I want to let people know what I took forever learning on my own.
How to improvise over chords.
Short and Sweet.
Play chord notes over each chord. e.g. If you are playing lead over a C chord. the chord notes (or chord tones) would be C-E-G.
BUT. It is important to play these chord tones over beats one and three.
C
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--------5h6-------------------------
---5---------7/9--------------------
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First nore I played was a C, which is a chord tone to the C chord.
Then I played a small lick or idea and landed on E, another chord tone in C.
#2
=C===================F============
--------------------------8-10-8--|----------------------------
---------5h6-------8-10----------|-10-----8h10--8-----------
----5---------7/9-----------------|-------------------10-------
-----------------------------------|-----------------------------
-----------------------------------|-----------------------------
-----------------------------------|-----------------------------
When I played against the F chord I focused on the A note, which is the third in the F chord, and landed on the F note presumably on beat three.
Just a BASIC idea on how to get started.
This was all played with a C major scale, focusing on chord tones.
Nice and simple and melodic. Much more interesting than playing boring scale patterns, in my opinion. :)
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
Good topic. :D
"Today is what it means to be young..."
(Radiohead, RHCP, Jimi Hendrix - the big 3)
He is playing a C. Unless I'm missing something?
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
He is starting on the C.
C Major Scale -
C D E F G A B
Notes in the riff are C, E hammer on to F then D slide to E.
The reason I posted this is because it took me a long time to figure it out on my own.
It's kind of a look at arpeggios, scales, and chords at once.
I used to play scales blindly over progressions. If I was in C major, I would play licks from the C major scale... never thinking about what chord I was playing against, or why some notes sounded good sometimes, but not other times. Then it just hit me. It sounds (kind of) bad when you play non chord tones on beats one and three.
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C
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----8---5h6-------------------------
-------------7/9--------------------
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Starts on a G note.
C
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--------5h6-------------------------
----5--------7/9--------------------
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Starts on a C note.
C
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----5---5h6-------------------------
------------7/9--------------------
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Starts on an E note.
these sound ok because they start on a chord tone.
*********************************************
************************************************
C
-----5-------------------------------
--------5h6-------------------------
-------------7/9--------------------
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This sounds a little off because the 'A' note is NOT in the C chord.
NOTE: This would be ok against a C6, because C6 has an 'A' note.
to truly understand what im saying:
You need to be playing against a chord.
So play a C chord over and over. Record it.
Count:
1 an 2 an 3 an 4 an
Play one note on beat one.
If its a C, E, or G.... It will sound good.
If it's any other note, you will notice a tension.
I hope this help someone understand improvising better. It did me.
Once I started looking at solos as "scales that focused over top of chords" I started playing better, and best of all I understood WHY I was playing each note.
randy
