To anyone who doesn't play guitar, I am absolutely amazing at improv (apparently!). I'm sometimes caught playing along to backing tracks at lunchbreaks, and people are pretty blown away. However, the fact is that I mostly use the blues scale and play the same things all the time, which obviously sounds different when played at different speeds and in different keys, but basically it's the same old one-dimensional junk. I just don't feel that I have an ounce of creativity in me. I've always had zero theory knowledge and no ability to learn or practice. I'm just an old dog looking for a new trick.
I've looked at modes over the years, but to be honest I found it impossible to make any headway there. I found a 'cheat' to play the notes of a mode by shifting my usual scale up and down a bit, but it only works if I know what mode to play in as I can't analyse chords at all.
Anyone got any thoughts on how I could spice things up a bit? To be honest, I think that suggestions will probably be too much effort for my feeble capacity, but I'm willing to at least have a go at something.
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iv basically started again...iv always played legato and hybrid ..iv stopped both of them for now ...i can easily go back but the point was my picking wasn't very good ...so for the past 6 months or so iv been alternate picking mostly and its getting much better
the other thing was playing over changes ....the harder ones ...iv started going through all the arps again learning them all in one position in all keys then moving to the next position ....same with altered scale ..im getting that into my playing as well over the functioning 5 chord...
the most important thing i have found and it works ....is sometimes its good to just forget the way you play and go into new ground just a little at a time ...and spend a lot of time on one subject until you are great at it....just like with the pentatonic scale ....and definitely the way to do it is just constant repetition until you cant stand it any more then do it the next day and day after until its second nature. ..so maybe instead of just playing pentatonic maybe work on some arps that are part of the key your .....but whatever it is its just down to repetition and playing it in different keys over a backer ...before long it will start coming out naturally as part of your playing ...look how good we are at the standard box pentatonic....its because we do it all the time....hope this helps cos i was in the same boat a while back
Think in terms of melodies and tunes. Try playing a few famous ones, like Speak Softly Love (Godfather theme), Beethoven's Fur Elise, etc. Anything that you're already familiar with and happen to like. You don't need to know any scales, modes, or even what key it's in - you just need to be able to hear the melody in your head and work out the notes on the guitar. Hit a YouTube vid or two if you need a reminder, try playing along, and then try again unaccompanied. After a while, you should start being able to pick out famous melodies without having to spend a lot of time working out the notes on the guitar. Aim to get to the stage where, if you can hear it in your head, or sing it, you can play it.
Then comes the trickier bit - playing melodies that aren't from famous tunes wot were wrote by someone else.
Listen to music without playing guitar. Try singing or whistling along when the mood takes you. If you find a melody or phrase developing, repeat it a few times until it's more fixed in your head, and then try it on guitar. Repeat a few times. After a while, you might want it to be a little different - try to play it that way without breaking stride.
Another approach is to play one note jams with yourself. Pluck two strings for every note, the thumb playing a drone on a single string, and the forefinger picking out the melody. If you use the E or A string for the drone, you have plenty of strings left for diddling about with melodies. Retune the drone string if you like. Start with a melody lasting a few bars, and then play different phrases over the same drone. If you get lost, go back to the opening melody and let it drift again to new things when the mood takes you. I do this sort of thing quite a lot on acoustic. It started out as attempts to write pieces, but just ended up being a thing in itself when I realised that I could never remember (or consistently play) whatever came after the opening parts. Now, they're just tunes that start with the opener, disappear into a period of improvisation, and sometimes end with the opener or something similar to it.
For me, improvisation is about being somewhat disassociated from the physical act of playing the instrument. It's like watching myself play while I listen to the tune, but retaining an almost sub-conscious level of control or influence over what happens as the tune progresses. A key thing in doing this is being able to hit the notes in your head. In other words, it's like picking out famous melodies by ear, except the melody is being 'written' as you play it.
Nomad
Nobody loves me but my mother... and she could be jivin' too...
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Something I would never have considered TBH
Same scales as noisy metal (E Phrygian and A harmonic minor) but a completely different feel and tempo. The ideas for one work with the other and It helps to keep things fresh
By learning new stuff and being able to sing and internally hear this new stuff, this new stuff will eventually come out in your improvisations naturally.
I like Dave Frank's stuff, he's a top Jazz pianist and educator in the Lennie Tristano mode.