Jack_ROCKS_Canada
New member
hey im looking to impov a solo with the chords bm7 and A or with D, A, Bm7, and G and was wondering if anyone could tell me what scale(s) i could use
Looking to Solo Improv
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SpiderVenom
New member
Re: Looking to Solo Improv
I don't see a reason to jump in at the deep end. Just start by airpeggiating the chord. You can't really go wrong, and it's possible to put together some good stuff. Throw in stuff like bending to notes in the chord from out-of-chord/illegal notes.
I don't see a reason to jump in at the deep end. Just start by airpeggiating the chord. You can't really go wrong, and it's possible to put together some good stuff. Throw in stuff like bending to notes in the chord from out-of-chord/illegal notes.
Re: Looking to Solo Improv
Well if you are using all of those chords in a progression, you can use a B minor scale. If you only use Bm7 and A for instance, you can use a B dorian or once again B minor scale. You can use full dyatonic scales or pentatonic scales. I'd try out a Bm7 to A proggression and throw down a C# Phyrgian or is it Frygian scale? dont know the spellings.
There are a lot of options for you to check out.
I'd try out a minor pentatonic and get comfy withthe feel of the progression and then move into the more exotic scales at hand.
Just my two cents.
Well if you are using all of those chords in a progression, you can use a B minor scale. If you only use Bm7 and A for instance, you can use a B dorian or once again B minor scale. You can use full dyatonic scales or pentatonic scales. I'd try out a Bm7 to A proggression and throw down a C# Phyrgian or is it Frygian scale? dont know the spellings.
There are a lot of options for you to check out.
I'd try out a minor pentatonic and get comfy withthe feel of the progression and then move into the more exotic scales at hand.
Just my two cents.
Re: Looking to Solo Improv
What style of music are you playing? Your question mentions nothing of this aspect of the music. Furthermore, scales are great for practice, technique and theory. However, it is somewhat limiting to view an improvisation as simply the correct application of scales. After all it is possible to play all of the correct notes in the proper places and still sound like crap.
The tendency is very strong to become a "scale" player (beware the Dark-Side). Nothing is more nauseating than to visit your local guitar store and watch one guy after the next walk in, plugin into some effects and an amp and start ripping off solos that are so obviously nothing more than some dumb scales quoted almost verbatim. Even worse is the inflated ego that accompanies this performance! Meanwhile, the poor guy behind the counter is shaking his head cause he's probably the 100th guy that day that came in and played similar sounding crap!
What style of music are you playing? Your question mentions nothing of this aspect of the music. Furthermore, scales are great for practice, technique and theory. However, it is somewhat limiting to view an improvisation as simply the correct application of scales. After all it is possible to play all of the correct notes in the proper places and still sound like crap.
The tendency is very strong to become a "scale" player (beware the Dark-Side). Nothing is more nauseating than to visit your local guitar store and watch one guy after the next walk in, plugin into some effects and an amp and start ripping off solos that are so obviously nothing more than some dumb scales quoted almost verbatim. Even worse is the inflated ego that accompanies this performance! Meanwhile, the poor guy behind the counter is shaking his head cause he's probably the 100th guy that day that came in and played similar sounding crap!
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Jack_ROCKS_Canada
New member
Re: Looking to Solo Improv
besides using scales, what would be other techniques to find the right combinations of notes to play over a particular set of chords?
Osensei said:
besides using scales, what would be other techniques to find the right combinations of notes to play over a particular set of chords?
Re: Looking to Solo Improv
Certainly, scales help by providing us with a finite set, if you will, of possible pitches that are compatible with a given tonal center (i.e a single chord or even a whole progression). Thats a totally valid application of scales and I'm not saying you should abandon it. However, you should consider that this is only part of the task at hand (the beginning of the process actually). There is more work to be done.
The problem with some of the players that I have actually heard play is that they go to great analytical lengths to discover which pitches are compatible with a given chord or chord progression by using scales as a vehicle. However, they do little or no analysis for achieving anything else musically. Instead they rely on intuitive aspects of thier playing to achieve the desired effect. To be honest some are quite good as intuitive players. Unfortunately, everyone is not a natural "Mozart" of the guitar solo! So further analysis can be of tremendous aid. Those who are not so intrensically gifted inevitably end up playing nearly straight scales as solos with bends and harmonics along with a few tricks and effects. None of which can mask thier lack of creativity.
So, besides utilizing scales ( or any other vehicle ) to determine which pitches are compatible within a given tonality, what other analysis is left to be done?
