You Asked For This | 3 Levels Of Improvising

Do you every practice improvising? Since I first started playing guitar at age 14, I've been fascinated with how musicians make music on the spot. The ability to jam with others you've never met, or compose in the moment is the final frontier of musicianship. Bach used to entertain kings by improvising fugues around a melody he'd never seen before. Can you imagine having the skill to play music as easily as you can carry on a conversation with your friend? When I tried improvising myself, it was a tragic catastrophe. I was hopelessly stuck in the pentatonic trap. Regurgitating the same tired licks over and over. I couldn't seem to figure out how to tell a story with my lines. I just wanted to share my emotions without having to think. Get ready, because in this lesson, I'll cover the 3 levels of improvising. Random noodling, playing in key and following the chords. You'll learn the essential music theory to improvise, how to develop a lick bag and eliminate the mental blocks that keep you from unleashing your full potential!

⚡️Level One | Random Noodling

MINDSET:

Improvisation starts with mindset. Use my BBC method to equip yourself to dominate the challenge. First, believe you can do it. Henry Ford said, "whether you think you can or you can't, you're right." Step 2 is breakdown the challenge in your path. This means structuring a practice routine that develops specific skills you'll need to improvise. Finally, the C stands for CELEBRATE. This is the part everyone forgets. Whenever you put in work towards your goals, reward your efforts with a fun activity. This refuels our emotional tank, giving us the strength to keep going. 

WHAT IS IMPROVISATION?

At this point, I want to clear up a common confusion when it comes to improvisation. I used to think it was playing things you've never played before on the spot. That'd be kind of like speaking words you've never spoken during an impromptu speech. The truth is, you're typically just deciding where to place licks you already know. The more musical vocabulary you have under your fingers, the better improviser you'll be. 

Level one of improvisation is random noodling over a drone. It's important to not overthink this phase of the process. I'm using an E drone for a tonal base to experiment with. Next we need a scale to draw our musical ideas from. I'm going with the E minor pentatonic scale. This was the very first scale I learned back in the year 1803 muhahaha! Take a deep breath and allow the tension to drain from your body. Improvising is about expressing your internal state with the language of music. Check in with your emotions and ask yourself, "how am I feeling right now?" Aim to reflect those feelings in your playing. At this point, we're not going to worry about playing in time, outlining chords, or critiquing our technique. Our primary objective is to focus on the emotional energy of each note we play. 

CONNECTING WITH THE BEAT

Once you explore random noodling for a while, try adding a timing reference point. So much of good improv comes down to a strong connection with the beat. The right note becomes wrong if you don't play it at the right time. The best way to develop your rhythmic chops is to practice subdividing the beat. Turn on a metronome, along with your drone. This keeps the exercise musical. Try quarter, 8th, 8th triplets, 16th and 16th note triplets. Mix and match different runs and develop your own patterns. Guitar as a percussive instrument 

⚡️Level Two | Playing In Key

Level two of improvisation is playing in key. After a couple years of playing, I started to realize that certain frets sounded better than others when I jammed over songs. I heard of the circle of 5ths from another guitarist who was more advanced than me....but I didn't understand how it worked. The basic idea is to put notes that sound good together in a key. It's essentially the same concept as a scale. This is INSANELY POWERFUL. If you know what key a song is in, you can instantly start making music, even if you've never heard it before. It's like magic once you figure it out. There's a 3 step process you can use to identify the key of any song using the circle of 5ths. First, hum the note that sounds like home base, then find that fret on guitar. Finally, play a major or minor chord to determine the tonality of the key!

Now let's practice our 3 step key identification process. We'll be using the latin backing track below as a test subject 

🛑 Latin Backing Track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQdEfvenheQ

⚡️Level Three | Following The Chords 

The final frontier of improvisation is when you can follow the chords. This took me forever to figure out! When I got to music school, I couldn't understand how jazz cats would flow through complex chord changes with effortless precision. At that time I was stuck in the pentatonic trap. Just repeating phrases from the box patterns I was comfortable with. What I eventually learned was they had a secret. They treated each chord change as a mini song within itself. It sounds more complicated than it is. Really, all you're doing is targeting the pitches in the harmony. For example, if the song has a B minor chord, outline the chord by playing B-D and F#. When it switches to an A, Play A-C# and E. Now, it doesn't have to be this cut and dried. You can play notes that aren't in the chords too. The goal is to make it sound like the soloist and the band are playing the same song. You don't wanna be the guitarist who left the cruise ship and is lost in the ocean doing his own thing

WHAT'S YOUR STORY?

What did you think of this lesson? Give me your story of how improvising is going and what your goals are. What would you like to be able to do eventually? Full tabs below!

⭐️ BACKING TRACKS

E Drone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUjoYO6VX_g

Latin Backing Track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQdEfvenheQ

Hotel California:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl2RQ3YfrWA

Comfortably Numb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpn0zSXza3s