Blues Guitar Improvising by Trial and Error

Описание: Nick demonstrates the importance of adjusting the licks you play to chord changes, and choosing phrase end notes by careful listening to how they sound against the backing chords.

What questions do you have for Nick? Comment below or get in touch at http://www.secretguitarteacher.com !


Abridged Script:
My thanks to Ronald from Portland, Oregon for sending me in a recording of his improvised blues playing last week.

Technically, Ron’s playing demonstrated plenty of ability to play licks and phrases. Some of these were familiar blues licks I’m sure Ron had picked up from listening to great Blues guitarists, and some I am sure he had evolved himself.

For example – I heard him open with this pair of licks played over the intro chords E7 – D7.
This is a great example of taking a lick that works in one position of the blues scale – in this case the first position…I have highlighted the notes used in the lick…and here you can see how Ron used the same physical fingering pattern but selecting notes from further up the fretboard in the third position.

What was interesting to me was how Ron altered the lick by one note. In the first lick this note is bent up to G# …but in the second lick Ron avoided the bend and played this note straight to produce the note C.

Now why this worked so well in this particular case has to do with how those notes relate to the chords Ron was playing these licks over.

Bending the note G up to G# fits nicely over the E7 chord, as G# is one of the notes in the chord. And leaving this note straight, to play C… targets one of the chord tones from the D7 chord.

Now, I am sure Ron will correct me if I’m wrong on this, but I am guessing that this adjustment was one that he made instinctively – in response to how the lick sounded against the chord changes at that particular point in the song.

And while there’s nothing at all wrong with sitting down and figuring these adjustments out in advance, it is, in my view, more important to develop the knack of doing this instinctively as you play.

And how you develop that instinct is simply to spend time jamming along to backing tracks and making sure you listen carefully to how every idea you try, fits against the sound of the chords you are playing over.

If you would like to learn more ideas like this or get specific help with making the transition from knowing your scales to being able to play improvised solos, then take advantage of the free trial membership we have on offer at the SGT site. Now I’m off to practice…