Introduction to Improvisation

Improvisation might be the most fun you can have with a guitar. It's social, doesn't require much planning, and gives you a chance to show off your unique sound. When practicing alone, improvisation can be a great way to get into the "flow state".

Most guitarists would like to be able to improvise over a piece of music, it's more a question of if the player feels comfortable enough in their understanding of the instrument to do so.

So, how can we get comfortable with it?

Improvisation sits nestled between two other avenues of music development. One is theory - at a bare minimum we need to have some idea of what notes will work over what chords.

Deeper levels of theoretical understanding will allow you to add unique colours into your sound, taking your playing "outside the box", and letting you hit notes or even entire phrases that might at first glance, seem "wrong".

On the other side, we have technique. Improvisation does NOT need to be highly technical. In fact, it's very common for novice improvisers to get caught up in playing as fast and wildly as possible, whether due to nerves or a desire to impress others - and entirely neglect the actual music they're producing.

However, we don't want our level of technique to limit the bounds of our creativity. If you're hearing music in your head that you just can't replicate on the fretboard, that's a good sign you would benefit from some more technique work.

Now, the truth is you can have all the theory and technique in the world under your belt, and you're still not going to feel confident as an improviser until you start doing it!

I recommend you get started as soon as possible - there's no arbitrary target you must hit before you can begin. If you can play the Minor Pentatonic, or the Major Scale reasonably fluently, you're ready to try improvising with them over a chord progression.

You can get started with the Minor Pentatonic over the 12 Bar Blues right here.

Or, try the Major Scale with a Major 1-4-5-1 Progression right here.

Once you feel comfortable working with those rhythm tracks, you don't need to feel any more apprehension about beginning to improvise with others.

As we advance in our lesssons, we will cover many approaches to improvising over the most common chord progressions, and check out some of my favourite licks. This will give you something to fall back on at the worst of times, but our real goal will be to help you develop your own voice.

At the high end, we will deconstruct the theory behind what works and what doesn't, and why. This will give you the tools to develop improvised lead guitar over any chord progression - no matter how complex or unusual. We'll make you bulletproof.

Now get out there and start improvising - for many, it's the joy of the instrument!