Improvising feel

M3MAN96

Its a bit of a beginners question but are there different ways to feel when improvising? e.g. Straight, shuffle, swing etc. I understand you have to feel it for yourself but is there a technique to get the feel when playing.

richardhomer

Good question. The great players tend to phrase beautifully (Peter Green and David Gilmour are obvious examples). The precise timing they use for each note - combined with picking dynamics, bends and vibrato - is very subtle.

Playing at that level might not sound particularly difficult, compared to shreddy stuff - but it requires a lot of control.

But the real skill behind 'feel' in your playing is having a musical ear - by which I mean you can easily lock into the 'inner pulse' of the music you are listening to and can identify pitch changes accurately. These elements are at the core of the language of music.

The only way I have developed this (there may be alternatives which work - but I'm not aware of them) is to learn to copy people's playing you like note-for-note and play along to it. Recording yourself doing this helps, as listening back when your mind is not occupied by actually playing allows it to concentrate on evaluating your performance. Keeping recordings also allows you to track progress. Once you've nailed someone else's solo, start playing your own - and keep listening back to recordings, identifying areas you'd like to improve.

It's surprising how quickly your ear can develop - like any other aspect of mastering an instrument, it's really a matter of practice.

Clarky

richardhomer said:

Good question. The great players tend to phrase beautifully (Peter Green and David Gilmour are obvious examples). The precise timing they use for each note - combined with picking dynamics, bends and vibrato - is very subtle.

Playing at that level might not sound particularly difficult, compared to shreddy stuff - but it requires a lot of control.

But the real skill behind 'feel' in your playing is having a musical ear - by which I mean you can easily lock into the 'inner pulse' of the music you are listening to and can identify pitch changes accurately. These elements are at the core of the language of music.

The only way I have developed this (there may be alternatives which work - but I'm not aware of them) is to learn to copy people's playing you like note-for-note and play along to it. Recording yourself doing this helps, as listening back when your mind is not occupied by actually playing allows it to concentrate on evaluating your performance. Keeping recordings also allows you to track progress. Once you've nailed someone else's solo, start playing your own - and keep listening back to recordings, identifying areas you'd like to improve.

It's surprising how quickly your ear can develop - like any other aspect of mastering an instrument, it's really a matter of practice.

absolutely..

try learning the solos of your heroes in detail so you learn by example..

then try experimenting with what you've learned

57Deluxe

Timing is everything... like comedy. The Pauses are the most important part!