Why Some Guitar Players Are Good At Improvising And Others Aren’t

Not having natural musical talent is NOT what keeps you from improvising killer solo phrases. The biggest difference between those who can improvise well and those who can’t is this:

Amateur players generally rely on memorizing licks and trying to force them into every solo they play whether it makes sense or not.

Pro guitar players are able to quickly adapt to a musical context by altering any guitar phrase to make it feel more expressive and emotional.

This allows the pro player to play awe-inspiring phrases in their solos by creatively altering licks and phrases to make them sound fresh any time they play.

The following are some of the cool ways great guitar players create awesome phrases in their solos:

Adding Musical Ornaments

Any guitar phrase can be made to sound more interesting when you use various guitar techniques to ornament it. Guitarists with excellent improvising skills are able to spice up any boring lick by adding a trill, slide, bend or double stop to the end of a phrase.

Using Sequencing To Make Scales Sound Like Music

Without sequencing, guitar solos end up sounding like scale or arpeggio exercises rather than music. By sequencing notes in different patterns, you make your scales more sing-able and memorable for anyone listening.

Getting The Most Benefit Out Of The Rhythm Of The Notes

Fact: you don’t have to continually play different notes while playing a solo. Repeating notes is a powerful tool that gives you more time to think about what you want to do next. It also gives you the chance to think more about HOW you are playing notes (this is critical for creating impressive phrases).

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to different ways to improvise creative guitar licks. Taking your creative lead guitar playing to the next level requires not only understanding some of these approaches but learning how to use them in your playing.

Discover the step-by-step process for becoming a very creative lead guitar player by reading this article on creating guitar licks.

About The Author:
Tom Hess is a guitar teacher online, progressive rock guitarist/composer and a touring musician. He teaches guitar players in his rock guitar lessons online. Go to tomhess.net to get more guitar playing resources and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.