So, you watched a youtube video of a guitarist jamming over a backing track and thought that this person is a guitar genius. Jamming is not easy but I think it is one of the best and fun aspects of playing guitar. Here are my Top 10 tips that will make you better at improvisation.
1 - Accept that Improvisation is a Difficult Process
There are some researches showing that musicians use nearly full potential of their brains during improvising. This means some serious sh*t is happening in the brain during improvisation process.
You shouldn't demoralize after your initial (or 100th) improvisation trial. If you recorded your jam and then listened back probably you thought that sound like sh*t. This is completely normal. It is very important that you work hard and be persistent. Make improvisation your practice routine. After some time (much less than a lifetime), you will get improvements and jamming will be much more fun as you level up. Now move to some real tips.
You shouldn't demoralize after your initial (or 100th) improvisation trial. If you recorded your jam and then listened back probably you thought that sound like sh*t. This is completely normal. It is very important that you work hard and be persistent. Make improvisation your practice routine. After some time (much less than a lifetime), you will get improvements and jamming will be much more fun as you level up. Now move to some real tips.
2 - Learn the backing track well
And feel it. Think about the next upcoming chord in your mind while playing. Also learn the song structure (Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Verse-Chorus transition, etc) well. If you master the song structure and you plan you moves beforehand you will definitely sound better and more organic.
3 - Record your jam
And listen it after your session ends. This is one of the best ways to see your mistakes because you may not notice them during playing. Also you can track your progress by comparing your old records with the new ones. This will motivate you. You don't need to have expensive sound systems for that, your phones crappy microphone will work fine.
4 - Don't rely ONLY on scale diagrams
This is one of the most frequent mistake that newbies make. Scale diagrams are helpful in some situations but you shouldn't just move from one note to another without thinking. Soloing while looking in the scale diagrams generally makes this solo very mechanic, if you did this before you can get what I said here. Instead, first learn the song structure well (Tip #2), play the chords, then build your solo structure slowly as explained in next tip.
5 - Build you soloing structure slowly
When you started to jam along a new backing track, don't rush to shred like Petrucci or Gilbert! First try to feel the music and chords. Memorize the chord progressions. You can start with playing the root note of the chords, after that try to add one note at a time. Try to build a catchy melody, and repeat that. Use variations of that melody.
6 - Improve your vocabulary
In order to tell a story, you have to bring words and sentences together in the way to make sense. And also you have to use many different words to make this story interesting. Improvisation is not much different than that, the more vocabulary you have, more interesting and fun your music will be. How can you expand your musical vocabulary? Best and probably most entertaining way is by learning the songs of your favorite groups. Other obvious way is googling the phrases like: "guitar licks", "guitar solo" etc. There are millions of videos out there showing you how to solo.
7 - Learn notes of the fretboard well
Imagine a person typing very fast on the keyboard. Think of his fingers movement. Can he write this fast by looking at the keyboard? Probably not. He developed this ability by practicing keyboard with special methods. Guitar playing is not much different than this. You have to know the places of the notes well in order to improvise faster. To improve this ability you might use my app called "Guitar Blast!".
8 - Don't focus just on the notes
Use phrasing and different dynamics for a simple melody. Also use rhythmic variations. These may change your sound much more than you might think.
9 - Listen a lot
And pay attention. Listen your favorite tunes along with the ones you are unfamiliar with. Listening to only one kind of music type is not the best method to become a capable musician.
10 - Jam a lot
Jam when you are alone, jam with your friends, jam while you dream... Make improvisation a social activity. You can read all the Tips given on that page 1000 times but they won't help you unless you take the guitar and jam. You have to make mistakes and take lessons from these mistakes. There are some great Youtube channels sharing backing tracks, just google and dive in...
These are my Top 10 Tips for better soloing and improvisation. Comment below and write what works for you best.