Video Guitar Lesson 13: Tips on improvising solos using themes, ideas and digging deep
- How do I keep improvisations interesting and engaging?
- What ideas might help me to think on the spot?
- What can I gain from digging deep into an idea or theme?
- How can I relax while playing and reduce tension?
If these questions interest you and you are interested in being able to play interesting solos and improvisations, then keep reading and be sure to check our video and audio out for this lesson.
FIRST – Get in contact if you want us to produce a technique file podcast in which we will go back over past episodes and collect all the riffs, licks, exercises and rhythms and create a couple of podcasts to summarise and revisit all this. Email us at tunein.toneup@gmail.com
We are looking for 20 people to be in touch to start working on this!
(see below for timings for both this video and the audio version)
In this lesson, Dan and I return to take a look at how to improve your creative improvisations and what that journey looks like on the guitar. The focus of this lesson, using a backing track we recently did another lesson with, is how having some predetermined themes to use in your solo and a plan can help you to come up with ideas and interest as you improvise. As we play around with improvisation Dan gives me some tips and a strategy following a structured approach to coming up with ideas. We use octaves, blues licks and then Dan delves into a couple of ideas: First he highlights the importance of being relaxed and not tense; second we take a look at three note per string pentatonic licks and referencing lots of different players Dan demonstrates how you can delve deeply into one idea to explore the theme fully.
Some things which I am really going to take away from this lesson are that:
- I will work on the three note per string patterns
- I will use ideas to break up improvisations
- I will dig deep into the techniques
All the best, Gary and Dan
https://soundcloud.com/tunein-toneup/
Timings for the SoundCloud audio version
| 00:00:56 | Reference to That Pedal Show and our last episode | |
| 00:01:36 | Introduction – how do we mix our licks up to make them not feel too samey? | |
| 00:02:11 | Fancy Fusion Backing Track in B minor | #SZBT 205: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZUCq_UlqzI | |
| 00:02:34 | The focus for today’s lesson is making your licks stand out – one idea leading to the next and the next… | |
| 00:03:16 | Breaking solos into rigid structures | |
| 00:03:39 | EG – Ritchie Samboura’s solo from Dead or Alive | |
| 00:04:19 | Analysing the ideas behind the parts of this solo, e.g. octaves, little blues lick, pinched harmonics, country blues rock lick, chugging chords | |
| 00:08:43 | First soloing over the backing track | |
| 00:12:00 | Guthrie Govan interview | |
| 00:13:34 | How important it is to have goals and visualise where you want to be | |
| 00:17:55 | Learn something different – have a bit of surprise left in your life | |
| 00:19:18 | Dan’s example of how beginners approach improvisation | |
| 00:20:01 | 1) isolating the ocatave theme and idea | |
| 00:21:09 | 2) by landing here on the fretboard you’re ready for the blues lick | |
| 00:21:32 | Be bold and not scared of the improvisation | |
| 00:23:53 | Two tips to help when you’re not sure: leave a note to hang or leave space | |
| 00:29:33 | Second improvisation, focussing on relaxing and themed ideas | |
| 00:35:00 | Running with weights: e.g. go up the whole scale using octaves | |
| 00:36:23 | using octaves | |
| 00:36:51 | Foo Fighters idea – fattening up a melody | |
| 00:37:01 | Steve Vai – slipping up to the octaves, slide then octave | |
| 00:38:59 | The pentatonic thing: with 3 note per string patterns | |
| 00:40:26 | Second three note per string pentatonics | |
| 00:42:37 | three notes on one string, then one note | |
| 00:43:10 | Joel Hoekstra thing – | |
| 00:47:12 | Podcast episode idea and call to action – get in touch if you want this | |
| 00:48:02 | Shawn Lane lick | |
| 00:52:28 | Some advice about digging deep into ideas | |
| 00:53:17 | Country bends | |
| 00:54:19 | Guthrie Govan idea from waves – arpeggiating with string skipping | |
| 00:55:37 | Arpeggiating a Bm chord | |
| 00:58:05 | Dan using the Guthrie Govan idea to solo over the backing track | |
| 00:59:05 | Mixing in the Vito Bratta idea of adding tapped notes | |
| 01:01:12 | Interesting video by Rick Graham – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsEHi1wykkc&feature=youtu.be | |
| 01:04:57 | Final jam over the backing track | |
Timings for the YouTube video version
| 00:00:24 | Reference to That Pedal Show and our last episode |
| 00:01:03 | Introduction – how do we mix our licks up to make them not feel too samey? |
| 00:01:38 | Fancy Fusion Backing Track in B minor | #SZBT 205: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZUCq_UlqzI |
| 00:02:01 | The focus for today’s lesson is making your licks stand out – one idea leading to the next and the next… |
| 00:02:43 | Breaking solos into rigid structures |
| 00:03:06 | EG – Ritchie Samboura’s solo from Dead or Alive |
| 00:03:46 | Analysing the ideas behind the parts of this solo, e.g. octaves, little blues lick, pinched harmonics, country blues rock lick, chugging chords |
| 00:08:10 | First soloing over the backing track |
| 00:11:27 | Guthrie Govan interview |
| 00:13:01 | How important it is to have goals and visualise where you want to be |
| 00:17:22 | Learn something different – have a bit of surprise left in your life |
| 00:18:45 | Dan’s example of how beginners approach improvisation |
| 00:19:28 | 1) isolating the ocatave theme and idea |
| 00:20:36 | 2) by landing here on the fretboard you’re ready for the blues lick |
| 00:20:59 | Be bold and not scared of the improvisation |
| 00:23:20 | Two tips to help when you’re not sure: leave a note to hang or leave space |
| 00:29:00 | Second improvisation, focussing on relaxing and themed ideas |
| 00:34:27 | Running with weights: e.g. go up the whole scale using octaves |
| 00:35:51 | using octaves |
| 00:36:18 | Foo Fighters idea – fattening up a melody |
| 00:36:29 | Steve Vai – slipping up to the octaves, slide then octave |
| 00:38:26 | The pentatonic thing: with 3 note per string patterns |
| 00:39:53 | Second three note per string pentatonics |
| 00:42:04 | three notes on one string, then one note |
| 00:42:37 | Joel Hoekstra thing – |
| 00:46:39 | Podcast episode idea and call to action – get in touch if you want this |
| 00:47:29 | Shawn Lane lick |
| 00:51:55 | Some advice about digging deep into ideas |
| 00:52:44 | Country bends |
| 00:53:46 | Guthrie Govan idea from waves – arpeggiating with string skipping |
| 00:55:04 | Arpeggiating a Bm chord |
| 00:57:32 | Dan using the Guthrie Govan idea to solo over the backing track |
| 00:58:32 | Mixing in the Vito Bratta idea of adding tapped notes |
| 01:00:39 | Interesting video by Rick Graham – Rick Graham vid |
| 01:04:24 | Final jam over the backing track |
Last three lessons for new arrivals or those who want to brush up on this content
Keep watching listening and getting in touch. We really want to hear from you! Keep an eye out for some improvements to our video setup coming shortly which we’re really excited about.
You may want to check Dan Davies out in action. You can find a video I made of Dan and his band Full House on this YouTube channel: Full House Brighton Band (more to come with improved video and some different approaches to the audio).
Enjoy your musical journey 🙂
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