After reading a few posts about "where to start" improvising on a scale and getting some PM`s regarding this I decided to see if I could help give a "starting point" guide using a short video and some explanation.

I am certainly NO EXPERT on this, mainly coz I dont really believe theres a right or wrong way to do it, and its a very tough subject to explain, doing the video helped me put this into text, its just a pointer, and may give some people a starting point (I hope) to carry on and get involved with the collabs etc.

So heres an explanation of the video in words, as the volume on my voice is a little low, and to make it clearer what I`m trying to get accross

Probably the most popular scale is the minor pentatonic, for the purpose of this video I`m using the Bm pentatonic in one position only to keep things as simple as possible

Click to view attachment


|——————————-7—10————
|————————–7—10-------——–
|———————-7—9—————------
|——————7—9———————----
|————7—9—————————----
|——7—10——————————-----

The backing used is David Wallimans backing from the Gilmour Collab, I recommend using this backing to jam and improvise with, its just the best! you can get it HERE

where to begin.
The backing key is given, in this case its Bm so using one position (tab above) of the Bm pentatonic scale we can start.

First off learn the scale inside out, with the backing just run up and down the notes of the scale, just to get a feel and to make sure all the notes sound ok and in key with the track.

Thats gunna sound pretty boring all the way through, so, just begin again running up and down the scale in the same order but "hanging" on random notes, also try varying the speed here and there.

Next try skipping a few notes, hanging on some, back n forth between others, repeating some notes, remember to keep the "feel" of the backing in mind.

its already sounding better right? some more elements are required to get your improvisation sounding better, add in some slide off notes, some bends and pull offs, try to incorporate (using the notes of the scale) some techniques or licks that you`ve learnt already from other lessons. (I will make a follow up video on doing exactly this in the very near future)

Finally for this demonstration I`ve moved position a whole octave up, using the two same positions hopefully you can see in the video that you can link the two together to vary the overall sound of your solo, if you`ve learnt all the other positions in the scale you should be able to take the same approach as above and link everything together.

Once again I dont claim to be an expert but this seemed the only way I could explain myself

I apologise for you not being able to see my face in the video whilst I`m talking, only I had a few camera issues and once the camera was "set" I didnt want to move it

Click to view attachment


This is purely a starting point for those that have said "I dont know where to start" if its been of help to you then thats excellent, let me know and I`ll try to come up with something that may help you further if you`d like me to

Just keep practicing

Hey smells, wheres the video?

oops thanks mate

Edit: cheers JVM, video now attached

Wow!
Nice one, Smells!
I'll try some of your 'tricks' tomorrow

Excellent Guide smells!

I wish i had this guide when i was starting out!

thanks mate, yea me too, so if it can help just one or two then it`ll have been well worth it

This is extremely helpful, Smells. Thanks alot.

Smells thats a great lesson i really struggle with making my own stuff up thats gonna help me a lot i know have been playing for nearly 10 years on and of but i used to just sing and play rhythm have only started to play lead since joining GMC and thats gonna help me nicely

Smells - good job! Very clear and easy to understand.

Excellent Smells! I like the tone and approach of your teaching - not mention your playing!

We don't have any of this straight forward lessons on the site - I would recommend all beginners interested in the topic to dive into this lesson!

Thanks Chris!

Hi smells thought i would upload my first ever solo i never thought i would be able to do anything like this i know theres lots of bum notes and dodgy phrasing but i'am dead chuffed for a first attempt thanks for helping me out


Wont let me upload HMMM

Wow Smells!
This is very, very useful!
You're doing a wonderful job on this site!
Thank you.

Eddie

Thanks Kris, I`ll do a follow up to this lesson soon with a similar approach.

Thanks guys, I`m glad its helping you out

Sorted it now

great mate, I`ll have a listen when I get home from work tonight

that lesson is great it help me quite a bit look forward to the next one

great stuff, I really enjoyed this
It'll be definetly good for beginners and such...

Thanks again!
I tried some of the stuff yesterday, and it's really nice

I'll try to upload something if I can

gr8, look forward to hearing it, and your welcome

Cheers smells- i found that sometimes with different tempos id lose my place improvising, running through the scale to the beat is a great way to get a feel for the different tempos.

