Hey Pebber and fellas,

I was watching some videos on YouTube, where guitarists are entering contests by playing to a backing track, and it hit me(Very hard) that I can't do that...I mean, yeah, I can learn what they did and play it myself, but I cannot put together a solo(that I'm happy with) over some stupid minor 1-4-5 progression.. it really sucks to find out you suck even more than you thought you did. :(

So I'm wondering what is the key to improv? What do you mentally think of when you are soloing over a progession?

I know that knowing all the scales and arpeggios will help you know what the right notes are, but how can you get better at coming up with your own solo improvs? It won't magically happen once I learn all these scales and arpeggios, right?

I want to be able to play over any backing track/progression in any style..

My goal might be high, but that's what I'm aiming towards:

Also, how do you work on getting to hear what you want to play in your head?

All 40 downloaded.

jimiclaptoncarl, you just asked the $64,000 question.

I've entered a few such contests on youtube and I can tell you that most of those guys, or at least the better videos, those guys aren't "improvising." They sit down and write and prepare what they are going to do then make a few passes at it and pick the best one to post on youtube.

I would venture to say that most, definitely not all, but most rock guitar players suck at improvising...or at least most jazz improvisers would probably think so.

I work hard at it myself every day. It's definitely it's own discipline and something that requires years of practice. But, I love the sound of improvisation. It has its own sound and you can definitely tell the difference when someone is playing something "prepared" vs something they "improvised" on the spot. And then of course you can mix the 2 together which a lot of rock players do.

If you're asking these questions you are on the right track I'd say.

Zitat von uderoche

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I can tell you that most of those guys, or at least the better videos, those guys aren't "improvising." They sit down and write and prepare what they are going to do then make a few passes at it and pick the best one to post on youtube.

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Yeah, see, I can sort of do that... plan out a solo, or compose a solo, but I can't do anything worth beans on the spot. So at my current level, if I was to enter one of those contests, I would put on the backing track and lock myself in the room and just experiment... then post when I'm comfortable, but it's not that gratifying to play a solo, that you already planned out. :P

Here is one of the videos that show the level I want to reach:



Carl is just soloing over some simple progression, but he is improvising.

Carl Verheyen! Yeah! That guy is a monster musician.

I think a lot of this also comes down to, of course knowing the scales and chords and what scales go with what chords and all the ins and outs of that. And of course being able to PLAY the stuff at a high level of proficiency. But also, another key is the TIMING and phrasing. I have been bugging PB for a few months to do some videos on phrasing, but he's got a lot of stuff on his plate. He'll get around to it eventually. Until then, I would continue your work on playing the scales, working on your technique and playing them to the backing tracks. Really saturating yourself with the tonality of various progressions and scales.

I think you are on the right path.