2/1/2017 10EssentialsOnGuitarImprovisationGUITARHABITS

10EssentialsOnGuitarImprovisation
June15,2010ByKlausCrow43Comments

PhotobySimone13AKAJohnPastorello
BesideswritingandplayingsongsI
justloveimprovising.

WhenIpracticeimprovisingIalways
rstpourmyselfacupofgreentea,I
putonsomefolkmusic(e.g.RayLa
Montagne,DamienRice,Stephen
Fretwell,GlenHansard,Sheryl
Crow,etc.)onLast.fmorSpotifyand
thenIstarttoimproviseoverthese
songs.Igettotallycaughtupinthe
momentandletmyngerscarryme
away.

OthertimesIpracticemelodicpaerns,triads,arpeggios,licks,everythingthatwillspice
upmyimprovisationskills.Youcanneverstopgrowing.Thereisalwaysmoretolearn
andexplore.

Improvisingisoneofthemostfunandfulllingaspectsofguitarplaying,butalso
somethingthatrequiresalotofhardworkanddedication.Itsthenextstepinbecominga
beerguitarplayer.

Hereare10basicessentialsthatwillhelpyoubecomeabeerimproviser.

1Pentatonics/blues

Learntoplaythepentatonic/bluesscaleallovertheneckinallveshapes.Itwilltake
sometimetolearnthisthoroughly,butifyoupracticeregularlyitwillreallypayo.The
pentatonic/bluesscaleisthecornerstoneofallsoloinginblues,pop,country,rockand
metal.Learnnotonlythescale,butalsohowtouseitforimprovisation.Seebelow.

2MajorScale

Nexttothepentatonicscale,themajorscaleisthemostimportantscaletolearn.
Learntoplaythemajorscaleallovertheneckineverypositionstartingfromtherootnote.
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Againthistakestime,butlearnthoroughly.Itisworththeeort.

Onceyoucanplaythescaleinallpositions,connectthedierentshapes/positionswith
eachother.Forexample:Playonepartofthescaleintherstposition,continuethescale
inthesecondpositionandthengoontothethirdposition.Experimentandtrydierent
combinations.

Themostexcitingandchallengingpartislearninghowtoimprovisewiththescales.That
iswhatyouareheadingfor.

3Melodicpaerns

Melodicpaernsorsequenceswillhelpyounottosoundlikeyouareplayingscalesall
thetime.Itwillexpandyourpossibilitiesandcreatemorefreedominyourplaying.They
arereallyusefulwhenimprovising.Learntoplaythescalesin3rds,4ths,5ths,6ths,3ina
line,4inaline,etc.

Example:

Majorscale=123456789101112131415
Cmajorscale=CDEFGABCDEFGABC

3rds=13,24,35,46,57,68,79,810,911,etc.
Cmajorscale=CE,DF,EG,FA,GB,AC,BD,CE,DF,etc.

4ths=14,25,36,47,58,69,710,811,912,etc.
5ths=15,26,37,48,59,610,711,812,913,etc.
6ths=16,27,38,49,510,611,712,813,914,etc.

3inaline=123,234,345,456,567,678,789,etc.
4inaline=1234,2345,3456,4567,5678,6789,etc.

4Randomnotes
Practiceplayingrandomnotesthroughthescale.Forexample:

Majorscale=123456789101112131415

Pickoutnotesrandomly:1632121535117etc.

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Thiswillhelpyoutolearnthescalethoroughly,itwillmakeyoumoreexibleandagain
giveyoumorefreedomwhenimprovising.

5Triads
Triadsareusedtoopenupyourplayingandgetawayfromplayingdiatonicand
pentatonicscaleruns.Triadsare3notechords.Youcanplayatriadstartingfromthe
rst/rootnote(therootpositiontriad),fromthesecondnote(the1stinversion)andfrom
the3rdnote(2ndinversion).Thereare4dierenttypesoftriads:major,minor,
augmentedanddiminished.Amajortriadisformedbythe1st,3rdand5thnoteofthe
majorscale.

Example:

Majorscale=12345678,Cmajorscale=CDEFGABC

Majortriad=135,Cmajortriad=CEG(=C)

Minortriad=1b35,Cminortriad=CEbG(=Cm)

Augmentedtriad=13#5,Caugtriad=CEG#(=C+)

Diminishedtriad=1b3b5,Cdimtriad=CEbGb(=Co)

Learnallthetriadsyoucanplaythroughamajorscale.Forexample:
Cmajorscale:Cmajortriad,Dmintriad,Emintriad,Fmajortriad,Gmajortriad,Amin
triadandBdimtriad.YoucanuseallthesetriadsimprovisingthroughaCmajorscale,A
minorscaleorAminorpentatonic.

6Arppegios
Learnarpeggiosandincorporatetheminyourplaying.Arpeggiosareliketriads,theyare
usedtoopenupyourplayingandcreatemorecolorandvarietytoyourimprovisation.A
triadisactuallyanarpeggioifitisplayednotebynote,ascendingordescending.Whilea
triadcontainsonlythreenotes,anarpeggiocanbeexpandedwithab7,maj7,a9th,11th,
etcwhichgivesyouendlesspossibilities.

7Licks
Alickisashortseriesofnotesthatcreatesacoolmelodiclinewhichcanbeusedinyour
improvisation.Increaseyourlickvocabulary.Learningnewlicksisanongoingprocess

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thatwillkeepyourimprovisationsoundfreshandhelpyougrowbecomingabeer
player.

8Modes
Learntoplayallthe7modesofthemajorscaletoexpandyourimprovisingskillseven
more.The7modesare:

Ionian=12345678
Dorian=12b3456b78
Phrygian=1b2b345b6b78
Lydian=123#45678
Mixolydian=123456b78
Aeolian=12b345b6b78
Locrian=1b2b34b5b6b78

9Solos
Transcribeandlearnsolosfromthegreatestguitarplayerstobeinspired.Steal,copytheir
licksandmakeyourownoutofthem.Studyhowtheyphraseanduserhythmintheir
soloing.Learnsolosindierentstylesandgenres;Blues,rock,country,metal,pop,etc.
Thereismuchtobelearnedfromdierentguitarplayers.

10Improvise
Thebestwaytolearnhowtoimproviseisactuallydoit.
Putonyourfavoritesongsoruseabackingtrackandstartimprovisingoverthechord
progressions.Playlicks.melodicpaerns,triads,arpeggios,everythingyoulearned,then
combine,improvise,phrase,experiment,makemistakes,tryagain,putyoursoulintoit
andletyourngersleadtheway.

Regardlessofwhatyouplay,thebiggestthingiskeepingthefeelgoing.WesMontgomery

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