Beginner Improvisation Help, A "starting point" rough guide
Rating 5 V
Chris Evans
Jan 19 2008, 09:41 PM
Learning Tone Guru - Community Coordinator & Moderator
Posts: 6.319
Joined: 24-September 07
From: Sittingbourne, UK
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 smile.gif

Attached Image


|——————————-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 smile.gif

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 laugh.gif

Attached File  Improv_beginnings.wmv ( 14.26MB ) Number of downloads: 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 smile.gif

Just keep practicing smile.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


This post has been edited by Smells: Jan 19 2008, 09:50 PM


--------------------
Show us what part of the world you live in and get yourself
ON THE GMC:er Location MAP
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Posts in this topic
- Smells   Beginner Improvisation Help   Jan 19 2008, 09:41 PM
- - JVM   Hey smells, wheres the video?   Jan 19 2008, 09:42 PM
- - Smells   oops thanks mate Edit: cheers JVM, video now atta...   Jan 19 2008, 09:43 PM
- - Davidian   Wow! Nice one, Smells! I'll try some o...   Jan 20 2008, 12:10 AM
- - The Uncreator   Excellent Guide smells! I wish i had this gui...   Jan 20 2008, 12:42 AM
- - Smells   QUOTE (The Uncreator @ Jan 19 2008, 11:42...   Jan 20 2008, 12:46 AM
- - SLASH91   This is extremely helpful, Smells. Thanks alot.   Jan 20 2008, 01:26 AM
- - Bondy   Smells thats a great lesson i really struggle with...   Jan 20 2008, 01:35 AM
- - JCJXXL   Smells - good job! Very clear and easy to unde...   Jan 20 2008, 03:19 PM
- - Kristofer Dahl   Excellent Smells! I like the tone and approach...   Jan 21 2008, 08:51 AM
- - Bondy   Hi smells thought i would upload my first ever sol...   Jan 21 2008, 10:04 AM
|- - eddiecat   Wow Smells! This is very, very useful! You...   Jan 21 2008, 10:13 AM
nnn
- - Smells   Thanks Kris, I`ll do a follow up to this lesso...   Jan 21 2008, 10:13 AM
- - Bondy   Sorted it now   Jan 21 2008, 10:14 AM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Bondy @ Jan 21 2008, 09:14 AM) Sor...   Jan 21 2008, 10:16 AM
- - johnymac   that lesson is great it help me quite a bit look f...   Jan 21 2008, 10:21 AM
- - Paul Coutts   great stuff, I really enjoyed this It'll be d...   Jan 21 2008, 10:38 AM
- - Davidian   Thanks again! I tried some of the stuff yester...   Jan 21 2008, 04:51 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Davidian @ Jan 21 2008, 03:51 PM) ...   Jan 21 2008, 04:54 PM
- - DeepRoots   Cheers smells- i found that sometimes with differe...   Jan 21 2008, 04:55 PM
|- - Muris   Top explanation,I'm sure our beginners will be...   Mar 27 2008, 01:30 PM
nnn
- - Smells   Bondy - Great effort m8! great "first eve...   Jan 21 2008, 08:59 PM
- - Bondy   Thanks smells comments gratefully received will ke...   Jan 21 2008, 11:24 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Bondy @ Jan 21 2008, 10:24 PM) ...   Jan 21 2008, 11:26 PM
- - whammysam   I shall treasure my download.. Thanks smells, You ...   Jan 22 2008, 12:12 AM
- - T101   Great lesson, it's not too long ago I learned ...   Jan 22 2008, 10:45 PM
- - Milenkovic Ivan   Way to go man, you really made a good lesson here....   Jan 23 2008, 01:56 AM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Milenkovic Ivan @ Jan 23 2008, 12...   Jan 23 2008, 10:45 AM
- - Siggum   Great lesson m8! Very well explained, and goo...   Feb 4 2008, 11:25 PM
- - Davidian   So I finally uploaded something Please tell me wh...   Feb 4 2008, 11:30 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Davidian @ Feb 4 2008, 10:30 PM) S...   Feb 4 2008, 11:37 PM
