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Posted by: Smells Jan 19 2008, 09:41 PM

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




|——————————-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 http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=8700

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

 Improv_beginnings.wmv ( 14.26MB ) : 3677



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

Posted by: JVM Jan 19 2008, 09:42 PM

Hey smells, wheres the video?

Posted by: Smells Jan 19 2008, 09:43 PM

oops thanks mate

Edit: cheers JVM, video now attached

Posted by: Davidian Jan 20 2008, 12:10 AM

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

Posted by: The Uncreator Jan 20 2008, 12:42 AM

Excellent Guide smells!

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

Posted by: Smells Jan 20 2008, 12:46 AM

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

Posted by: SLASH91 Jan 20 2008, 01:26 AM

This is extremely helpful, Smells. Thanks alot.

Posted by: Bondy Jan 20 2008, 01:35 AM

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

Posted by: JCJXXL Jan 20 2008, 03:19 PM

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

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Jan 21 2008, 08:51 AM

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!

Posted by: Bondy Jan 21 2008, 10:04 AM

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

Posted by: eddiecat Jan 21 2008, 10:13 AM

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

Eddie

Posted by: Smells Jan 21 2008, 10:13 AM

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

Posted by: Bondy Jan 21 2008, 10:14 AM

Sorted it now

Posted by: Smells Jan 21 2008, 10:16 AM

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

Posted by: johnymac Jan 21 2008, 10:21 AM

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

Posted by: Paul Coutts Jan 21 2008, 10:38 AM

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

Posted by: Davidian Jan 21 2008, 04:51 PM

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

I'll try to upload something if I can

Posted by: Smells Jan 21 2008, 04:54 PM

gr8, look forward to hearing it, and your welcome

Posted by: DeepRoots Jan 21 2008, 04:55 PM

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

Posted by: Smells Jan 21 2008, 08:59 PM

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

Posted by: Bondy Jan 21 2008, 11:24 PM

Thanks smells comments gratefully received will keep practicing

Posted by: Smells Jan 21 2008, 11:26 PM

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

Posted by: whammysam Jan 22 2008, 12:12 AM

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

Posted by: T101 Jan 22 2008, 10:45 PM

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!

Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Jan 23 2008, 01:56 AM

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

Posted by: Smells Jan 23 2008, 10:45 AM

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

Posted by: Siggum Feb 4 2008, 11:25 PM

Great lesson m8!

Very well explained, and good examples.. cheers

Posted by: Davidian Feb 4 2008, 11:30 PM

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

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=11526

Posted by: Smells Feb 4 2008, 11:37 PM

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

Posted by: wakefield10 Mar 1 2008, 10:04 PM

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

Posted by: Smells Mar 1 2008, 10:16 PM

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

Posted by: wakefield10 Mar 4 2008, 05:15 AM

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.

Posted by: Smells Mar 4 2008, 08:19 AM

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

Posted by: wakefield10 Mar 4 2008, 01:47 PM

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

Posted by: Smells Mar 10 2008, 03:09 PM

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

Posted by: skennington Mar 10 2008, 03:17 PM

Cool! No winter blues on this one!

Posted by: Smells Mar 10 2008, 03:31 PM

Posted by: Muris Mar 27 2008, 01:30 PM

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

Posted by: Déjà vu Jul 10 2008, 07:32 PM

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!

Posted by: Smells Jul 10 2008, 07:42 PM

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

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 1 2008, 01:37 PM

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

Posted by: Smells Sep 1 2008, 01:51 PM

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

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 1 2008, 10:08 PM

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.

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 1 2008, 10:42 PM

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

Posted by: Smells Sep 1 2008, 10:56 PM

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

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 2 2008, 01:24 AM

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

Posted by: Soolas Sep 2 2008, 07:12 PM

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

Posted by: Smells Sep 3 2008, 12:34 AM

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

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 3 2008, 02:27 AM

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

Posted by: Smells Sep 3 2008, 09:32 AM

at work at the moment so not able to listen till I get home tonight, will leave you some comments later

Posted by: Smells Sep 3 2008, 07:23 PM

yea, big improvement mate over the last takes

guitar tone is still a little harsh, but thats only a minor thing,

sure theres a few bits that need cleaning up but thats what practice is all about, much better control, and the faster bits where more fitting with the backing, good job mate, keep it up

Posted by: Canis Sep 3 2008, 07:40 PM

Great one ^^ I basicly suck at improv, so this is gonna help me a lot =)

We need more of your lovely english voice in these videos ^^

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 3 2008, 11:23 PM

This is perhaps one of the best lessons here on gmc.. the way you walk us through what youre doing is a huge help, from just using the scale in timing to adding licks in the scale in time, and to see it all happen as you explain it... it was awesome, i hope youre going to do some more soon like this one

maybe one on moving between two scale boxes with a backing

Posted by: Smells Sep 3 2008, 11:30 PM

thats a good topic, I`ll see what I can come up with, I`ll do my best, thanks, I wasnt too sure about the two spoken vids I did at first, but if they have been of use then thats great

Posted by: jdriver Sep 4 2008, 05:18 AM

This is great!! I love the other Gilmour style lessons, but this one sets you free to just GO. Makes it much easier to "feel" your own way through it, instead of copying an exact tab. It's great when it's tabbed so you can see how it's done, but for those of us who can handle one or more boxes already, this is very exciting to play, it sounds like I know what I'm doing!!

