Looking to Improve Your Improvisation Skills? Try this:
Creativity is not something you have to be born with; it can be developed and honed through practice and training.
If you find it challenging to generate fresh ideas during improvisation and notice that your solos tend to sound repetitive, incorporating specific rhythm exercises into your practice routine can be remarkably beneficial.
The ideas presented in this video are simple, but they work.
These exercises are straightforward yet highly effective in improving the quality and diversity of your solos. Not only will you perceive a substantial improvement in your playing, but your audience will also recognize it too.
Are you ready to finally master rhythm once and for all? Mastering rhythm can instantly improve everything you play and is also one of the most effective tools for enhancing your creativity. If you're ready to understand and master rhythm, be sure to check out my Ultimate Rhythm Mastery guitar course.
Video Transcription
Hey, fellow guitar enthusiasts, today I will share with you some practical and easy ways to use rhythm to improve your guitar solos. These tips are straightforward and can be applied immediately to improve your playing.
Hi, I'm Brian fish from MusicTheoryForGuitar.com.
During my decades of teaching guitar, I've had the privilege of meeting and getting to know many top experts. In today's video, you will see a portion of my conversation with Mike Philippov from PracticeGuitarNow.com about how to use rhythm to improve your lead skills and make your playing stand out. If you apply the practice strategies we discuss, your solos will improve.
Mike:
If you don't mind, dive straight into some ways a lead guitar player can use rhythm to make their lead solos more creative. What are some specific ways that somebody can practice? You alluded to some, like the vocal thing, taking a vocal melody and using that in the solo. I'm sure that's going to be one of the ways. But I'm sure you have a list that you use with your students. So, just dive into point number one.
Brian:
To start, take one small phrase, and you're only allowed to play that rhythm for three to five minutes straight. You're getting two things out of this. You will find out if you can keep a rhythm going that long, and two, you'll see that you run out of your usual ideas in 30 seconds or less. This will force you to start playing outside your comfort zone and start thinking. Most people will think, "I've already played that five times. Is there something else I can play with just this rhythm?”
This is definitely repetitive and an exercise. It's not something I would do for an actual solo, but in your practice time, it's a good way to expand your boundaries. You want to add phrasing elements along with the rhythm. If you only play notes and do not add bends, slides, and things like that, you will get bored listening to what you're playing. That's one of my favorites.
Mike:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's okay to accidentally vary the rhythm. I can see somebody thinking they cannot accidentally vary the rhythm, like playing an extra 16th note. It's still part of the exercise if they do that occasionally. It's not a mistake. Would you agree with that?
Brian:
Right. You're trying to keep as close to the original rhythm as possible. You are not constantly trying to think of new ideas or searching for a new rhythm every time. You're keeping as close to your original idea as you can. You are looking for ways to make what you are playing more interesting. Try to keep that going for three to five minutes, and if you're not struggling by 30 seconds, well, you've probably done a little bit of this work already, whether you know it or not, on your own.
Mike:
Right. The main idea here, the overarching theme behind all the ideas in your list, Brian, is to take a daunting topic like improvisation and break it down into something you can actually practice. In the same way, when you're learning a song, there are a lot of parts to a song. You will not start playing the whole song from A to Z, from the beginning to the end.
You will take a part of it, a piece of it, and you break it down, repeat that part repeatedly, and refine it in whatever way it needs to be refined. When it comes to improvising, you can just put on the backing track and jam for five minutes, fifteen minutes, or whatever. Or you can think, Okay, I'm going to spend those five minutes playing over a backing track, but focus on just one aspect, as Brian described. Take a single rhythm, and that is going to become my focus.
The solo itself may suck because it's going to be all the same licks based on the same rhythm, but you're going to become a better improviser by doing that. It gives you a new lens through which to think about your improvising instead of just thinking about what notes or scales fit these chords. It's thinking in terms of rhythm. So that is important to remember, just as an overarching theme behind the things we're talking about. Would you agree with that, Brian?
Brian:
Yes. This forces you to think in phrases. You have a sentence with a period at the end. Once you have finished that sentence, you create another. Now, using one rhythm, it will be like a kid's book where the next sentence sounds almost the same. You need to try to get something new out of the rhythm. Keep it simple and see how far you can push it. Your ability to improvise and come up with things on the spot will improve doing this. You're starting with rhythm in mind. Rhythm is the key. The notes you play over that can vary as much as you want it to. How long can you keep this idea going with slight variations here or there?
Mike:
Right? Are there some examples of guitar players who think you do this? I know. I think John Petrucci is somebody who did the last thing you said, having each phrase sound like a statement that connects to the next one rhythmically. I noticed that in many of his slower solos, like The Best of Times from the album Dark Clouds and Silver Linings.
John Petrucci is one example that comes to mind. Are there other players that you might think of who use this type of technique?
Brian:
I like a lot of bluesier music, so a guy like Warren Haynes is great. When he plays, it's like he's asking a question and then answering that question. He is carrying on a conversation with himself.
That is another cool exercise. You can keep that initial rhythm you had as your question, and then you have to find a way to answer that question. This exercise feels like you're living with a toddler. The same question keeps happening over and over again, and you have to find a different way to answer it. You can keep that going for a while, too. So, the first rhythm will be static or even the same lick. You have to find a new way to answer it that makes sense. It’s not completely off the reservation. It's got to be close or related to what you just played. You want to literally hear a musical conversation going on. This phrase relates to this phrase, relates to this phrase.
It's not random, which is what I hear when many people improvise. They know their notes and scales, but there's nothing that's going to hold my attention. There are no phrases that catch your ear anywhere in what they play.
Mike:
I believe one way to ensure clarity on note values is to determine the rhythm's length and specific note values before starting the exercise. You can do this by jotting down the rhythm on a piece of paper in Guitar Pro or whichever software you prefer. This will help you remember the rhythm as you practice for 10 or 15 minutes. This way, you can refer back to the notes and jog your memory about the rhythm's details.
Brian:
Absolutely. I write it on paper or a whiteboard. Then it's there in front of you because your concentration drifts. I mean, we're human. We can't help that. As soon as you feel that happening, you look back at that rhythm and remind yourself what you're supposed to be doing. That's how you're going to get better. You focus. If you're mindlessly playing over a five-minute jam track, you're not improving. You're having fun. You're entertaining yourself, but you're honestly not getting better. If you want to see improvement, you need to have a goal in mind.
If you want to learn another easy method to create multiple variations for any phrase and enhance your improvisation skills. I highly recommend checking out “The Guide to Making Any Rhythm You Know Sound Even Better.” This straightforward guide will not only assist you in fully utilizing the potential of any rhythm you play but will also help you unleash your creativity. Click the link above to get a copy today.