improvisation for a numpty

Roland · July 2023

Improvisation isn’t something you learn from a book. In the days before loopers and cassette recorders I used to play chords for one or two bars, improvise for one or two bars, rinse and repeat. The benefit of this method is that you automatically solo around the notes in the chords, rather than notes in and around the pentatonic. Any other notes, whether scalar or not, become transition notes between chord notes. Then after a while you realise that the transition notes are actually the notes which give your solo interest, and the chord notes are the safe ones which you resolve to at the end of a phrase. You are forced to keep phrases short, rather wandering up and down scales.

Roland · July 2023

viz said:

^ I don’t think you need to know any theory whatsoever!

The purpose of theory is to explain what you’ve just played. It can’t tell you what to play next.

viz · July 2023

Roland said:

viz said:

^ I don’t think you need to know any theory whatsoever!

The purpose of theory is to explain what you’ve just played. It can’t tell you what to play next.

Well I wouldn’t go that far, it can be very helpful, but you don’t need it to improvise.

Keiko · August 2023

My top tip is to try and copy the vocalist whenever you play along to records. Why? because you will be learning the skill of translating a melody in your head to the guitar. Instead of just vomiting out scales and patterns from muscle memory, that sound right, but have no thought or emotion behind them.

stickyfiddle · August 2023

Roland said:

viz said:

^ I don’t think you need to know any theory whatsoever!

The purpose of theory is to explain what you’ve just played. It can’t tell you what to play next.

My take is that it can give you plenty of hints for what you could play next, but it can't tell you which will be interesting, build tension, or make someone feel something.

viz · August 2023

Yep it’s objective. That stuff you mentioned is subjective.

robgilmo · August 2023

Play along to songs, and stop telling yourself negatives, you arnt bloody aweful, you are a person trying their best and doing a lot better than you did before you started to play. It takes time and practice but above all just love what you do , putting mental barriers up will only slow you down.

guitarjack66 · August 2023

robgilmo said:

Play along to songs, and stop telling yourself negatives, you arnt bloody aweful, you are a person trying their best and doing a lot better than you did before you started to play. It takes time and practice but above all just love what you do , putting mental barriers up will only slow you down.

Well said Sir.
I absolutely realise I will never amount to anything musically but I love just picking up a guitar and trying to make pleasant-ish or familiar sounds with it. The ultimate de-stresser.

GuyBoden · September 2023

We can all listen and hear music, then with practice, we can train our ears to decipher what we are hearing and be able to play it. That is the main skill of an improvising musician.

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improvisation for a numpty

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