Thanks again, big help

Bondy - Great effort m8! great "first ever" attempt

just for note I think your guitar may be a tadge out of tune with the backing, but anyways ignoring that, you have a nice tone there A little gentle vibrato here n there would help give this some feel as well, be careful when bending your notes not to take yourself out of scale (for certain styles this can be done for effect) make sure you are bending to another note in the scale, again its all down to practice, your certainly heading in the right direction, keep improvising with the backing and recording your takes, the more and more you do it the more and more you will get better at it, the notes will flow a lot easier and you`ll hit upon passages that you like and can build a solo around.

Generally when I`m improvising its to build a set solo, I start of just playing around then I`ll listen back and hear a bit that I like, so in the next take I`ll include it in the same place but add something different and so on till I build a whole solo up.

Well done m8, I`m impressed with your first ever solo, its only going to get better from here

Thanks smells comments gratefully received will keep practicing

no probs, look forward to some more takes & seeing you in the collabs

I shall treasure my download.. Thanks smells, You really taught well how to make the most out of a scale.

Great lesson, it's not too long ago I learned pretty much same thing, and it took me hours to understand what the h... was going on If I'd known this lesson at the time it would have taken me .. well, less time.

One thing though, the link to the backing track seems to be broken. I can access the video, but not the mp3.

Woop, EDIT: For some reason the mp3 works for me now, don't know what happened. Glee to the world!

Way to go man, you really made a good lesson here. Keep it up i you can, it is very interesting

Thanks Ivan, I`m working on some ideas for another one at the moment, its just fitting in the time to do everything I want to do, theres not enough hours in an evening

Great lesson m8!

Very well explained, and good examples.. cheers

So I finally uploaded something
Please tell me what you think...

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=11526

Sorry I missed that one mate, listening now will post in your thread

this is exactly the type of lesson I need, but I have a mac and I cant seem to get it to work

hmmm, maybe some of our computer whizz`s can help you here mate, I apologise I`m rubbish with anything to do with computers

still having no luck do you think maybe you could put it on youtube or somthing? Don't worry if it's hassle its just that for some reason its just this particular link that wont work.

I`ll see what I can do for you tonight mate

Aww thanks can't wait, I shall be practicing like crazy. Got a lot of coursework due in soon though, it's driving me mad

Next part, I`m hoping will be up tomorrow providing camera etc behaves itself, we`ll be looking at some small techniques for you to add to your improvisations to make them sound cool and a simple solo with a backing for you to learn

Cool! No winter blues on this one!

Top explanation,I'm sure our beginners will benefit a lot!!

I looove this lesson ! Thank you!! It's really simple enough for me to grasp myself around! I don't know what I'd do without this approach!

gr8 glad it helped you out some I`ll try and do some more like this soon in the future

Hmmm i never check out this section of the forums... This is an awesome lesson, i like the way you mix things up...

thanks mate, theres lots of great lessons in the Student instructor board

I figured id give this a shot and get you input on it, Mr. Smells.. this is just an awesome lesson hiding over here in the student lessons... thanks for it

I just finished two takes on it, one with some wah added into it just for fun... youre right this is a nice backing

any help or input would be greatly appreciated.

I actually like the second one better with the wah added to it... i love my wah wah...

hey mate, thanks for taking a shot at the backing, its David Wallimans backing and it sure is cool

ok, same comments apply to both takes really, (I thought the wah was quite a nice sound actually )

I think mainly refering to this backing you need to just reel yourself in a little,
contol and hold some notes, try and come up with a melody line and add your faster flourishes around it to flower and pep it up a bit
on longer notes add some nice vibrato to give it feel and emotion,
theres some nice playing there, a few off key notes, but nothing too major,
work on your bends some more, making sure they are strong and bending to the correct note.
try and use faster licks/passages to build up to something,
another thing you could try on a slower backing like this is to build up your solo at the start to a bigger climax at the end.
I`ll do another lesson based on this lesson very soon, revisit it to give you a better idea of what I mean

keep recording your takes though and listen back

Im looking forward to your lessons... you are a great teacher

Hey Smells, thank you for the lesson.. this are the lessons I need :-)

your welcome, I`d like to do more lessons like this with spoken and playing examples, its not always possible though for me to do these, most of my available time is in the evening, unfortunatly when my daughter is asleep in the room next to my office/rock space

I have a few lessons in the making and I`m aiming at some simple soloing

I just tried it again and tried to build up to some taping... held my notes a little longer and used some vibrato...

check it out and let me know please...

thanks chris