I’ve been working in Grade 4, the major scale section and started working on motif development a couple of weeks ago. Before that I had been doing the re-active listening exercise with some backing tracks in G and C major. I picked the backing track in G from that lesson to use for this first shot at a video. I regard this as a marker to help me measure progress over the next few months. Plenty of bad choices, errant picking, missed frets, etc. but if you happen to listen and have suggestions on how to improve I’d appreciate it.
You’ll find that there aren’t really bad choices. Just choices. It’s the listener that eventually decides if it sounds good or bad.
As long as it makes sense to you and, but this is up for debate, somehow fits in somekind of scale, it’s all good.
If it sounds good, it is good.
Nothing to worry about. That’s what practice is for. And hey, even the great will have their moments in missing something too.
Keep going. You’re doing fine. Listen to recordings of your favourite artists. Listen to what they do and try to copy that.
Practice the scales (preferably with a metronome), noodle around when you feel like it within a shape of a scale, or a whole scale. Mix this with a backingtrack if you feel like it.
Keep working on those grades.
It’s the mix of all these things that will help you progress.
Some really nice playing there, a nice theme and melody, and timing sounded tight to me, I was not listening out for odd notes hit and think I only heard two towards the end.
What you are doing is not easy for many, if takes lots of effort and confidence to improvise, whether you have motifs or licks that you put together it is not a simple process and takes practice, well done!
Don’t know what style of music you like but if you have not already done one BLIM maybe a great course for you to grow your skills and repertoire further, BLIM5 starts in October. It is very good i have done it twice.
Thanks for the feedback! By and large I’ve been doing what you suggested, so I will keep it up. I sure wish all these resources had been available 50 years ago! Justin’s recommendation to do scales in intervals of thirds has been a big challenge, but I think it helped me get the best parts of this trial.
Thanks for the encouragement! A BLIM is on my bucket list! Don’t know if I can do the October class yet. In any event, I’ve been checking out Sirius XM’s Bluesville channel lately. That opened up a whole world of music I‘ve missed!
I think they were available for more than 100 years now…
Ofcourse, Justin’s site and teachings are relatively new, but sometimes we need something/someone to show us the right direction. And he’s surely done that…
Hello Jim, I think you’re on the right track with developing your improvisation skills. Everything you played made me feel you’re already in a good place. I’d simply encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing, because with time your feel, technique and musicality will continue to grow. Keep at it!
Things really were different back in the 70s. Two high school schoolmates of mine, one of whom I used to jam with, made it in the professional music scene as guitarists. They had talent and good guitar teachers. I had neither. Rick Beato, who lived nearby and was a couple of years younger, used the same approach to learning songs by ear as I did and picked up stuff in one year that I could not figure out in 3 years, before I gave up when I went to college. Why? Talent and a good ear for relative pitch. I have poor ear skills to this day.
I think it sounded great Jim - super fretboard knowledge - you were playing over all of it fluently, great use of double stops. Good melodies in keeping with the backing track. Only thing I can suggest is to use a more electric-guitar-style vibrato - you seem to be using the classical style.
Thanks for the encouragement! You nailed me on the vibrato. I didn’t even know that the type of vibrato I was doing had a formal definition. It just sounded right for that backing track. Or at least I thought so at the time. Also, I don’t have the techniques for rock-style vibrato down yet. I’m still trying to get string-bending pitches right.
