When you play...

How Do You Improvise

  • Use the boxes idea and stick to a few of them

    Votes: 11 34.4%
  • Memorize the whole scale pattern all over the neck

    Votes: 14 43.8%
  • Visualize intervals around a root note

    Votes: 7 21.9%

  • Total voters
    32

xzyryabx

Well-known member
...how do you improvise?

Teachers usually try to suggest either
1) learn the scale "equation" and apply that to any relevant root note
2) Memorize the scale all over the neck and play from the applicable notes
3) Just memorize these 5 boxes in the scale and key you use the most and stick to that; A/E major/minor,major pentatonic/minor pentatonic, you'll never be a great guitarist, stick with these and call it a day!

Method 1 seems to be the least daunting of the two, but I always find myself thinking more than playing.
Method 2 would be awesome if I had a computer in my brain to be able to just look at the fretboard and know where I can/can't go; easier for runs and faster parts as well. But I can't get myself to memorize more than the major scale in one key (and therefore it's relative minor) and the pentatonic major in that same key (and again it's relative minor) but whenever I try to shift the pattern to a different key I get lost and confused as all the "landmarks" on the neck have now changed.
Method 3 seems like a cop-out, but seems to have worked for zakk
 
B and C for me.

I tend to stay in the box because the style of music I like to play calls for minor type stuff.

But it is also good to memorize the entire neck, even though I do not work on that as much as I should.
 
I definitely feel boxed in when I play/improvise. I'd love to be able to play more organically and just "feel" my way around for a lead.
 
I don't think when I play a solo. It just comes out depending on the mood of the song. Of course I am self taught, so I don't know much about "boxes" or scales, I just play what feels natural at the time.
 
Usually I know the parent scale all over the neck and either play over the chord changes playing melodies between the passing chord tones (more thinking) or just let my ears guide me within the scale (no thinking) or a little of everything...changing scales to suit each chord (lots of thinking lol)
 
If it's improv, I don't think too much, I just do it. If over the course of the progression and playing I feel it out and am able to think ahead to incorporate different things I will. Memorizing the fretboard isn't super hard to me at this point. Just knowing and playing the various boxes over time goes a long way to helping me know where I need to be or where I can be at a given point. But generally I treat an improv like I treat sex: if I have to think too much about it while I'm doing it, it's just not that fun.
 
My teacher has me learn the 7 overlapping boxes of the 3 notes per string scale patterns.

Learn the 7 boxes. Then get fluid playing on two strings only up then down the neck.

That is the part that lets me feel like I can make big position shifts and not get lost.

I get a few backing tracks and am told to just jam over them.

To make it feel different, start on a different note in the scale.

Once you have that 3 notes per string pattern relative to the root note bit memorized, it gets easier to find a key/chord and then climb up and down the neck.

Knowing the pentatonic Blues scale patterns and then the 3 notes per string scale patterns... You see how there is an overlay. It is just an extension of the Pentatonic.

The light comes on. Plus for those cool 3 sets of triplets we like to play, that scale method is built for that wankery :)
 
I learned the boxes. A vew years back i got my hands on a vew backing tracks where i would use the boxes, some of the tracks where in other keys so it helped me to move everything and see it from another angle. I learned that some things just come with time and practise.
 
I started about 10 years ago memorizing the diatonic patterns, knew the pents already..

They really came "alive" when i started improvising daily to different keys, modes.

The ah-ha moment came to me, and its the obvious, lol, when I realized that besides knowing the scales, its the timming that does it.

At this point, I am more focused on playing in time and manipulating it than thinking of the scale itself.. almost as if I am on autopilot with the scale.

Time can survive by itself, music cannot survive without time. All about utilizing time imo..
 
seems to me that knowing a scale all over the neck in 2 or 3 keys and knowing 5 boxes of it are kinda the exact same thing scales are boxes the boxes all connect its a matter of fluently being able to connect those boxes without confusion and knowing them by muscle memory and thats the whole scale itself. i play death metal and im not super good or good at anything else but if you can play E phrygian you can play D phrygian just move the whole thing down a step and play it the same if you know E harmonic minor you know B phrygian on a 7 string up and down a;erihg;ajbrga;uirgsh;rauperugh;auergb;f;guasheruigh if you know A phrygian then you can play D harmonic minor an A phrygian is the same as B phrygian but down a step...... D phrygian......... thats G harmonic minor... and you can apply the same concept to chromatic and diminished stuff and if you want to play F scale or something sharp or flat for some weird phrasing kind of stuff if you just take that 'box' of E phrygian at the 7th fret that E note and move it up a fret play the same 1 flat 2 flat 3 3 4 5 flat 6 flat 7 1 and start from there and move on up the fingering might get different but you know in your head what the next note is supposed to be yo might not fly through it with the same crazy lickage you would in the other keys but you can play it just because you know what its suppoed to sound like and that box right there well theres your first lick right there bjDBLFJQABRLUFGBLAR

thats all i can play tho
 
I usually start with a box and just mess around. Then I try to go outside the box, at this point I'm not in the key or hitting the right notes. When I start to feel a pattern or phrase then I will stop and find the correct notes. I 'jam' to find the idea then go back and tweak it to 'fit' into the key.
 
I just play whatever I hear in my head. I don't think about any of that stuff. Not any more than I think about spelling or sentence structure when having a conversation.
 
music teacher here, easy 2 step process: 1) print out a paper that is your fretboard, choose your scale and highlight your fretboard 2) learn consecutive runs without moving your hand, break down the fretboard 5/6 spaces depending the size of your hand 3) put on a song that matches ur scale and enjoy
 
So I'm self taught and after some 8-10 years playing pro I finally buckled down and learned music theory. It helped but didn't change the way I played. I always start with a basic rhythm and either loop or record it. Then I start playing box pentatonic (including the extension scales in all positions of the neck in the key) till I come up with a set of phrases that work for the chord progression. I throw in Major\Minor scales where needed and use open or pedal tone scales for "flavor". It's a very basic system but I am a songwriter and not a scale monster. I actually like it when non-musicians hear my songs and dig them since 99% of the people who listen to music are not players. Tuff lesson learned in life but it seems to be working for me. Hope this helps.
 
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