Finding my voice - on the guitar

[KirkD]

I've been taking lessons for a little more than two years and I'm progressing OK - probably not as fast as I would like, but...

My instructor will often have me solo while he plays a chord progression or a backing track. I find myself falling into the same old patterns, which are very boring, and I have a very hard time improvising something new. I usually play in a pentatonic minor or major (or both) scale, and I don't have too much problem knowing which notes to play, or more accurately where my fingers belong in each pattern. Unfortunately, my solos are very stiff, uninteresting, and simple.

How do I get over this new hurdle? Is this a matter of repertoire and I should work to expand my riff dictionary such that I have a larger pool to draw from?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

-Kirk

[dogbite]

we all are or have been in the exact situation you find yourself.
one thing i did to 'liven' up my repertory is to incorporate harmonized notes. I play two notes or double stops.
sometimes I hold one note while bending the other.
I discovered this by listening and playing along to early rock, early country/western or post WW11 cowboy swing.
I would play one note then search for it's harmonic companion then walk it up and down the neck.
it open some doors to new ideas. so instead of playing only single note pents I throw in a double.

[Ande]

I'm in the same spot. I can play what I can play, but left to my own, I often wind up playing about the same sounds in different scenarios.

Another thing that can help is learning from the masters. Some of the old-hands say you shouldn't play other people's solos- probably true in a concert. But I think you learn a lot of new stuff, and break out of your box in many ways, if you LEARN other people's solos. Note for note. Gets some new patterns into your fingers.

Learn SRV. Learn Gary Moore. David Gilmour. Whoever- but I'm finding that regularly playing a variety of other people's sounds is giving me more options for my sounds.

Best,
Ande

[KirkD]

Thanks for the ideas, guys.

I have an issue of Guitar Techniques that has 50 Blues Licks grouped by style - Howling Wolf, Eric Clapton, BB King, Albert King, etc. I have another issue that has 50 rock licks broken down into different pentatonic positions. I should study those and use them as a stepping stone into finding my own, right?

-Kirk

[aleholder]

Kirk, that sounds like a good plan. Enjoy!

[NoteBoat]

I'll throw out a few more tips... mix & match as needed.

1. Practice with a limited rhythm figure. Come up with a pattern, like quarter - two eighths (or whatever). Play whatever you like, but always in that rhythm. You'll come up with a lot of short figures. Write down your favorites.

2. Practice with limited notes. When I took improvisation lessons, at the first lesson my teacher had me solo over a blues progression using only F notes. I could use any rhythm, and play F in any octave, but nothing else. And I had to do FIVE choruses.

3. Keep a straight rhythm all the way through. Do five choruses with nothing but eighth notes - no rests, and no longer or shorter notes.

4. Start with a note that's not in key. See how you can resolve it. Then try it again (and again and again), using different resolutions each time.

Now that you've warmed up with one or more of those...

5. Take a short phrase - your own or someone else's - of no more than two measures. You might start with one of just two beats. Memorize it. Now put it in the MIDDLE of a longer phrase - improvise your way into the start of it, and improvise your way to a resolution afterwards.

6. Take a phrase and play the notes exactly - but with a different rhythm. Try several times in a row, using a different rhythm each time.

7. Take a phrase and alter ONE note - sharp it or flat it. See how it changes the sound. Then change a different note. Repeat until you've explored them all.

8. Hold one note for several beats - preferably not a chord tone. Now resolve it. (Make sure you do this over a backing track, so you can hear the tension against an underlying harmony)

9. Write out a phrase. Then play it backwards.

10. If you can read standard notation, write out a phrase. Now flip the page upside down and play it. (It's best to do this one only in the key of C major)

11. Get a book on music composition and read it. "Composing Music" by William Russo is good. So is "Music Composition" by Reginald Smith Brindle. Improvisation is basically composing on the fly... the more you know about composition techniques, the more you'll have to experiment with.

And don't worry about the speed of your progress - just keep experimenting, and try to do something new each time you play, even if it's only one new phrase. Music is a language, and the building blocks are scales, arpeggios, and melodic phrases - you're building your vocabulary. Great novelists all started out writing stuff like "See my dog Spot. He's a good dog. I like him a lot." You're doing the same thing - it takes years to build your vocabulary enough to say things that are truly original.

[KirkD]

NoteBoat -

Wow! That is quite a list. I'll certainly start integrating those ideas into my practice. Thanks!!!

[colin rp]

Call and response. Sing out a melody and then try repeat what you just sang on the guitar. Especially if you have someone playing the chord progression.

[wkriski]

Some great tips there. Everyone seems to end up with their own voice over time, even if you learn tons of solos note for note, but patience is important.

[MrJonesey]

A lot of great ideas here...here is something I do when I'm in a similar rut (it's inevitable).

Play the same notes and licks, but play them different. Hold notes longer, mute some of the notes (palm or fret hand), switch the pick-up position to change the sound, or play the same riff but play every other note twice. Just try the same thing, but make it sound different.