Once you can play a few different guitar solos you should start using them to create music.
One of the best ways to do this is to start improvising.
Below are 5 tips to help you improvise with guitar scales.
1.
Get a good backing track to improvise over The first thing you need is something to improvise over.
This could be another guitarist but when your practising improvisation the best thing to use is a backing track.
There are plenty of backing tracks out there on the internet.
Some are free and some you will have to pay for.
There are a lot of really good YouTube backing tracks for you to use, you just need to search for them.
I'd recommend starting with a free YouTube backing track.
Some of the backing tracks will even give the chord progressions used and suggest scales to improvise with.
This will definitely help beginners.
2.
Use arpeggios When improvising over guitar scale patterns it can be difficult to know which notes you should be playing, but using arpeggios will help you with that.
Arpeggio literally means broken chord and to play an arpeggio you play each note of a chord individually.
For example, imagine if the first chord on the backing track was Am.
When that chord is being played you would play just the notes of Am which are A, C and E.
Playing the notes in a chord while that chord is being played will always sound good.
You can start by playing the notes in order and then mixing them up to make different melodies.
Once you are happy playing the different arpeggios you can try adding in different notes from the scale to make your improvising sound more interesting.
3.
"Borrow" from other guitar solos Guitarists will steal or "borrow" from other guitarist all the time.
This is not a bad thing and in fact using other people's ideas in your playing will definitely make you a better guitarists.
We are all influenced by music that has come before us and it's natural to re-use their ideas.
To help you with your improvising learn phrases and licks that you like from other famous guitar solos and then start to use them in your improvising.
Don't play the whole solo just little bits that you like and then try and add your own ideas to them 4.
Keep it simple (and melodic) If you've been practising playing your guitar scales and can play them at speed it can be really tempting to start improving by playing lots of notes really quickly.
Unfortunately when you do this your improvising can start to sound more like a technical exercise than a guitar solo.
With a lot of improvising less is definitely more.
You should focus on trying to play some sort of melody or tune, this is what people will remember.
Two or three notes played at the right time with feeling can be a millions time more effective than racing up and down your guitar scales.
5.
Keep going The trick to getting good at anything including improvising is practise.
Starting to improvise can be one of the hardest things to do because nearly everyone's first few attempts at it sound terrible.
But if you stick with it you will get better.
Start by following the tips above and just keep practising.
If you come up with a little phrase or lick that you like keep practising till it's perfect.
Then try moving it in to another lick and then another lick etc.
Before you know it you will be putting it all together to create your first guitar solo.
One of the best ways to do this is to start improvising.
Below are 5 tips to help you improvise with guitar scales.
1.
Get a good backing track to improvise over The first thing you need is something to improvise over.
This could be another guitarist but when your practising improvisation the best thing to use is a backing track.
There are plenty of backing tracks out there on the internet.
Some are free and some you will have to pay for.
There are a lot of really good YouTube backing tracks for you to use, you just need to search for them.
I'd recommend starting with a free YouTube backing track.
Some of the backing tracks will even give the chord progressions used and suggest scales to improvise with.
This will definitely help beginners.
2.
Use arpeggios When improvising over guitar scale patterns it can be difficult to know which notes you should be playing, but using arpeggios will help you with that.
Arpeggio literally means broken chord and to play an arpeggio you play each note of a chord individually.
For example, imagine if the first chord on the backing track was Am.
When that chord is being played you would play just the notes of Am which are A, C and E.
Playing the notes in a chord while that chord is being played will always sound good.
You can start by playing the notes in order and then mixing them up to make different melodies.
Once you are happy playing the different arpeggios you can try adding in different notes from the scale to make your improvising sound more interesting.
3.
"Borrow" from other guitar solos Guitarists will steal or "borrow" from other guitarist all the time.
This is not a bad thing and in fact using other people's ideas in your playing will definitely make you a better guitarists.
We are all influenced by music that has come before us and it's natural to re-use their ideas.
To help you with your improvising learn phrases and licks that you like from other famous guitar solos and then start to use them in your improvising.
Don't play the whole solo just little bits that you like and then try and add your own ideas to them 4.
Keep it simple (and melodic) If you've been practising playing your guitar scales and can play them at speed it can be really tempting to start improving by playing lots of notes really quickly.
Unfortunately when you do this your improvising can start to sound more like a technical exercise than a guitar solo.
With a lot of improvising less is definitely more.
You should focus on trying to play some sort of melody or tune, this is what people will remember.
Two or three notes played at the right time with feeling can be a millions time more effective than racing up and down your guitar scales.
5.
Keep going The trick to getting good at anything including improvising is practise.
Starting to improvise can be one of the hardest things to do because nearly everyone's first few attempts at it sound terrible.
But if you stick with it you will get better.
Start by following the tips above and just keep practising.
If you come up with a little phrase or lick that you like keep practising till it's perfect.
Then try moving it in to another lick and then another lick etc.
Before you know it you will be putting it all together to create your first guitar solo.
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