# 1998 bullet points from a class I gave about improvising.



## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

this is the unedited version of what my handout comprised of. I am happy to say that I agree with myself 22 years ago. LOL

I hope this inspires some of you to start improvising more. My fav back then was to tune to the album Decade from Neil Young and just rip for 2 hrs. I even used a retro font from back in the day. LMAO

_Four things to consider when improvising:

- Rhythm

- Melody

- Feel

- Originality

_
_Points to remember_
_

- Repetition is a strong tool only when used confidently.

- If the music sounds good to you, that is because it is good.

- Awareness of the chord progression is very important (knowing the scales).

- Remember those things that you really enjoy to play. Use these things to practice different rhythmic patterns of different melodies.


Within the blues progression

- know the scales for each chord (minor and major blues)

- remember that every four bars gives you a slightly different feel. Keep that knowledge to your advantage.


Things to practice:

Playing melodies: all types, styles, and feels. Play them by ear in every different key starting by the key of your instrument. Melodies like: Flintstones, TV theme songs, children's songs, melodies that you know how to sing.

_


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## velomont (Aug 13, 2019)

I think I know what you mean. I started trying to learn (yes it was that slow and that bad for the longest time) when I started lessons in 2006. The one thing I never wanted to do was rhythm but it seemed to be the focus of my instructor at the time. When he mentioned "lead" I assumed it was the lead guitar in a band, as opposed to a style. At the same time I always heard that you have to practice scales but I never understood until a couple of years ago. Now I'm having a blast noodling and improvising playing variations of scales at different tempos and rhythms while playing with bends and hammer-ons. I could spend a few hours at a time doing this and, though it's not great at the moment, I can only get better and continue to enjoy it.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

1,998 points? I only see about eleven...


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