,' but you may find some interesting sound combinations that way.

My personal example of not playing the pentatonic box linearly was when I was trying to learn the "Hotel California" solo. There is a couple of bar in the solo with a descending riff (you probably knows which part I mean. On the record I think that part is play in harmony, but I'm ignoring that for this example), after I learned it I realized that it is exactly the pentatonic box, except the notes are picked as pairs between neighboring strings from the highest to the 5th string. It sounds so uniquely distinctive, yet it is just the pentatonic box.

[jpfeifer]

As much as I'd like to take credit for this concept of "improvisation is like language", it's not my idea. I've heard the same analogy by a few different players that I admire. The longer I play guitar the more I believe in this concept. It's the reason why I'm hypnotized by a good solo even when the soloist isn't playing anything flashy or fast (listen to David Gilmour or BB King) What these guys have in common is really good phrasing in their solos, almost like a conversation. Their solo's kind of tell a story rather than ramble, it really draws you in when you listen to them.

The best explanation of this concept, and by far the best instructional DVD I've ever bought was this one by Scott Henderson: http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Henderson-Jazz-Rock-Mastery/dp/0739045067 In this DVD, he spends a whole section on the importance of phrasing that is extremely valuable. He makes the analogy to language and how your solo is communicating with the listener.

-- Jim

[player]

understand what you are saying however playing
Rythm and Lead at the same time is a
staple of a good solid lead guitarist.

in fact it is what us lead guitarists do.
while it is not bad to emulate another.
it is best if you can explore and find your
own style.

good example of doing this can be heard in
Blue Matter by Savory Brown in the tune
Louisiana Blues among many other
artists out there.
in other words you really need one to play the
other.I know that may sound not right
but is. trust me.better still trust your ears.do not expect easy
like here for instance.great analogy that improvisation is like language.like it
Louisiana blues/vid tune here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEAkK6sQgQo

[kiteman]

Knowing what chords you're playing under helps and know what the chord tones are (I-III-V) at the moment. You start and end the phrases on a chord tone. What's in between doesn't really matter but there's art in choosing the notes.

You can practice by playing a phrase from one chord to another and mind the chord tones.


:rockon:

[djmcconnell]

Thanks so much -- this is just the sort of perspective and advice I knew I'd get from the Fretters!

I so want to learn this language that I'm inspired to keep at it. Practice, solid fundamentals, experimentation and playing a lot seem to be the way to go.

Much appreciated!

[kiteman]

I guess you can say the more hands on experiences the more you know.

:rockon: