Guitar improvisation is among the most important aspect of lead guitar playing and without improvisation you will never be able to make the type of impact you would like to make while doing a live gig.The better way to master lead guitar improvisations is by understanding the various scales and the different techniques that are used. But guitar improvisation is definitely not easy especially when you are learning on your own. If you are a self taught guitarist then you can use books, e-books and video guitar lessons from cyberspace, download guitar tools from the internet, and practice using guitar tabs and guitar backing tracks. All of these techniques will help you to learn about the guitar, the fretboard, the minor and major scales, the blues scale, and the chromatic scales.
But when you progress from the basic to the advanced stage then the only way you can learn guitar improvisation is through practice. For a guitarist, practice is a never ending routine. The more you practice, the better you are with guitar improvisation. Whether you are rehearsing with the help of a book or with tabs and lessons available over the internet, you need to know that if you have complete control over the minor and major pentatonic scales then guitar improvisation will be like a walk in the park for you.
For example: if you are using G-major pentatonic then it will be: 2-4, 1-4, 1-4, 1-3, 2-4, 2-4 at the 3rd or 15th fret for G major pentatonic. In G, A, B, D, E, G, you will notice that the G major pentatonic as well as the E minor pentatonic share exactly same notes. If you play the G major pentatonic scale in the open position then it will be like this: ---------------------------0-3-- ----------------------0-3------- -----------------0-2------------ ------------0-2----------------- ------0-2----------------------- -0-3---------------------------- The fastest way to guitar improvisation is through learning how to play the pentatonic scales to perfection. The minor pentatonic scale consists of 5 notes, which are the same as in major pentatonic. The only difference is that the tonic of the scale in major pentatonic is different from that of minor pentatonic. Let's take an example:The C-major pentatonic scale is C - D - E - G - A - C and it will become an A-minor pentatonic scale which will be A - C - D - E - G - A.
All you had to do was select the note 'A' as the tonic note. Let's take a look some of the minor pentatonic scales as mentioned in the Circle of fifths. # C minor pentatonic scale C - Eb - F - G - Bb - C # G minor pentatonic scale G - Bb - C - D - F - G # D minor pentatonic scale (Down - Up - Top) D - F - G - A - C - D.
E Walker is the founder of Planet of Rock Music Studios. Listen to samples of Free Guitar Backing Tracks. Find out how these Guitar Backing Tracks will bring your skills to the next level. You are just One Click Away!