|- - wakefield10   this is exactly the type of lesson I need, but I h...   Mar 1 2008, 10:04 PM
nnn
- - Smells   QUOTE (wakefield10 @ Mar 1 2008, 09:04 PM...   Mar 1 2008, 10:16 PM
- - wakefield10   still having no luck do you think maybe you coul...   Mar 4 2008, 05:15 AM
- - Smells   I`ll see what I can do for you tonight mate   Mar 4 2008, 08:19 AM
|- - wakefield10   QUOTE (Smells @ Mar 4 2008, 07:19 AM) I...   Mar 4 2008, 01:47 PM
nnn
- - Smells   Next part, I`m hoping will be up tomorrow prov...   Mar 10 2008, 03:09 PM
- - skennington   Cool! No winter blues on this one!   Mar 10 2008, 03:17 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (skennington @ Mar 10 2008, 02:17 P...   Mar 10 2008, 03:31 PM
- - Déjà vu   I looove this lesson ! Thank you!! I...   Jul 10 2008, 07:32 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Déjà vu @ Jul 10 2008, 07:32 PM)...   Jul 10 2008, 07:42 PM
- - Outlaw2112   Hmmm i never check out this section of the forums....   Sep 1 2008, 01:37 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Outlaw2112 @ Sep 1 2008, 01:37 PM)...   Sep 1 2008, 01:51 PM
- - Outlaw2112   I figured id give this a shot and get you input on...   Sep 1 2008, 10:08 PM
- - Outlaw2112   I actually like the second one better with the wah...   Sep 1 2008, 10:42 PM
- - Smells   hey mate, thanks for taking a shot at the backing,...   Sep 1 2008, 10:56 PM
|- - Outlaw2112   QUOTE (Smells @ Sep 1 2008, 10:56 PM) hey...   Sep 2 2008, 01:24 AM
nnn
- - Soolas   Hey Smells, thank you for the lesson.. this are th...   Sep 2 2008, 07:12 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Soolas @ Sep 2 2008, 07:12 PM) Hey...   Sep 3 2008, 12:34 AM
- - Outlaw2112   I just tried it again and tried to build up to som...   Sep 3 2008, 02:27 AM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Outlaw2112 @ Sep 3 2008, 02:27 AM)...   Sep 3 2008, 09:32 AM
- - Smells   yea, big improvement mate over the last takes ...   Sep 3 2008, 07:23 PM
- - Canis   Great one ^^ I basicly suck at improv, so this is ...   Sep 3 2008, 07:40 PM
- - Outlaw2112   This is perhaps one of the best lessons here on gm...   Sep 3 2008, 11:23 PM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Outlaw2112 @ Sep 3 2008, 11:23 PM)...   Sep 3 2008, 11:30 PM
- - jdriver   This is great!! I love the other Gilmour ...   Sep 4 2008, 05:18 AM
- - Outlaw2112   been working double shifts all week... so i havent...   Sep 6 2008, 04:39 PM
- - Smells   hey mate, soz for the delay in replying, yea not...   Sep 6 2008, 09:09 PM
- - jdriver   Can you give some hints or pointers on how you...   Sep 8 2008, 06:59 PM
- - Smells   hmm, well I`m using a POD XT, Using a high ga...   Sep 8 2008, 07:27 PM
|- - jdriver   QUOTE (Smells @ Sep 8 2008, 11:27 AM) hmm...   Sep 9 2008, 12:22 AM
nnn
- - Smells   QUOTE (jdriver @ Sep 9 2008, 12:22 AM) Ye...   Sep 9 2008, 12:25 AM
- - Outlaw2112   Ok here goes again... I was studying the b blues s...   Sep 15 2008, 02:48 AM
- - Antipolitik   So, this is my 3rd recorded solo ever... I practic...   Sep 15 2008, 05:42 AM
- - Smells   great, I`m at work at the moment so cant have ...   Sep 15 2008, 09:12 AM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Outlaw2112 @ Sep 15 2008, 02:48 AM...   Sep 15 2008, 10:28 PM
- - Antipolitik   Oh... now I am playing this all night... getting t...   Sep 24 2008, 01:58 AM
- - Smells   QUOTE (Antipolitik @ Sep 24 2008, 01:58 A...   Sep 24 2008, 09:19 AM
|- - Antipolitik   QUOTE (Smells @ Sep 24 2008, 10:19 AM) Th...   Sep 25 2008, 12:09 AM
nnn
- - Fran   Just added this one to the knowledge base http://...   Feb 26 2010, 06:09 PM
nnn
nnn


Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 




RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 04:29 PM