These tips don't revolve around theory so much as common principles for better playing.
Theory and scale knowledge is wonderful, but it leaves a lot of people with a blank face, so in this article we're going to break down the components of a guitar solo, which in turn can be used to improve improvisation guitar playing.
1.
Note arrangements A lot of people know some scales, but they aren't sure what to do with them.
The first step is getting used to making on-the-spot note choices.
Take any scale shape that you are working with, and try to reorder the notes.
There are really very few rules to this.
You can skip over a string, skip over a note or two, leave out some notes, some times add notes from another scale, ascend through some parts, and descend through others.
The choice is yours.
A lot of guitar players have trouble tapping into this mindset, because we tend to think too scientifically about guitar playing.
The answer is always going to be experimentation, and trusting what your ears tell you.
2.
Timing and variation No matter the time signature of a song, there is plenty of room to play with.
You can rush through the first few notes of something, slow down other notes, or do an interesting combination of both.
This creates variety and time texture.
You can even for example, hold on a note at an unexpected time, hesitate, and then rush the remaining notes in.
By working with principles like these we are creative rhythm in our playing.
The best place to get more ideas for this is by listening to different genres of music, and yes you can certainly combine key themes together.
3.
Accentuation Now that we have the steps of note choices, and timing and variation, we can flavor our notes with accents.
Some of the choices are hammer ons, pull offs, slides, bends, bend-releases, harmonics, and vibrato, but even larger techniques such as sweeps arpeggios, tapping and legato can certainly fit into the mix.
Always remember that in some cases less is more.
If you try to use ever type of accent under the sun, then your playing can become really gaudy, and always remember to leave space in between for the listener of your music (or you) to be able to comprehend what's going on.
4.
Phrasing Basically, the last 3 principles make up the larger structure of phrasing, but there is one more thing to be said.
Music is a conversation.
Guitar is really an interpretation of the human voice.
When we converse in real life, we put certain emphasis on words depending on the nature of the conversation.
Questions and answers are the most common form of phrasing.
You can ask a question on the guitar with one passage, and then answer it with another passage.
The beauty of this is you can really do it in any order that you like, and the parts tend to loop, enabling you to continue the conversation.
For improvisation guitar, this is one of the things that can help you stay on track and not get lost.
5.
Create a visual and aural road map If you notice, certain scale shapes, chord structures, or arpeggios have some common shapes to them.
These shapes usually don't change when transposing them from key to key, at least as long as you are staying true to one type of shape.
This can help you identify landmarks on the fretboard, the most common perhaps being octaves, and the recognizable pattern that they offer us.
Also, the more that you experience guitar playing, the more your ears do absorb over time.
You can actually get to a point where you can just look at a fret or note, not have to know the name of it, and hear it in your head.
Theory and scale knowledge is wonderful, but it leaves a lot of people with a blank face, so in this article we're going to break down the components of a guitar solo, which in turn can be used to improve improvisation guitar playing.
1.
Note arrangements A lot of people know some scales, but they aren't sure what to do with them.
The first step is getting used to making on-the-spot note choices.
Take any scale shape that you are working with, and try to reorder the notes.
There are really very few rules to this.
You can skip over a string, skip over a note or two, leave out some notes, some times add notes from another scale, ascend through some parts, and descend through others.
The choice is yours.
A lot of guitar players have trouble tapping into this mindset, because we tend to think too scientifically about guitar playing.
The answer is always going to be experimentation, and trusting what your ears tell you.
2.
Timing and variation No matter the time signature of a song, there is plenty of room to play with.
You can rush through the first few notes of something, slow down other notes, or do an interesting combination of both.
This creates variety and time texture.
You can even for example, hold on a note at an unexpected time, hesitate, and then rush the remaining notes in.
By working with principles like these we are creative rhythm in our playing.
The best place to get more ideas for this is by listening to different genres of music, and yes you can certainly combine key themes together.
3.
Accentuation Now that we have the steps of note choices, and timing and variation, we can flavor our notes with accents.
Some of the choices are hammer ons, pull offs, slides, bends, bend-releases, harmonics, and vibrato, but even larger techniques such as sweeps arpeggios, tapping and legato can certainly fit into the mix.
Always remember that in some cases less is more.
If you try to use ever type of accent under the sun, then your playing can become really gaudy, and always remember to leave space in between for the listener of your music (or you) to be able to comprehend what's going on.
4.
Phrasing Basically, the last 3 principles make up the larger structure of phrasing, but there is one more thing to be said.
Music is a conversation.
Guitar is really an interpretation of the human voice.
When we converse in real life, we put certain emphasis on words depending on the nature of the conversation.
Questions and answers are the most common form of phrasing.
You can ask a question on the guitar with one passage, and then answer it with another passage.
The beauty of this is you can really do it in any order that you like, and the parts tend to loop, enabling you to continue the conversation.
For improvisation guitar, this is one of the things that can help you stay on track and not get lost.
5.
Create a visual and aural road map If you notice, certain scale shapes, chord structures, or arpeggios have some common shapes to them.
These shapes usually don't change when transposing them from key to key, at least as long as you are staying true to one type of shape.
This can help you identify landmarks on the fretboard, the most common perhaps being octaves, and the recognizable pattern that they offer us.
Also, the more that you experience guitar playing, the more your ears do absorb over time.
You can actually get to a point where you can just look at a fret or note, not have to know the name of it, and hear it in your head.
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