I still wish we had a repository for interesting backing tracks we could download at will.

Thanks Smells.

Edit: HOLY MOJO, I can play slide doing this and it sounds awesome!!!

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 6 2008, 04:39 PM

been working double shifts all week... so i havent had time to mess with this stuff much, but i just recorded this now and was trying to work on my phrasing... i know people are probably getting tired of listening to my takes on this lesson..

I also made the backing track longer to have more time to get in the feel of it... heres my phrasing attempt and the longer backing track to jam to... enjoy

I also tried to keep somewhat of a base pattern in the solo before and after my speed run

Posted by: Smells Sep 6 2008, 09:09 PM

hey mate, soz for the delay in replying,

yea not bad
improving on your previous takes, few little timing issues nothing too bad though, theres a better feel with the backing now, your obviously playing with this one a lot

Try and relax a bit more to be a little smoother and more laid back, it`ll come

Posted by: jdriver Sep 8 2008, 06:59 PM

Can you give some hints or pointers on how you're getting the tone you're using for this lesson? I'm having trouble coming up with a satisfying alternative. I can't seem to get quite enough bite and sustain, especially on the upper octave.

Using a Strat here and a Pandora PX5D, which can do pretty much anything.

Thanks for any help.

Posted by: Smells Sep 8 2008, 07:27 PM

hmm, well I`m using a POD XT, Using a high gain amp head with a 2x12" cab simulator.

in terms of dials, Bass,mid & treb all at 3 o clock position, gain about 2 o clock, effects are a tube screamer, tiny bit of chorus, some delay and some reverb, thats about it, not sure thats going to help you too much? soz

Posted by: jdriver Sep 9 2008, 12:22 AM

Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks very much.

Posted by: Smells Sep 9 2008, 12:25 AM

arr cool, wasnt sure if t would help lol

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Sep 15 2008, 02:48 AM

Ok here goes again... I was studying the b blues scale tonight and tried another attempt at this again... tried to add more feeling in my playing... I also learned davids zz top lesson today and think it helped me with my blues feeling..
If youre getting tired of me posting stuff let me know... but i figured this is the best way to learn, by other peoples opinions... my girlfriend just keeps telling me that i sound like a rockstar, although its nice to hear i need opinions from other musicians

Posted by: Antipolitik Sep 15 2008, 05:42 AM

So, this is my 3rd recorded solo ever... I practiced and watched your video... lots of stuff I can't do yet
but I had a go on this great backing track... Been playing guitar since 19.00 so almost 12 hours straight.
I felt a bit sloppy especially at the high notes, I couldn't fit my hand correct... and I have never played so
high before (I only do chugga chugga haha)... I will do another take... at the end of the week when practice
is done... I'll give this lesson a week, 2 hours / day.

First one:
[attachment=9997:antipoli...t_smells.mp3]
I start moving octaves up and down, than low octave... and finally high octave.

2nd one:
Tried to be more bluesy.. but I don't know, it felt better tho'. I have to work on the bends. Make'em cleaner!
 antipolitik_solo_2nd.mp3.mp3 ( 1.76MB ) : 261


THANKS SMELLS. GREAT STUFF!

Posted by: Smells Sep 15 2008, 09:12 AM

great, I`m at work at the moment so cant have a listen, but when I get home tonight I`ll have a listen for you

Posted by: Smells Sep 15 2008, 10:28 PM

No not getting tired of you posting your takes, its what its all about

Better attempt again improving upon all your other takes for sure still some timing issues, the runs are a little rushed, the first half is better than the second, I felt there was more ideas forming in the first half than the second, so I`d take a listen to the first half, tighten up on your timing a little and try and develop that theme you got going and bring it into the second half of the solo, some nice soaring bends with nice vibrato suit this backing, over the next couple of days I`ll try and get in doing a take on this myself to give you more idea of what I mean keep going and keep posting!



good attempt mate, tone is a little harsh for this kind of backing but thats only a small thing and down to personal taste again same as Outlaw, I can hear some ideas developing through the solo, the second take was better than the first, I`m glad you posted both though, just like Outlaw it really shows that your digging into it deep
yup, work on your bends and work on some vibrato as well to try and give your solo some feel great effort keep it up

Posted by: Antipolitik Sep 24 2008, 01:58 AM

Oh... now I am playing this all night... getting tighter in the play but I still struggle when trying to go fast.
Like you play in the last time in your video, not when go up an octave but the take before.. I really like how you
play that time... but... I will not stop til' I can nail it! I have some trouble when you go fast, you're too fast!
Hahaha... gotta practice, later!

Posted by: Smells Sep 24 2008, 09:19 AM

The speed will come, concentrate on keeping it tight on your timing like your doing, I`ll write a proper little solo for this to learn if you like?

Posted by: Antipolitik Sep 25 2008, 12:09 AM

When you got some time over please do! It's not like I don't got the speed, I think I have. It's timing with right hand that's the problem. Also the correct technical playing of course. I could use a slow'motion clip of your fretting hand!
Thanks again!

Posted by: Fran Feb 26 2010, 06:09 PM

Just added this one to the knowledge base
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/index.php/Chris_Evans_-_Beginner_Improvisation_Help_SI_Lesson

If the vid is uploaded to youtube I'll be glad to have it embedded on the wiki lesson, with this and any other lessons that have their videos as file attachments