I have been doing daily improv. sessions as part of Grade 3 generally using the A minor pentatonic (and extended) scale but it still sounds to me like random notes, or a series of random notes, & not very musical! I usually play to a backing track.
Any ideas how do you make improvisation sound musical?
Iām sure you have some ideas on what is musical to your ears and what is less so. At first I think you should try to pinpoint what makes you think that a particular solo or your favourite song is musical.
Have you tried to apply the techniques mentioned in these lessons? It would probably be worth trying to find the answer to the question above with the help of these techniques.
Also, I think that a fairly big number of people on here consider being able to āimproviseā an essential skill. It also often comes up in the thread about why we learn music theory. Although it can be an important tool in some circumstances, I think itās a skill like any other - some are more adept at it, others are not so much, and its use has its own place. Itās not like each and every guitar (or whatever) solo we hear is entirely improvised out of thin air They are often connected to what the other instruments are playing, or may very much be composed.
For example, if you know the chord progression of your backing track, try to improvise by focusing on the chord tones, or at least the root notes. That could make your improvisation sound more āin placeā relative to the other elements of the track.
Itās a good question, Stuart. Iām struggling with it a bit myself.
We know the notes of the scale and can play them randomly and even play little runs or phrases with them.
Improvisation is players being creative with what they know.
I think the real question is how do we become creative?
Is creativity something we can learn?
Justin and others talk about the blues language, as if we have to make words out of the notes. Well fineā¦but the only time I hear words in music is when someone is singing. I donāt hear words in a guitar solo, I hear sounds.
Iām not at all creative with words. I canāt write lyrics or write an interesting story. So how do I/we become creative with music?
I second (or third?) what Stuart & David are askingā¦ sometimes listening to a lead line in a song, what I thought was improv turns out to be repetitive so I guess itās more of a riffā¦ playing a scale over a backing track āfeelsā musical but doesnāt really sound musical.
Iām thinking that like so many other guitar skillsets, itāll happen with time & practice. After all, being a rank amateur who doesnāt have to play for others takes the pressure off!!! 
Tod
With your ears. Listen to the guitar players you like and try and imitate what they play. Do Not use tabs. (you and use then to find the key) use your ears to feel the music and try and imatate what you hear. Will you get it right? Probably not, but you will be making it musical. Scales are just a suggestion not a road map
Well, Rick, I like to think I have a decent ear so I should be able to do what youāre saying. I havenāt transcribed any solos yet though. Iām currently learning Albatross but not from tab. Iām learning it from Justinās lesson notes, which give string and fret numbers, and occasionally going back to the lesson vid to check the timing and sound. I know the song fairly well so I get the sound of it from memory.
Learning solos the way you suggest is all very well but itās other peoples music so itās not me being creative.
Does learning this way eventually lead to creativity?
I think that itās quite normal that our solos donāt sound really musical in grade 3 because at that stage we only have the scale and our imagination in our toolbox. 
Justin surely provides good tips in grade 3 which can help to some extent.
But, in my opinion, itās more in the later grades that youāll get your AHA moment / the game changer. For instance, the Blues Immersion course is based around learning licks instead of scales. It provides a clear path to speaking the blues language and by doing that over a period of months, you will eventually no longer feel like improvising is a game of luck (choosing random notes from the scales and hoping it sound good).
When you learnt to speak as a child did you make up your own words or did you learn the language your parents taught you?
Even writers go to creative writing class so I say yes if you apply what you have learnt.
What doesnāt work is pucking individual notes on your guitar looking for that miracle phase that will turn into the next number 1 hit.
Improvising is a misnomer that gets thrown around all the time. Nobody picks up a guitar and pulls music out of mid air. Improvising is a combination of learning licks and phasing and applying them in a new way.
I share all your pain, and your joy when you get those AHA moments. @stitch, I resemble that remark! When I first started simple improvisation off major scale arpeggios and the major pentatonic, everything I played sounded Catholic mass hymns and Christmas tunes.
Hello Stuart,
Some good info here already.
Hereās something super beneficial Iāve done pretty much from the start, and still do today, very often.
Practice improvising over a one chord vamp. There are countless ones on YT, with varioius rhythms.
Hereās one I use to get you started.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUgRU1ZOJSOLo0uHZtM7fqWuCO3qQPm9O&si=4BhDQScbPMwsAa2-
I canāt stress just how beneficial this is.
Firstly, it removes all the stress of the chord changes. You want total concentration here on being creative, and becoming musically familiar with your scales, or some new bit of musical knowledge youāve attained ; the added stress of the chord changes is going to interfere with that focus, at least at the start.
In any learning environment, guitar or otherwise, I believe that laser focus on one smaller item is the most efficient way to progress to more complex tasks.
If one canāt relax into improvising over one chord, then one canāt expect much success over a 4 chord progression. Itās too much too soon.
So, you just relax, and concentrate on playing short little melodies over that one chord. Use your currently learned knowledge about scales etc, and play around with the notes, and most importantly, the phrasing and rhythm.
And because you only have one chord, its easier to remember the 3 notes in the chord, and target them.
Put in on a loop for 10 minutes to give yourself time to ease into it.
You will be very surprised at just how musical you can be over one chord: there is infinite variety to be had. And as your knowledge and musical toolbox grows, so do your musical options.
Now Im no expert, but Iāve been at this improv for a little while now. Whenever I learn something new, like a chord voicing, or a cool little pentatonic line, lick, riff etc, I invariably start playing around with it over a one chord vamp. I believe it THE exercise to start with;
itās been a real bedrock for me. Hopefully youāll find the same.
Cheers, Shane
Thanks to all that replied. A few responses below.
I have but itās still difficult making it sound musical!