Here is a list:
Thematic development: So while you're improvising you come up with this monster lick! Guess what? Often times that lick can be repeated in a new key created by the next chord change! Its called restatement or repitition. It is a common vehicle that composers use when writing scores. Your job as a soloist however is to learn to generate it spontaneously. So many cats that just concentrate on scales miss the opportunity to "go to town" on the meanest lick they ever played because they where concentrating so hard on finishing some scalar run or worried about playing the wrong note! All they really had to do was repeat what they had just played in another key! In order to make this concept work spontaneously for you, you should try to do it deliberately when you practice. So when you're live and the moment comes you can say "Ah! Let me repeat that!" and pull it off at will.
Rythm/Pitch Duration: Now here is where scales and pitch take a back seat! As a soloist you have to create interesting rythmic ideas. Does your solo consist of a consecutive string of 16th notes? I hope not! This is also where style plays a critical role. Different styles of music have thier own rythmic tendencies. It is possible to mix styles so don't get closed minded on me. It's called Fusion. But its not always so easy to pull it off. It's best to know which rythmic vocabulary fits the style of music that you're playing. Believe me when I say creating variation in your solo utilizing rythmic ideas is just as important as which notes you should play. Also, just as you can use repetition melodically you can also do so rythmically.
Phrasing This is like learning to devide your solo up into sentences. Old schoolers will tell you that a solo is like a conversation. You have a subject and a predicate. Part and parcel is also learning when to shut up! There is nothing worse that a soloist that just goes BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! The use of silence is just as valid and renders just as much emotion as the use of pitch.
I wish I could delve deeper but there are limits to a forum. Good Luck!
Certainly, scales help by providing us with a finite set, if you will, of possible pitches that are compatible with a given tonal center (i.e a single chord or even a whole progression). Thats a totally valid application of scales and I'm not saying you should abandon it. However, you should consider that this is only part of the task at hand (the beginning of the process actually). There is more work to be done.
The problem with some of the players that I have actually heard play is that they go to great analytical lengths to discover which pitches are compatible with a given chord or chord progression by using scales as a vehicle. However, they do little or no analysis for achieving anything else musically. Instead they rely on intuitive aspects of thier playing to achieve the desired effect. To be honest some are quite good as intuitive players. Unfortunately, everyone is not a natural "Mozart" of the guitar solo! So further analysis can be of tremendous aid. Those who are not so intrensically gifted inevitably end up playing nearly straight scales as solos with bends and harmonics along with a few tricks and effects. None of which can mask thier lack of creativity.
So, besides utilizing scales ( or any other vehicle ) to determine which pitches are compatible within a given tonality, what other analysis is left to be done?
Here is a list:
Thematic development: So while you're improvising you come up with this monster lick! Guess what? Often times that lick can be repeated in a new key created by the next chord change! Its called restatement or repitition. It is a common vehicle that composers use when writing scores. Your job as a soloist however is to learn to generate it spontaneously. So many cats that just concentrate on scales miss the opportunity to "go to town" on the meanest lick they ever played because they where concentrating so hard on finishing some scalar run or worried about playing the wrong note! All they really had to do was repeat what they had just played in another key! In order to make this concept work spontaneously for you, you should try to do it deliberately when you practice. So when you're live and the moment comes you can say "Ah! Let me repeat that!" and pull it off at will.
Rythm/Pitch Duration: Now here is where scales and pitch take a back seat! As a soloist you have to create interesting rythmic ideas. Does your solo consist of a consecutive string of 16th notes? I hope not! This is also where style plays a critical role. Different styles of music have thier own rythmic tendencies. It is possible to mix styles so don't get closed minded on me. It's called Fusion. But its not always so easy to pull it off. It's best to know which rythmic vocabulary fits the style of music that you're playing. Believe me when I say creating variation in your solo utilizing rythmic ideas is just as important as which notes you should play. Also, just as you can use repetition melodically you can also do so rythmically.
Phrasing This is like learning to devide your solo up into sentences. Old schoolers will tell you that a solo is like a conversation. You have a subject and a predicate. Part and parcel is also learning when to shut up! There is nothing worse that a soloist that just goes BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! The use of silence is just as valid and renders just as much emotion as the use of pitch.
I wish I could delve deeper but there are limits to a forum. Good Luck!
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S
seafoamer
Guest
Re: Looking to Solo Improv
try a D maj. pentatonic scale: D E F# A B
try a D maj. pentatonic scale: D E F# A B
