So, you want to know how to improvise on a guitar? You're not alone! It can be done, if you have emotions.
You can use any guitar to improvise!
Steps
1. Get a CD of drumbeats, backing tracks, an amplifier with backing tracks on it, or another person to play with. In the best case scenario, either a bassist or other guitarist will play rhythm while you play lead, and you can switch off every several measures. This will really help with your rhythm.
2. Think about what emotion you are experiencing - sad, happy, chipper, confused, goth, emo, crazy, hyper, schizophrenic, scene, etc. Your playing should reflect back to the song.
3. Learn the basic form for a blues scale, 7th chords, major and minor seventh chords, sixth chords, the pentatonic scale, etc. Basic knowledge of music theory is essential for successful improvisation. The more you know, the easier it will be.
4. Be able to identify different rhythms and chord progressions. Are you improvising to a 12 bar blues? Is it a salsa piece? Or funk? Swing? Knowing what rhythms are distinctive for each genre of music will help you express the piece, and also help you get into the piece yourself.
5. You can also mix in licks based on other songs. When playing in E minor you could play part of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Audiences love to hear traces of a well known song mixed in with a surprising and new beat. In fact, there is a Latin version of "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad." New takes on old ideas are always good.
6.Always think ahead. What are you going to play at the chord switch or the turnaround? Be prepared for every subtlety, and know what to do at every switch.
7. Sometimes simplicity is good. You don't have to shred for the full solo; in fact (in most cases), you shouldn't. Blues pieces often require slow, smooth licks more than tremolo picking.
8. Make sure your solo sounds good for the piece! If you are playing jazz, chances are there's a "head," or main theme that you will refer back to after the solos. Make sure your notes sound good with the background parts, especially if you're playing with a big band (which might consist of trumpets, trombones, saxophones, drums, bass, and guitar). Also, it's good to incorporate different genres of music into your solos, but maybe that Phrygian scale you just learned sounds horrible with the rhythmic funk that your band is playing.
9. Use your emotion to play, and don't think about what you are doing. Just let it rip, baby!
10. Keep playing, no matter how bad you think you sound. Every soloist has hit a bad note; it's how you learn what sounds good.
11. Eliminate guessing. It's good to experiment with what sounds good on your own, but after practicing improvisation with other people, you should become fluent enough in music theory, scales, and chords to know what will sound good. At some point, everything should just come naturally. You don't want to be surprised by anything while performing.
12. Have a backup arsenal of basic licks that you can play if you are really out of new and interesting ideas. Have one for each genre that you're interested in improvising with, and make sure it's adaptable for new songs. It's perfectly acceptable to play a blues scale if you're improvising over a 12 bar blues; just make sure your rhythms match what everyone else is doing.
13. Ask someone if it sounds good. If you followed these steps, they may even say yes.
14. Have soul. Audiences love to see a soloist having a good time while improvising. Music is fun!
Tips
- When studying your scales, be sure to recognize the root notes of the scales (on a C major scale, this note would be C). This is the note you will often want to resolve your bars on, to avoid creating unnecessary suspense where you don't want it.
- Don't be afraid to throw in a few chords - learn all possible positions of every chord you can!
- Have a decent, yet not overly expensive guitar. Make sure this guitar suits your playing style. If you don't already know, listen to a lot of music and decide which style(s) you like best: jazz, metal, and blues styles are examples where improvising is heard to a great degree.
- Try the high gain (also called overdrive) setting/channel (depending on your amp) instead of a clean tone - this will make your music sound much more powerful to the casual listener (even though a guitarist may think you are just trying to make yourself sound better than you really are).
- Learn to play in time to the music, it does help. (Try a metronome.)
- Remember that nobody needs to hear it but you. Improvisation is a great form of self-expression - make it yourself, it is a great experience.
