• From: Wales
  • Registered: 2009-01-09
  • Posts: 220

Topic: Improvise or learn tab?

Hello,

Pretty simple question, I’m beginner and mostly use an acoustic and play a fair few songs just strumming with a perhaps a few small licks or very easy intro.  I have a Squier Fender and I’m now going to start practicing solos as I’m keen to try and get this up on par with strumming and perhaps I can move onto some harder songs or make the songs I currently play better.

I’ve been practicing my minor pentatonic scales all up the neck and can move reasonable quickly perhaps fluffing just a few notes but my question is – Is it better to just play a few backing tracks and learn to improvise solo’s or is it more beneficial to actually learn actual songs or tab?

Cheers
Crevs

Epiphone EJ200  -  Epiphone SG400  -  Fender Strat Blacktop.
Blackstar HT 40 Club  -  Vox VT30 - Behringer ACX ultracoustic 1000

crevs.1972's Website

  • tandm3
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: Florida Panhandle
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 421

Re: Improvise or learn tab?

Crevs,

Being able to improvise is very important. It allows you to play confidently even if you don't know the song.  Learning the "note for note" gives you a look into the artists playing style, which will definitely influence your improvisation style.  I try to learn a song close to it original intentions.  Once I know it,  I never listen to the original version again.  From there it grows into something that is distinctly me.  I don't want to be labeled as a "Clapton Clone" or an "SRV Clone" etc.  These guys have a huge influence on my playing style but I'm not them.  It's nice when someone comes up to you and says, "I like the way you played that, its different".
To me that means I'm doing OK.

So, keep playing those scales.  Learn their variations. Learn the solos and then make them your own.

Now available in 5G !
  • From: Orpington London
  • Registered: 2006-10-22
  • Posts: 390

Re: Improvise or learn tab?

crevs

its a good question

it partly depends on your musical taste

just noodling with scales is usually pretty limiting

i think that you need to learn a few licks or riffs to add some structure to your improvising

however that doesn't mean you have to learn pieces note for note

j

johncross21's Website

  • From: Chesapeake,VA
  • Registered: 2008-11-12
  • Posts: 332

Re: Improvise or learn tab?

tandm3 wrote:

Crevs,

Being able to improvise is very important. It allows you to play confidently even if you don't know the song.  Learning the "note for note" gives you a look into the artists playing style, which will definitely influence your improvisation style.  I try to learn a song close to it original intentions.  Once I know it,  I never listen to the original version again.  From there it grows into something that is distinctly me.  I don't want to be labeled as a "Clapton Clone" or an "SRV Clone" etc.  These guys have a huge influence on my playing style but I'm not them.  It's nice when someone comes up to you and says, "I like the way you played that, its different".
To me that means I'm doing OK.

So, keep playing those scales.  Learn their variations. Learn the solos and then make them your own.

A good piece of advice above here Crevs....  improv will set you free.  Just be careful to honor the structure that make the original song special.   That may be just a certain characterisic riff or strum/beat, but certainly not the whole song.  Easier said than done.
Steve

AccoustikNoyz's Website

  • From: Frederick, MD
  • Registered: 2006-12-28
  • Posts: 851

Re: Improvise or learn tab?

Crevs,

    Hey man, good to see you on here again.  I started out playing the minor pentatonic scale up and down just as it's written and let me tell you...ITS BORING!!!

You have to be able to jump around the scale and do bends, hammer ons and slides to vary it up a bit and keep it interesting. Playing scales or improv along with a song is a lot like a relationship. If you don't keep it interesting the partner (Your audience) will get bored and leave.

I started out playing along with backing tracks. I would just do the same one over and over and see how I could change up my scales/lead riffs each time the backing track played.

The extended scales are what set me free too. It's like going from a Scion TC to a BMW 750Li.
The extended scales give you more range and wrap around the fretboard like a spiral.

....for example here is the regular Am Pentatonic on the left VS the extended Am Pentatonic on the right:

-5--8-------|-------------10-12//15--------------------------------------------
-5--8-------|----------8-10//12------------------------------------------------
-5-7--------|--------7-9-------------------------------------------------------
-5-7--------|-----5-7//9-------------------------------------------------------
-5-7--------|-----5-7----------------------------------------------------------
-5--8-------|-3--5//7---------------------------------------------------------                                                                         

See how many more notes you have in there? The "/" indicates a slide so for the first one it would be: 3-(hammer-on)-5-(slide into)-7

Using the Extended version will give you more tonal options when you're soloing/playing lead.
From any point you can convert to another type of scale (Phrygian....blues...major) to get a different sound that matches the chords/chord sequences that are being played by the rhythm instrument or backing track or singer.

You can also use the extended scale to complete a spiral wrap around the fretboard to reach the higher octaves.
What I mean by this is...you see where the extended scale ends on the high-e string at the 15th fret?

e|-------------10-12//15--------------------------------------------
B|----------8-10//12------------------------------------------------
G|--------7-9-------------------------------------------------------
D|-----5-7//9-------------------------------------------------------
A|-----5-7----------------------------------------------------------
E|-3--5//7---------------------------------------------------------             

Well, all you do is after you get to that note on the high-e string....jump down to the low E string at the 15th fret and start the sequence all over again. The connecting sequence looks like this:

e|---------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------20-22------------------------------------------------
G|--------19-21-------------------------------------------------------
D|-----17-19//21-------------------------------------------------------
A|-----17-19----------------------------------------------------------
E|-15--17//19---------------------------------------------------------             

Of course this particular example would be used on a shredder style guitar with 22-24 frets...but you get the idea right?


=p
Dm

"Talent instantly recognizes genius,
but mediocrity knows nothing more than itself."

-Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle

Detman101's Website