• zguitar
  • Don't call me Sir
  • Offline
  • From: Mentone, Ca
  • Registered: 2009-01-10
  • Posts: 1,367

Topic: Improvisation

So there's been some talk of playing lead and improv stuff. It got me thinking. When you see someone just playing something off the cuff, is it really free form? For me I can't just stick things in. It takes practice. Cuz if you think about it, playing a song is just going thru the motions you've practiced over and over. If I try to even add just another finger at a certain point it takes practice. So my question is, when someone is improvising is it really that or something they have learned and practiced before? There is a diff between knowing what to do and actually doing it. Yes you can know everything about the neck but can you just really throw things together without practicing?


I don't know if this makes any sense.....

Keep Rockin!!!!!!!!!!!
  • From: Hampshire, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-23
  • Posts: 306

Re: Improvisation

Well that's exactly what I do Z. Ok, I know the licks and runs that I'm playing but I don't plan it or a practice any given solo, I just play what I feel. I'm sure somebody like Jerome will come along and explain it better than I ever can!

Jerry

Live the life you love, love the life you live
  • arkady
  • arkady
  • ambient moderator
  • Offline
  • From: England
  • Registered: 2006-11-23
  • Posts: 2,147

Re: Improvisation

Hi Z
Well I would make at a guess it was a bit of both well it is for me.
Riffs are mainly practised to get down pat impro comes in when your fairly familar with the song.
For the greats its no big deal they can impro from the word go there's no thought process they just do it like driving a car.
Of course years of practice and talent make this happen...
We can but dream.
ark

  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: Improvisation

The ability to improvise is a gift given to few, and a prize for the rest of us for learning our scales.  smile

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

jerome.oneil's Website

  • zguitar
  • Don't call me Sir
  • Offline
  • From: Mentone, Ca
  • Registered: 2009-01-10
  • Posts: 1,367

Re: Improvisation

I think that's it Jerome. It's all been learned and practiced.

Keep Rockin!!!!!!!!!!!
  • From: Central Flatland
  • Registered: 2007-05-30
  • Posts: 223

Re: Improvisation

I think (or my instructor has told me) that it's a bit of both.  Once you know your way around the scales, you can improvise within that structure.  Things like hitting the chord tones on the '1' in a twelve-bar blues, and then just fooling around inside the pentatonic.  Then there's the 'canned' solo, particularly if you want to play something fast, that you can throw in at an opportune moment.

"There's such a fine line between genius and stupidity."
                              --David St. Hubbins
  • tandm3
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: Florida Panhandle
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 421

Re: Improvisation

It's a Zen thing. maybe...  Years of practice allow things to just flow naturally.  0ddly, I can do this in some keys fairly easily, but the other day I was sitting in with a group and I had no idea what to do until the singer said. "it's in G#".  I was really locked out until he told me where I was supposed to be. 

I thought, "G#?? who writes songs in G#?"  Two seconds later I was thinking, "It's his song.  He can write it in whatever key he wants to."  Very humbling.

Now available in 5G !
  • From: boston ma
  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 10

Re: Improvisation

when i improv i dont think or even have my eyes open, after you've been playin for so long it just happens, forget theory and scales, play from your heart, altho theory and scales are good.

its not what you play thru, its what you play thru it
  • From: Texas
  • Registered: 2007-07-31
  • Posts: 950

Re: Improvisation

Its all about which notes can be played over which chords, knowing scales and understanding the patterns in music. I have to know a song really well to break loose at all, but someone with a rly honed understanding of  it could probly freestyle over anything they wanted to.

All You Need is Love smile

HannahBeth's Website

  • Zurf
  • Zurf
  • Blunt but well meaning moderator
  • Offline
  • From: Virginia, USA
  • Registered: 2007-06-27
  • Posts: 7,522

Re: Improvisation

Miles Davis had this to say about it:  First we spend time and effort learning our instruments.  Next we spend time and effort learning about music.  Finally, it's just play baby, play. 

- Zurf

Granted B chord amnesty by King of the Mutants (Long live the king).
If it comes from the heart and you add a few beers... it'll be awesome! - Mekidsmom
When in doubt ... hats. - B.G. Dude
  • From: Alabama Gulf Coast
  • Registered: 2008-06-24
  • Posts: 1,819

Re: Improvisation

A lead guitar buddy of mine absolutely revered a guitar teacher in New Orleans who showed him exercises in each key that, with enough practice, enabled him to play anything that came into his mind.

We pronounce it "Guf Coast".
Ya'll wanna go down to the Guf?

tubatooter1940's Website

  • From: Rugby, England
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 71

Re: Improvisation

I once saw an interview with Dave Gilmour who said that this was his driving force for playing guitar, being able to solo without thinking about it. He said that when his fingers produced what he was thinking automatically then he knew he had cracked it and could finally produce the music he wanted to. On the same programme, Eric Clapton said pretty much the same thing.
I suppose, if you can whistle a solo without thinking about the notes you're producing then it's possible to do it on the guitar. Be prepared to spend an awful lot of hours praticising to get to that level though!

"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own." (Ben Sweetland)