Thatās the bit I donāt understand. Why do I need to know the chords (or tones) I use as a BT? Are you sating I need to know the notes I am playing when, say, using the A minor pentatonic scale?
Same here!
I certainly hope so.
Thatās the problem for me. I couldnāt listen to a piece of music and tell you what notes have been played. Tabs give you a place to start.
Agreed.
I hope so.
Unfortunately I wont be in a position to partake in an Blue Immersion Course.
Thanks, Iāll give it a go . but ā¦
As noted above I donāt see the relationship between chords and improv. I have used a YT BT and noticed that it showed the chord changes and have no idea why! It can be playing in the background and Iāll be trying āplayingā something but never really hear the chord changes.
See above! This just feels totally beyond me at the moment.
Iām guessing that Iām doing this all wrong (but didnāt know that I was) so looks like Iāll have to go back to basics. Itās the whole keys, chords, notes thing that I donāt get (and have posted about this on other threads) and not sure I will.
I suppose Stuart, that Iām not really sure what you mean here. Whether you "physicallyā cannot hear a chord change between say A major to D major, or if you canāt translate that change musically on the guitar.
Improv, lead playing etc, all about the chords. The notes you improvise over the top of these chords with, just accentuate these chords, and provide movement between them.
I think the one chord vamp I described is perfect for you. You can even do it very slowly without a backing track.
Play a C Major chord. Then play the notes C-E-G in differing orders. That should kickstart a connection between the 2 in your āmusical imaginationā as Justin puts it.
Cheers, Shane.
Stuart
Following from Shaneās comment about playing over a one chord vamp to get you started. Thought Iād knock up a quick suggestion which you can build on, just a little cluster of 5 notes which in this case make up the A7 chord.
Each of these notes are chord tones and will not sound wrong. Play them one beat at a time and just get used to where they are and how they sound. Then experiment with the timing of each pick, just play about and see what you can discover. Hold some notes long than shown, play them mixed up. Play alternate notes - up 2 back 1 up 2 back one.
Once you have some fun with this, try adding notes that are outside of this pattern and see how they sound. Some will be alright some will be not so good. When you hit those sour notes move to one of the notes you now know is sweet cool and on the money.
Then try the same with the 1/8 in the last 4 bars.
So using a slow backing track in A, something like this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzbYs1pJU9o just take your time and see what comes out.
Donāt be in a rush, experiment slow and deliberately.
Hope that helps.
I know you have frequently asked about and described your struggles with understanding the relationship between scales, chords, keys etc on a theoretical level. You do not need that understanding to sound musical but the analysis such knowledge brings can perhaps explain why you are not sounding musical. It is an after the fact analysis though.
You have also commented a number of times that you struggle to hear chord changes and more and have struggled with playing / improvising to backing tracks. Backing tracks question - grade 3 improv with C major / A minor pentatonic. Am I doing it right?
You have had some guidance on improvising over a one chord vamp: One Chord Vamps - #4 by Stuartw
All of this is in the abstract.
When you say you are not sounding musical, it is abstract for anybody who is trying to help you. And it is subjective.
Honestly, I think the best thing you can do for yourself and for garnering better support from the Community is to record an audio (it need not be video) of you doing the thing you want help with - playing the A minor pentatonic scale over a backing track. Share it and allow people to have a firm basis for offering their guidance.
Without such a useful tool, it is all just a question of linking back to Justinās lessons or repeating advice and suggestions that have been written many times over the years in the Community.
Question - you are using the A minor pentatonc ā¦ are you using it to try to play something in the blues style? A 12-bar blues? Or are you using a backing track that is described as being in the key of A?
If the latter, that could be at the heart of the problem. Please let us know which backing track(s) - which exact ones and where to find them - you are using.
Thatās great Toby, thanks very much for putting this 
together
@TheMadman_tobyjenner @sclay Thanks Toby and Shane for your helpful advices , especially Toby for creating the worksheet!
@Stuartw I have just come up with this. It is two successive 12-bar blues in the key of A minor.
I have over-emphasised (for demonstration purposes) playing a lick repeatedly across the full 12-bar sequence.
This can complement the advice @sclay gives. Shane suggests one chord backing tracks to reduce the complications. This suggests one lick over a three-chord backing track, also to reduce complications.
In real life you would not repeat a lick this often or this many times. But forcing yourself to play it over and over and over again is a fantastic way to start. And the fact that you are doing it multiple times will eventually force your ears and fingers to seek small variations to the lick. Perhaps tweaking the last note, or adding in a little flurry of notes or changing it some other way.
I have deliberately excluded any need for string bending as Iām not sure how you are with that technique.
I like the analogy of music as a language. It isnāt about hearing words, it is that notes (like a letter or small letter group) are small fundamental phonemes that can be put together into āwordsā or āphrasesā of sound that fit into a larger structure.
To be creative as we build that larger structure, we need to be pretty intimate with the base phonemes and how they relate to each other.
By copying others music learning riffs, licks and songs, we are practicing these phonemes and how they fit. By exploring and playing around, we slowly build our own sense of these relationships and our ability to transition between them.
Remember, you did this learning your first language. Music is a little like learning a second language, but much more complex, really. Maybe like learning a very different language like Chinese where the phonemes are radically different while at the same time having to learn a complex series of tasks to produce the sounds.
So, cut yourself some slack. This will take a while for most of us. I still suck at picking out simple times on the fretboard. I donāt seem to connect with the note sounds particularly well at all. But I am also not pushing the need to improvise. I do noodle around to learn, because I think that will slowly build progress, but, to the horror of Clint (@CT) , I mostly play music already created by others and I am still happy with my journey. 
@Stuartw
My apologies Stuart. I initially thought my question was in the same vein as yours but the replies are taking us off in two different directions. Iāll leave you to it.
