by Tom Watson

During the ten years I spent giving private and group guitar lessons, I realized that what most students really wanted to learn was how to improvise guitar solos. Everything else I forced them to study was simply bitter medicine.

This was during the mid-'60s through mid-'70s, a time when the rock 'n' roll "lead guitarist" became the idol of millions of teenagers thanks to players like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and a host of others. It was also a time that saw the birth of "FM station rock" featuring music with extended, improvised guitar solos. It was an amazing time for "rock" guitarists. People came out to gigs to actually listen to music.

By the early '70s, popular music had advanced far beyond basic three-chord progressions and the demands made on a lead guitarist often meant knowing something concrete about the theory and structure of music.

Of course, that was then, now is now, and a lot of stylistic fads have come and gone in between. But, from a musician's point of view, if you enjoy making music to express yourself in the moment, sooner or later you will want to improvise.

While to some listeners, the purpose of "music" may be to provide background sound to making love, drinking beer, or riding in elevators, to many musicians one of the primary purposes of music is the way making music serves as a form of unique self-expression - and few things in music serve the goal of artistic self-expression better than improvisation.

Soloing

Playing a guitar solo doesn't necessarily mean improvising. If you learn the guitar solo of a song note for note from a CD and play that solo as learned during a performance, you may be soloing, but you're not improvising. Likewise, you can improvise some riffs while the singer is singing, but you're not soloing.

Which is simply to say, soloing and improvising aren't necessarily the same thing.

Most professional guitarists have paid their dues learning solos from records. If you play a cover of a popular song, most likely someone - your bandmates or audience - will expect you to play the song's solo lines in essentially the same way it sounds on the original version. Again, that's soloing, but not improvising.

"Improvising" or "improvisation" means making something up on the spot.

Why learn to improvise?

Because it's fun. That's really what it all boils down to - improvising is one of the most enjoyable things you can do, musically speaking. It's enjoyable because it is one of the best ways of doing what attracts us to playing music in the first place - expressing ourselves through music. When all else is said and done, improvising is really about self-expression and the joy of self-expression can be priceless.

How to learn improvisation

There are a number of ways to skin this cat. You can spend quality time learning solos from records. If you learn enough solos this way hopefully, over time, you'll start to see that improvised guitar solos are usually based on particular patterns of notes and be able to use those patterns to create (improvise) your own solos.

Another approach, and the one I'll be using in this column, is to study the theory behind what makes improvisation "work" - the underlying musical structure. Learning from records can teach you particular notes to play. Studying the theory behind it will explain why some notes work better than others and allow you to choose the notes you feel help you best express yourself in a particular solo.

But keep in mind, the two approaches aren't exclusive - you can (and should) use both.

What to expect from this column

I'm going to use the same approach in this column that I used when I taught improvisation. In each "lesson" (article), I'll present a pattern of notes you can use to improvise over certain chords or chord progressions. Although the lessons will discuss particular notes and chord progressions, little by little, I'll discuss how this information can be used to improvise over any chord progression in any key.

The lessons are not geared toward a particular style of music - rock, blues, jazz, country, etc. The information presented can be applied to any genre. As we go along I will discuss stylistic differences, but the theory is essentially universal.

For what level of player is this column written?

This column is not for players completely new to the guitar. It assumes that you have some basic experience. But, not all that much. I will ease into presenting more complex chord forms and chord progressions.

Likewise, more advanced players might also benefit from the information presented. I taught many talented professional guitar players who came to me for a better theoretical understanding of the guitar - sometimes they simply needed to put a name to something they already knew how to do.

Talk back

At the bottom of each article or lesson there's a place where you can leave questions or comments. Feel free to talk back. If you prefer, you can also email me at twatson@modernguitars.com.

I hope you find the information useful and enjoyable.

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