Getting Started With Improvisation
Published: Fri, 02/02/24
One day, when we were all kind of sick of hearing me talk about the modes again, Billy interrupted to ask "Dave man, how did you get so good, anyway?" It had been a long week and I wasn't in the mood for false modesty. I paused for a beat, looked Billy in the eye and said "Well, when I was in high school, I didn't get high, and I didn't get laid. I just sat in my bedroom and played guitar."
Even Billy didn't have a comeback for that, nor did anyone else in the class, which meant my plan was working. Clearly, they were all now thinking one of two things: either (A) "wow, that dude is like a monk or something," or (B) "that dude is totally putting us on." If (A), then I must be some sort of guitar ninja – celebate, yes, but in ice-cold possession of my mind and reflexes (and the modes). And if (B) well then, apparently I really did party and get laid in high school, probably all the time, in which case I clearly had way more luck in my teenage years than they were having.
Eventually we got back to the business at hand, which was, ultimately, getting better at improvising on the blues. Everybody wanted to get better at soloing, and when I asked why they thought they needed help, I heard countless variations on a single theme: "I just run out of ideas." "I'm playing the same licks over and over again." "I'm stuck in that pentatonic box."
Invariably, we all think expanding our palette is the answer: learn the modes, learn arpeggios, learn altered and diminished scales, learn more fingerings in more places on the neck. And you can certainly apply all that to the blues, with spectacular results (Robben Ford, I'm looking at you). But the kind of blues many of us aspire to play fluently involves very little of that, being rooted almost entirely in the simple verities of the minor and major pentatonic scales and the blues scale.
So the question is, how do you keep things interesting within that finite palette of sounds? For my money, the answer is: play the form, and use repetition. Meaning: be aware of the shape of the tune and the logic of the chord progression, and don't be afraid to construct your solo out of variations on a few simple blues phrases.
In today's Youtube lesson, I explain exactly how to get started with this, using just two simple phrases over the first four bars of "How Long Blues." You can find it here:
Getting Started With Improvisation
All this month in the Fingerstyle Five membership, we'll be working on creating blues solos in the key of A. We'll start with the basic right-hand coordination you need to play simple pentatonic licks over a steady bass. From there, we'll look at building 8-bar solos from a single phrase, how spell out the I, IV and V chords, and using triplets to add more syncopation to your solos. It's a simple, organized way to practice improvising, whether you're an experienced player looking for more control over your ideas or if you're just getting started with blues improvisation. Find out more and sign up at the link below:
The Fingerstyle Five
More soon,
David